Hi Lorna,
With apologies to you and Phil as I promised I'd send some comments ages
ago...
> Those of you who attended the UK LOM Core meeting hosted by
> the CETIS Metadata SIG and UK MEG in August may remember that
> I rashly promised to complete an update of the application
> profile by the end of the
> year. Well I haven't actually completed the update but the bulk of
> the work is now done. You can view the latest Work in
> Progress at http://www.cetis.ac.uk/profiles/uklomcore/wip/
Thanks very much for this work!
> I've extensively rewritten the introduction and added a
> conformance statement.
Just a couple of comments on the introduction
page 4:
> It is also envisaged that this document will be of relevance to those
with a strategic
> interest in the creation of interoperable metadata
> The primary objective of the UK LOM Core is to increase the
interoperability of metadata
> instances and application profiles
I must admit I tend to think of "interoperability" as a characteristic
of something that _does_ something, something active, something that
"operates". So a system (service, application, process, agent, product,
component, agent etc) might "interoperate" or "be interoperable"
(capable of interoperating). And that's very much in line with the IEEE
definition that you use in the glossary on page 11.
But I'm less sure that metadata or metadata instances or application
profiles can be interoperable or have their interoperability increased.
I think this should probably say something like:
... with a strategic interest in the creation of metadata that is
transferred (exchanged?) between systems
or
... with a strategic interest in the creation of metadata for
interoperable systems
and
... to increase the interoperability of applications using LOM metadata
But I think really this just brings me on to my main point
page 4:
> Identifying a common core of elements that will provide an adequate
description
> to facilitate general-purpose use and interoperability.
Hmm, this rather just begs the question of what "general-purpose use and
interoperability" is! And there are several uses of the phrase "adequate
metadata" which _really_ scream out, "But adequate for what?" ;-)
(I think Scott and/or Andy made this comment at some point on the list)
I'm happy that we can have a general definition of "interoperability"
(and I like the IEEE definition) and I'm happy to talk about
"interoperability" in the abstract. But in any particular context, the
developers/administrators of systems/applications choose to
exchange/expose information for some particular purpose, and then they
select some specific means of "interoperating" to achieve that purpose.
I don't think the UK LOM Core was created just so that "some" metadata
can be exchanged/exposed in "some context"; it was created (I think!) to
try to ensure that the metadata that is exchanged/exposed in the context
of e-learning systems in the UK is sufficient to support certain certain
common functions that the developers of systems want to deliver to
users.
I suppose I'm really saying there should be an explicit note of the
"functional requirements" that UK LOM Core was developed to support -
even if maybe these weren't completely clear at the time the profile was
being developed - I've never lost sleep about a little bit of judicious
retro-fitting of intent! ;-)
I do appreciate that you have sought to address this in the "Benefits"
section, but I did wonder whether it might be helpful to pull it right
up front as a statement of purpose, a statement of what UK LOM Core is
really for. It seems to me the three bullets
("Promoting.../Defining..../Identifying...." say what the UK LOM Core
does/says, but the reason why it does/says those things is left vague
("to increase interoperability")
So, I guess my stab at this would be something like:
=====
The primary objective of the UK LOM Core is to improve the ability of
LOM metadata applications to exchange effectively the information
required to support a number of basic functions. These basic functions
may be applied to learning objects used at any educational level in the
UK:
- the disclosure of a minimal set of simple descriptive information
about a learning object
- the discovery of a learning object by searching or browsing a small
number of attributes of the content, form or conditions of use of the
object
- the selection of a learning object from amongst a number of similar
objects by comparing attributes of their content, form, and conditions
of use
- the provision of sufficient information to enable a user to access the
learning object (or to understand what is required to access the
learning object)
The UK LOM Core seeks to achieve this objective by
- specifying a core set of LOM data elements that should be present in
LOM metadata instances
- providing information on the use and interpretation of LOM data
elements
- specifying (a small set of) vocabularies that should be used to
provide values for some LOM data elements
=======
OK, that's just a first cut, but basically I think the introduction
needs to say
- what is it
- what's it for/what will it enable me (or my systems) to do
- what does it provide to do that
I think you've got the first and the third but the second one perhaps
needs to be more explicit/"up-front".
Cheers
Pete
