On 13 Apr 2011, at 13:58, Lorna M Campbell wrote:

> I must admit I didn't read the OAI-ORE  proposal as being "a repository".  I've been interested in the potential affordances of using OAI-ORE for managing OER aggregation for some time, particularly in relation to connecting resources to distributed comments, ratings, rankings, and other paradata type stuff, so I'm quite intrigued by this bid. 

Actually, on re-reading it, it doesn't look like a repository. Buggered if I know what it actually is though. Some bits seem to be about putting stuff in a repository, taking it out again, and putting it into another one. Presumably so you can take it out again more easily or something. (This, btw, is my usual experience when reading anything to do with OAI-ORE, so may indicate a deficiency with my brain rather than the bid)

On a more serious note, OER is about teachers and learners. I know these are technical projects but we should still attempt to explain benefits in terms that can be understood by a wider audience. I can imagine myself trying to explain the point of  the other projects to lecturers and students; I can't with this one. 

So, Alex,  the more constructive criticism is: 

Please take some time to think about realistic benefits for teachers and for learners that go beyond the typical "its easier to find stuff"-type scenarios. 
- If its just a case of more metadata =>  more cool tools, fair enough. But give some really good examples - and consider building rough demos of some of those rather than spending all the time on plumbing. 
- If its a case of making JORUM search results more usable, that's fine too, but is it really an efficient way to achieve that goal? (see Lorna's point, below)

I think the effort would be worth it, and not just in terms of making this proposal better.

S

> I do have one query for Alex though, I'm not entirely sure about the applicability of LOM to OERs. Certainly LOM could be used to describe OERs but I wonder how likely it is that this standard will gain traction in the distributed, publish anywhere type of information environment that has emerged over the last few years.  We know that resource developers tend to see the creation of formal metadata as problematic which I think is part of the reason that there has been a move towards tagging and capturing more informal, or less structured, resources descriptions. 
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> All the best
> Lorna
> 
> 
> On 13 Apr 2011, at 12:03, Alex Lydiate wrote:
> 
>> The 'ORE one', ie ours, is not a repository.  We've got one of those 
>> already - http://ostrich.bath.ac.uk , wouldn't wish to make another.
>> 
>> It is rather a proposal to implement the OAI-ORE standard for the 
>> purpose of presenting OERs as aggregations of resources, as resuable, 
>> disaggregable objects of complex types.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 13/04/11 11:45, Scott Wilson wrote:
>>> #1 I really like the "Cut and Paste Reuse Tracking" proposal - its novel but also connected to "real world" use. I suspect its actually the most technically challenging in reality but well worth pursuing.
>>> 
>>> #2 I don't think OER Bookmarking is viable as it really would have to be "another delicious". HOWEVER - If it were instead a proposal to try to work with Yahoo! and other sites to offering bookmarking to get them to integrate better licensing into their sites, that would potentially be a far more interesting proposition though obviously with less predictable outcomes. (Another option might be to work with oEmbed. That probably goes for #1 too)
>>> 
>>> #3 I think vocab management tools is a non-starter as vocabularies are principally a system-wide management and sustainability problem not a technical problem.
>>> 
>>> #4 And finally, the ORE one is a repository.
>>> 
>>> ---
>>> S
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Alex Lydiate
>> Software&  Systems Developer
>> LTEO - WH5.39
>> University of Bath
>> 01225 383576
> 
> --
> Lorna M. Campbell
> JISC CETIS Assistant Director
> University of Strathclyde
> Glasgow
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Phone: +44141 548 3072
> Skype: lorna120768
> 
> The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC015263.