What if annotations were
reusable: a preliminary
discussion
- ICWL 2009 -
Nikos Manouselis, Greek Research & Technology Network
Riina Vuorikari, European Schoolnet

Outline
• Problem statement
• A possible solution: a conceptual model
and pilot
• Further discussion points

Problem scenario 1
The same learning resource, that’s
metadata has been federated, is tagged
on different portals: LeMill, LRE, and
Koolielu

Problem scenario 2

Problem scenario 2
The same movie is found and rated in
three different application contexts: a
movie recommender system, an e-
commerce site, and an educational portal

Problem description
• Implicit and explicit feedback is hard to
acquire (e.g. LRE)
– Ratio: search-bookmark 5.5:1
– Ration: play-bookmark 3.2:1
– Ratio: play-rate 2.7:1
• This feedback is needed to better guide users
(e.g. recommendations, social navigation)
• Social information can make users more
efficient! (Vuorikari and Koper, 2009)

An idea!
A structured way to represent
different types of user feedback
from
different contexts
could prove of particular value.

Hypothetical questions?
• Can we represent and store user
feedback in a structured, interoperable
and reusable format?
• Is it safe to assume that the user
feedback can be used in another
application domain, e.g. a new
recommender system in a different
application context?

Capturing user feedback
To be reusable, the user feedback should
• be in a structured and interoperable
format
• reflect the annotation scheme (e.g. tag,
rating, multi-rating)
• incorporate some information about the
context in which it has been collected

model

Capturing user feedback
Different frameworks exist:
• Contextualized Attention Metadata
Framework
• Attention Profiling Markup Language (APML)
• User Labor Markup Language (ULML)
• Microformat, e.g. Google support
Vuorikari, R. & Berendt, B. (2009). Study on contexts in tracking
usage and attention metadata in multilingual technology enhanced
learning.

Capturing user feedback (e.g.CAM)

Capturing user feedback
(example of microformats)

Pilot in Organic.Edunet
• A registry of annotation schemes for
learning resources
• To store annotation schemes, ratings
and tags from different environments on
learning resources
• To be used to create better services for
users (e.g. recommendation, social
navigation)

Pilot in Organic.Edunet

Conceptual work in Aspect
• IMS LODE Information for Learning
Object Exchange (ILOX)
– different facets:
• for LOM,
• for folksonomies,
• annotations
• ratings
• ...

Lots of issues...
• How to identify the same item in many
different contexts (no persistent IDs)?
• Is it necessary to encode the information
about the user who annotated?
– Tags are interesting BECAUSE of (user,item,tag)
triple
• Do users really find an annotation from
another context useful?
• ...

thanks! for your attention
comments?
questions?
http://aspect-project.org/
http://lreforschools.eun.org
www.organic-edunet.eu