Platforms such as YouTube, Flickr or Delicious that allow users to manage and share different kinds of digital resources belong to the most popular applications in what is usually subsumed under the umbrella term Web 2.0. In the context of PLEs, the ability to manage and share digital resources used within a learning process is also one of the most important features. This paper gives a coarse overview of key aspects to consider when aiming to provide a sustainable, adaptable component for resource management and sharing that can be integrated into different, heterogeneous digital environments. The ALOE\footnote{see http://aloe-project.de} system will be presented as an example for the realisation of a respective component meeting the presented demands.

1. EFEPLE 2011
X X X
Interoperability Requirements for a
Sustainable Component to Support
Management and Sharing of Digital Resources
Martin Memmel
Knowledge Management Group
DFKI GmbH
martin.memmel@dfki.de

2. EFEPLE 2011
How we've built an open, generic and
adaptable resource sharing environment
that survived
(implications for PLEs: up to you!)
Martin Memmel
Knowledge Management Group
DFKI GmbH
martin.memmel@dfki.de

3. images
documents (bmp, gif, jpg, png, tif, …)
(pdf, odt, odp, sxw, doc, ppt, …)
videos
(avi, mpeg, mov, …)
web pages
audio
(aac, mp3, …)

4. Key problems
● Heterogeneous tools for specific resource types
● Limited possibilites to integrate with other tools
● Only basic means to organise contributions
● Not instantiable
● No means to adapt to specific scenarios
●
Support for (future) scenarios within PLEs?

5. How to ensure sustainability?

6. A comprehensive approach is needed
● Contribute arbitrary resources
● Manage arbitrary resources
● Share arbitrary resources
●
Exchange of information!
●
Adaptable for different scenarios!

7. Interoperability

8. Interoperability is the ability of two or more
systems or components to exchange
information and to use the information
that has been exchanged.
[IEEE, 1991]

9. Where to consider interoperability?
● Selection of supported application scenarios
● Resource types to be supported
● Metadata to be used
● Interfaces offered to users and other systems

10. Supported Application Scenarios
[http://lsdis.cs.uga.edu/projects/glycomics/report/Report2006.html]

11. Resources
images
(bmp, gif, jpg, png, tif, …)
documents
(pdf, odt, odp, sxw, doc, ppt, …)
videos
(avi, mpeg, mov, …)
web pages
audio
(aac, mp3, …)

12. Incorporation of resources
● Contribution of new / not yet accessible resources
● Integration of existing resources
– Maintenance issues
– Memory requirements
– Legal concerns
→ Repository and Refactory!

13. Metadata

14. Wittgenstein
‘Die Bedeutung eines Wortes ist sein Gebrauch in der Sprache’
(‘The meaning of a word is its use in the language’)
Transferred into the world of (digital) resources:
‘The meaning of a resource is its use in the community’

15. Subjectivity and diversity
● No one-size-fits-all solutions
● Scenario-dependent metadata generation
● Human generated metadata
● Incorporation of potentially any kind of metadata

16. Metadata interoperability
● Using standards
● Extensibility
● Modularity
● Refinements
● Multilingualism
● Machine-processability

17. Interfaces

18. Interfaces – Access by systems
● Low technical barriers for system usage
– Technical environments
– Minimal installation efforts
● Low conceptual barriers for system usage
● Access to potentially any data and functionalities
– Complex functionalities, mash-ups

19. User interfaces
● Offering access to data / functionalities in usual
contexts and applications
– Services, Widgets, …
● Multilinguality
● Adaptability

20. http://aloe-project.de
Sample infrastructure: ALOE
...how did it change and survive?

21. What is ALOE?
ALOE is a generic infrastructure that allows
● supporting access to digital resources by means of
social media technologies
● integrating social media technologies also in
existing, especially traditional environments with
no or only few interaction possibilities

22. http://aloe-project.de/AloeView

25. Information Exchange,
Interfaces

26. Web Service API

27. Alternative: ALOE-XML
<resource>
<visibility>public</visibility>
<title>Skyscrapers of glass and the curtain wall</title>
<license></license>
<description>Skyscrapers of glass and the curtain
wall</description>
<uri>http://winds-app.fit.fraunhofer.de/cgi-
bin/WebObjects/windsoai.woa/wa/showContent?id=11647.lo</uri>
<tags>skyscrapers curtain_wall Mies_van_der_Rohe winds mace
</tags>
<sharetogroups>
<group>tmp</group>
</sharetogroups>
</resource>

28. Feeds

29. Information Mails

30. OAI Target

31. Bookmark Export

32. CAM Feedlet

33. Embedded Metadata

34. Widgets

35. Mobile Frontend

36. ALOE Resource Metadata
Individual
Metadata [1..∞]
Classification Tag
[0..∞] [0..∞]
Basic Metadata [1]
Associated Comment
Metadata [0..∞] [0..∞]
Collection Rating
[0..∞] [0..∞]
Group Usage
[0..∞] Metadata [1]

37. Components,
System Architecture

39. ALOE – Used Technologies
● Implemented in Java (1.5), deployed in the Apache
Tomcat (6.0) servlet container
● GUI: Realized with JSP using J2EE Design Patterns
● Web Service Interface: Functionalities are
accessible via a SOAP/REST API realized with
Apache Axis2
● Storage of resources and metadata in a MySQL
data base (5.0)

40. Evolvability, Adaptability

41. Evolvability for artifacts is the capacity of
the systems, organizations and networks
producing them to give rise to adaptive
variants that flexibly meet changing
requirements over the course of long-term
change.
[Nehaniv et al., 2006]

42. Requirements? Environments?
● What's the ecosystem?
● What does surviving mean?
– Active users, developers
● In which way are resources finite?
– Developers, time, infrastructure

43. http://openeer.dfki.de

44. http://icdar09.dfki.uni-kl.de

46. https://mindpool.dfki.de

47. http://aloe-cmcm.dfki.uni-kl.de

49. The MACE Portal
49

50. MACE Facetted Search
50

51. MACE Detail Page
51

52. MACE Community Page
52

53. http://www.dfki.de/radar

55. Conclusions
● Realise a concrete solution – but always try to be as
generic as possible
● Try to be independent
● Be open, don't build another silo
● Think carefully about what is your core, and what are your
branch-specific adaptations
● Build tools for setup and deployment
● Take your time for refactoring
● Don't trust your memory, write down stuff

56. Thanks for listening!
ALOE: http://aloe-project.de
MACE: http://www.mace-project.eu
RADAR: http://www.dfki.de/radar
mailto: memmel@dfki.de