Alison Pope's Bookmarks

• File API - Moodle.com
  

maintains an internal repository of files and governs access to them

• Repository API - Moodle.com
  

allows users to browse external repositories and select files to bring into Moodle

• Standard Web Services Layer - UPC and moodle.com
  

Standard set of core API functions made available via SOAP and XML-RPC

• Student Information API
  

API for integrating external systems for managing student information

There are three important practical aspects to persistent
identification of online resources:

• Choice of an identifier system. (What to call the resources)


• A system of resolution to map the identifier to the resource
  identified. (How will users get the resources when the identifiers are used as
  links?)


• Maintenance of access to the resource through continued association
  of the current location of the resource with the identifier. (How to make sure
  that the links continue to work over time)

The Information Environment programme consists of a number of strands, each of which will deliver specific services, tools and mechanisms which will in time make up this managed and coherent environment. The key strands are:

1. 
   Doorways to the future – Accessing online resources through portals Portals developed by the programme will enable cross-searching across otherwise distinct and discrete resources. They will provide easy and seamless access to a range of resources, both by subject but also by data type, such as images, moving pictures and sound, and so on. Crucially, these portals will be able to be integrated into institutional learning environments and local portal developments.
   


2. 
   Making the most of our wares – Building and sharing community resources
   Institutions and individuals create resources that are potentially of immense benefit to others. Programmes within this strand will develop a range of tools and mechanisms that will encourage new ways in which the education community can build and share resources together.
   


3. 
   
   
   Joining up delivery – Developing 'shared' services To enable portals and other services to deliver diverse digital resources, machine-readable information about services, content, rights and users is required to act as the “glue” between portals and the content itself. 'Shared' services will provide this mechanism, enabling the user to interact with relevant resources according to subject, institutional and personal profiles.
   


4. 
   From libraries to learning – Digital resources in practice This strand of work will explore practical implementations in the joining up of information resources and VLEs. Institutions are grappling with these issues and this work will ensure there are exemplars and generic models for the community to learn from