ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...
ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...
ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...
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GEM uses an object based database which can be dynamically updated over <strong>the</strong> Internet. The core database is an<br />
SQL relational database with an overlying object based design. GEM only uses public domain software as a basic<br />
requirement is that ano<strong>the</strong>r party can host a GEM Server without incurring licensing costs. The GEM data model is<br />
based on metadata. A review of existing systems like IMS (1) , <strong>the</strong> ARIADNE(2) project and IEEE standards<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>ts(3) has recently been made. As a result <strong>the</strong> GEM data model has now been aligned with <strong>the</strong>se systems. A two<br />
way transfer of metadata between ei<strong>the</strong>r system is now possible.<br />
The following functionality is currently available.<br />
• Free and public access to Internet users to search and locate services and data. This access is called anonymous<br />
access and will require no log in.<br />
• Full support <strong>for</strong> four languages is offered – English, French, Italian and German. All four user interfaces are<br />
available including keyword searching. Users can save a language preference.<br />
• Possibility <strong>for</strong> any user or organisation to register on GEM. Once registered each user can enter or upload new<br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation. Each user has a password which can be changed on-line.<br />
• Each user has a personal Web “visiting card” whose in<strong>for</strong>mation can be updated by <strong>the</strong> user online. Each<br />
organisation has a Web presentation space to present <strong>the</strong> organisation and to provide contact and commercial<br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation.<br />
• Organisations will be categorised into commercial, governmental, college, schools etc. Each organisation can<br />
advertise products and services in GEM. The adverts can be in any of <strong>the</strong> four languages supported by GEM.<br />
• Users and organisations can announce meetings, conferences etc. Those events which fall on specific dates will<br />
appear automatically in a Calendar. The Calendar can be browsed by all users.<br />
• Users and organisations will be able to upload “binary data”. This can be an audio clip an image, an MPEG<br />
animation etc. There<strong>for</strong>e in addition to <strong>the</strong> metadata <strong>the</strong> database can hold <strong>the</strong> media itself.<br />
Searching<br />
• Users are able to search <strong>for</strong> products by free text entry. This can be fielded search on a given attribute or a<br />
general free text search over all fields. It will be investigated if an automatic translation of <strong>the</strong> search query so<br />
as to search across multiple languages is feasible.<br />
• Users are able to search <strong>for</strong> products using controlled structured keywords. The relevant attributes and<br />
keywords are defined in later in <strong>the</strong> paper. Numbers of entries are generated automatically.<br />
Browsing<br />
• Users can browse around <strong>the</strong> database using a Yahoo style interface. The software automatically classifies<br />
entries according to valid types and keywords. A refinement of choices can be made by selecting a particular<br />
attribute value.<br />
• Users can browse <strong>for</strong> events in <strong>the</strong> calendar<br />
Future Developments<br />
GEM is currently available in pilot operations at http://gem.jrc.it. New functionality is planned and will be added<br />
over <strong>the</strong> next year. The hosting of course material through a structured course database is under design. Each course<br />
can be updated by <strong>the</strong> author/maintainer, and a database of registered students will be available to <strong>the</strong> maintainer.<br />
Discussion groups, bulletin boards and virtual meetings are in preparation. Linkage to o<strong>the</strong>r systems through search<br />
interfaces based on Z39.50 are planned, as well as through standard http interfaces. The user interface will be<br />
reviewed and updated in <strong>the</strong> light of user feedback, and new requirements of <strong>the</strong> European Commission.<br />
References<br />
Educause IMS Project http://www.imsproject.org<br />
IEEE Learning Standards Comittee http://x3.ieee.org/p1484/<br />
Ariadne Project http://ariadne.unil.ch<br />
Generic In<strong>for</strong>mation Server Toolkit- GIST http://gist.jrc.it