1. The JLeRN Experiment
Paradata Challenge 2012
Bharti Gupta
Applications Developer
Mimas, University of Manchester
bharti.gupta@manchester.ac.uk
#jlern #learningreg @dulcet_bg

2. Mimas – Centre of Excellence
» Nationally designated data centre based at the University
of Manchester
» Hosts significant number of UK’s information assets
» Key role is to support advancement of knowledge,
powering world-class research and teaching
» Main partners, collaborators and sponsors
› JISC
› Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
› The University of Manchester

3. The JLeRN Experiment Project
» JLeRN aka JISC Learning Registry Node
» Innovative collaboration project funded by JISC to develop a
Learning Registry test node at Mimas, with input and support
from JISC CETIS.
» Focus is on content from the higher education and cultural
sectors.
» Test node successfully setup on Ubuntu server called
alpha.mimas.ac.uk
» Work is in progress to set up another test node on Windows
2008 server.

4. Background – Learning Registry Project
» Open technology framework, developed as a joint effort of the US
Department of Education and the Department of Defense
» Open community of learning resource creators, publishers, curators and
consumers collaborating to share resources
» Defines a learning resource distribution network model, open APIs and
open standards.
» Lightweight mechanism to publish learning resources.
» Ability to consume published data and publish additional feedback.
» High-latency, loosely connected network distributing resources,
metadata and paradata

5. Learning Registry Stack

6. Learning Registry Community - Locations

7. Learning Registry Community - Names

8. Learning Registry APIs
» Publish (push from user)
› Publish
› SWORD (1.3, 2.0)
› 3rd party OAI-PMH Utility
» Access (pull to get data)
› Obtain (by ID, record, by URL)
› Harvest (JSON or OAI-PMH)
› Slice (by identity, date range, keyword tags) <-- the primary means of retrieving data
» Distribute (node to node, with regex “filtering”)
» Admin (status, discovery, etc.)
» Documentation
› https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bq_69wnnQJ56O6jyLK2C_fcp-Ovb7MYxXUXD0Rl1Mag/edit?
hl=en&authkey=CK7k5r8F&pli=1 (Quick reference)
› https://docs.google.com/document/d/191BTary350To_4JokBUFZLFRMOEfGYrl_EHE6QZxUr8/edit?
hl=en (Technical Specification)

9. Demo Learning Registry Browser
h"p://demolearningregistry.sri.com/browse/index.html?search=nsdl

10. Publish API
» Publish the JSON formatted file named
"fileName.json” using cURL
Format
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" "<<url>>" -d
@fileName.json
Example
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json” "http://testnode.org/
publish -d @my_basicpublish_formatted.json"
Return

11. Obtain API
» Obtain a single document by its document ID
› Specify that the request is for a document by setting by_doc_ID to "true”.
Format
curl -X GET "<<url>>/obtain ?by_doc_ID=true &request_ID=some_Document_ID"
Example
curl -X GET "http://testnode.org/obtain?by_doc_ID=true
&request_ID=klm174s08n05f031961td15sep011fad"
Returns
(Document Found)
(Document Not Found)

12. Harvest API
» Get a single document by its document ID
Format
curl -X GET "<<url>>/harvest/getrecord &by_doc_ID=true
&request_ID=<<Document_ID>>"
Example
curl -X GET "http://testnode.org/harvest/getrecord &by_doc_ID=true
?request_ID=klm174s08n05f031961td15sep011fad"
Returns
(continued…)

13. Returns – Harvest API
Document Found
{
"status": "active",
"OK": "true",
"identifier":
"responseDate": "2011-09-28T14:27:08.598835Z","klm174s08n05f031961td15sep011fad"
"error": "" },
"request": { "resource_data": {
"by_doc_ID": "true", etc...
"HTTP_request": "", etc...
"verb": "getrecord", }
"by_resource_ID": "false", }]
"identifier": }
"klm174s08n05f031961td15sep011fad"
}
},
"getrecord": {
"record": [{
"header":{
"datestamp": "2011-09-28T14:27:08.607941Z",

14. Returns – Harvest API
Document Not Found
{
"OK": "false",
"responseDate": "2011-09-28T19:58:17.240463Z",
"error": "idDoesNotExist",
"request": {
"by_doc_ID": "true",
"HTTP_request": "",
"verb": "getrecord",
"by_resource_ID": "false",
"identifier": "the_invalid_request_ID_you_submitted"
},
"getrecord": {
"record": []
}
}
}

15. Paradata
» Particular kind of metadata – mainly usage data
» Say things about activities
» Includes usage data, feedback, rankings, likes, etc.
» Provides a metadata timeline—a stream of activity data about a learning
resource.
» The paradata format is basically an extended and altered version of the Activity
Stream JSON
» Three main parts to a basic paradata statement: ACTOR, VERB, and OBJECT
» Cookbook -
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lggCnowWsDgQxrNjYRAgh2KNwKfq-
MV8vLJzRXbAaos/edit

16. Example 1- Matching standards

17. Example 2 – Use resource in curriculum

18. Example 3 - Ratings

19. Signing Documents
» Public Learning Registry network requires that submitted documents be digitally
signed
» Validation of authenticity of the submitter’s identity and integrity of signed
document
» Steps to use digital signatures
› Create a key value pair (OpenPGP Certificate)
› Publish your public key
› Sign and validate documents
» Documentation
› https://docs.google.com/document/d/
1UO6bdIfBlnSDYRwLejOrRO05XzNbyxQDwvebDofbXpw/edit?hl=en
› https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vK66RY4S6AVtMJXB7jSqwl30J6NVBj6Gs8UWBcP-
IPY/edit?hl=en_US#heading=h.2eu5kpj7khu7

20. Alpha Node
» Node URL – alpha.mimas.ac.uk
» Supports publish and retrieval services
» Authentication – open
› Username: fred
› Password: flintstone
» Note – JSONview extension for Firefox browser
» Examples
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/status
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/description
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/obtain
› [all documents in node, one batch at a time]
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/slice?any_tags=apple
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/slice?identity=nick%40mimas

21. cURL Examples
» curl -v http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/obtain?
request_ID=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/
41639353@N08/4369788825″
» curl -Xv POST -H “Content-Type:application/
json” “http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/publish” -d
@test_data.json -u fred

22. JORUM OAI-PMH Data in JLeRN
» Installed Python OAI-PMH third party module to work with LR team’s Python
script
» Installed the Python ElementTree third party module to parse
» Harvested all JORUM OAI-PMH data and published on JLeRN node
» Blog post -
http://jlernexperiment.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/jorum-oai-pmh-data-
published/
» Example queries
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/obtain?request_ID=http://dspace.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/
123456789/1000
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/slice?any_tags=curve
› http://alpha.mimas.ac.uk/slice?any_tags=magnetism

23. Windows Node
» Windows 2008 Server 64 bit OS at Mimas
» Installation Guide -
https://github.com/LearningRegistry/LearningRegistry/
wiki/Windows-Installation-Guide
» Related blog posts -
http://jlernexperiment.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/some-
more-exploring/
» LR team fixed some errors, merge pending -
https://github.com/LearningRegistry/LearningRegistry/
pull/167#issuecomment-3905263

24. Learning Registry Java Library
» Used to publish and harvest data
» Library name - LRJavaLib
› Code on Github - https://github.com/navnorth/LRJavaLib
» Required bencode -
http://code.google.com/p/bee-encode/downloads/
detail?name=bee-encode-0.2.tar.gz&can=2&q
Untar and install jar using maven
» Code in progress using JAX-RS in Eclipse IDE

25. The Challenge – what to do??
» Capture, use, share or mash-up paradata
» Do you wish to explore
› where and how learning resources are used?
› how they are shared by social media?
› what is being talked about those resources?
» Create applications which interact with existing
tools, services, or repositories in the OER
domain.

26. The Challenge Criteria
» Create something with paradata
› demonstrate how to capture or mash-up paradata
using your own content or shared in JLeRN node or
the Learning Registry node in US, or
› share an idea for a service that JLeRN might offer
for publish, retrieve or mashing-up of paradata, or
› create a mock-up of a tool or an add-on to work
with a tool used currently to capture social media
sharing or learning context paradata

27. The Project Documentation
» The US Learning Registry
› Beta Release - http://www.learningregistry.org
› Technical guides - http://www.learningregistry.org/documents
› Useful presentations -
https://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B3g0HwhfaPvPNTUxZWViNzYtZDlhNS00ZDM3LTllODQtNzZh
ZjIzOTgzMjE3&hl=en_US&pli=1
(Daniel Rehak, Learning Registry Technical Architect)
» The JLeRN Experiment
› Project Blog URL - http://jlernexperiment.wordpress.com/
› Twitter tags - #jlern, #learningreg
› Other blogs -
http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/othervoices/2011/03/22/thelearningregistry/
http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/lmc/2012/01/13/the-jlern-experiment/
http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/lmc/2012/02/01/jlern-hackday-issues-identified/

28. The Team
» Sarah Currier
› Project Lead
› sarah.currier@manchester.ac.uk
› @morageyrie
» Nick Syrotiuk
› Developer
› syrotiuk@manchester.ac.uk
» Bharti Gupta
› Developer
› bharti.gupta@manchester.ac.uk
› @dulcet_bg