Mapping web personal learning environments

A recent trend in web development is to build platforms which are carefully designed to host a plurality of software components (sometimes called widgets or plugins) which can be organized or combined (mashed-up) at user's convenience to create personalized environments. The same holds true for the web development of educational applications. The degree of personalization can depend on the role of users such as in traditional virtual learning environment, where the components are chosen by a teacher in the context of a course. Or, it can be more opened as in a so-called personalized learning environment (PLE). It now exists a wide array of available web platforms exhibiting different functionalities but all built on the same concept of aggregating components together to support different tasks and scenarios. There is now an overlap between the development of PLE and the more generic developments in web 2.0 applications such as social network sites. This article shows that 6 more or less independent dimensions allow to map the functionalities of these platforms: the screen dimensionmaps the visual integration, the data dimension maps the portability of data, the temporal dimension maps the coupling between participants, the social dimension maps the grouping of users, the activity dimension maps the structuring of end users–interactions with the environment, and the runtime dimensionmaps the flexibility in accessing the system from different end points. Finally these dimensions are used to compare 6 familiar Web platforms which could potentially be used in the construction of a PLE

User-tailored Inter-Widget Communication:Extending the Shared Data Interface for the Apache Wookie Engine

Hoisl, B., Drachsler, H., & Waglecher, C. (2010). User-tailored Inter-Widget Communication. Extending the Shared Data Interface for the Apache Wookie Engine, International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning 2010, Hasselt, Belgium.This paper presents a technical solution for an Inter-Widget Communication in Mash-up Personal Learning Environments enabling the possibility to model basic workflows. It explains the technical background of the widget concept and why Inter-Widget communication can be beneficial especially for e-learning. Related approaches towards an Inter-Widget communication are reviewed and delimited to the suggested approach. Finally, the detailed procedures of the Inter-Widget communication are presented on the basis of the Wookie widget engine.LTfL

Interactive Data Sharing Mechanism for Widget-based Microsites

Tänasel veebimaastikul on kasvavaks trendiks veebilehtede vaheline sisu jagamine. Staatilise sisu asemel kasutatakse üha enam vidinaid. Vidinad on taaskasutatavad veebikomponendid, mis sisaldavad mingit konkreetset funktsionaalsust. Lihtsamad vidinad on enamasti olekuta. Keerukamad vidinad oskavad veebirakenduses omavahel suhelda, näiteks saates üksteisele sõnumeid. Nii saavad vidinad üksteist mõjutada ja seeläbi olla mashup’i laadse veebirakenduse ehitusklotsideks, määratledes selle oleku. Kuna vidinad on nõrgalt sidestunud komponendid, ei ole nad võimelised veebirakenduse olekut salvestama. Antud magistritöö pakub välja lahenduse veebirakenduse sees olevate vidinate vahetatud sõnumite jäädvustamiseks ja taasesitamiseks, võimaldades seeläbi veebirakenduse olekut salvestada ja sõpradega jagada. Lahendus baseerub jaoturipõhisel sõnumivahetusel, kasutades tehnoloogiana OpenAjax Hub raamistikku. See tähendab, et kõik ühes veebirakenduses olevad vidinad on jaoturiga ühenduses. Sõnumite salvestamiseks kasutatakse Wookie nimelist vidinamootorit, mis võimaldab luua olekuga vidinaid ja seda olekut ka salvestada. Magistritöö raames realiseeritakse iseseisev vidin, mis „sillana“ ühendab neid kaht tehnoloogiat. Sellest tulenevalt on realiseeritud vidina nimeks Wookie-OpenAjax Hub Bridge. Loodud vidin kuulab kõiki jaoturisse saadetud sõnumeid ja salvestab need andmebaasi. Kui sama vidina isend hiljem taaselustada, siis see vidin taasesitab kõik andmebaasi salvestatud sõnumid jaoturisse. 39 Realiseeritud vidina kasutamiseks luuakse väike näidisportaal, mille sees olevad vidinad omavahel sõnumeid vahetavad. Näidisportaal demonstreerib saadetud sõnumite salvestamist ja taasesitamist, ning ka oleku jagamist suhtlusvõrgustikuga Facebook.Nowadays it is very common that modern web sites exchange content between each other by means of syndication and aggregation. This is enabled through APIs, protocols, tools and platforms. The recent trend in content processing is advancing towards more extensive use of widgets along with static content. Although web sites usually use widgets to provide added value to their users, simpler web sites like microsites can be built entirely from widgets. Such kinds of widgets are usually stateless, but not necessarily autonomous. In particular they may also be able to communicate with other components in the same web application, including microsites, which are the key focus of this thesis. Because of the loose coupling, the widgets themselves are not able to capture the state of the microsite, whereas the microsite itself usually does not have a mechanism for storing its state. However, messages exchanged during communication, determine the state of the microsite. This thesis describes a solution for storing and sharing the state of a microsite by record- and-replay mechanism for messages exchanged by widgets of microsites. Furthermore, the mechanism also allows sharing the stored state of a microsite between friends via social networks. The latter enables user-initiated inter-application content delivery and state exchange, which has been possible so far only between tightly integrated applications

An Instant Message-Driven User Interface Framework for Thin Client Applications

Today, thin client applications often rely on the infrastructure of the WWW to deliver their user interfaces (UIs) to clients. While this approach does not require the deployment of application logic on the client, web-based UIs typically do not provide the same level of usability as window-based UIs. We therefore present a UI framework that combines the flexibility of a thin presentation logic with the usability of a full-featured UI: Our approach uses an XMPP-based instant messaging infrastructure to exchange XUL interface descriptions and events between the application logic on the server and a generic UI rendering engine on the client

Mobile support in CSCW applications and groupware development frameworks

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is an established subset of the field of Human Computer Interaction that deals with the how people use computing technology to enhance group interaction and collaboration. Mobile CSCW has emerged as a result of the progression from personal desktop computing to the mobile device platforms that are ubiquitous today. CSCW aims to not only connect people and facilitate communication through using computers; it aims to provide conceptual models coupled with technology to manage, mediate, and assist collaborative processes. Mobile CSCW research looks to fulfil these aims through the adoption of mobile technology and consideration for the mobile user. Facilitating collaboration using mobile devices brings new challenges. Some of these challenges are inherent to the nature of the device hardware, while others focus on the understanding of how to engineer software to maximize effectiveness for the end-users. This paper reviews seminal and state-of-the-art cooperative software applications and development frameworks, and their support for mobile devices

Combining Web 2.0 and Web Services in Collaborative Working Environments

Collaborative applications offer significant benefits in business sector. Usually, team members need to use several systems to carry out their tasks. What these users need is an environment which permits them to carry out these tasks automatically, considering the flow of information between the different systems and offering interoperability and composition features. Nowadays, Web Services have gained their prominence in providing these both features. On the other hand, the use of Web 2.0 allows to create web applications in which the user constitutes a key element. What we propose in this paper is the combination of both approaches for creating a Collaborative Working Environment (CWE)

Implementing Zeroconf in Linphone

This report describes the motivation behind implementing Zeroconf in a open source SIP phone(Linphone) and the architecture of the solution implemented. It also describes the roadblocks encountered and how they were tackled in the implementation. It concludes with a few mentions about future enhancements that may be implemented on a later date