Developing a web-based assessment instrument

Public demand for affordable and quality higher education continues to pressure institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning experiences. Traditional paper surveys have been utilized to gather data in the past. The World Wide Web can provide many of the same benefits in delivering a survey instrument while offering more convenience, lower costs, and a more flexible data set. This report of the graduate project documents the process employed when developing a web-based assessment instrument. It outlines a method and procedure for connecting a web site with a FileMaker Pro database. In addition, it provides documentation for the implementation of the instrument, and it proposes recommendations for future versions based on this model

Towards the 3D Web with Open Simulator

Continuing advances and reduced costs in computational power, graphics processors and network bandwidth have led to 3D immersive multi-user virtual worlds becoming increasingly accessible while offering an improved and engaging Quality of Experience. At the same time the functionality of the World Wide Web continues to expand alongside the computing infrastructure it runs on and pages can now routinely accommodate many forms of interactive multimedia components as standard features - streaming video for example. Inevitably there is an emerging expectation that the Web will expand further to incorporate immersive 3D environments. This is exciting because humans are well adapted to operating in 3D environments and it is challenging because existing software and skill sets are focused around competencies in 2D Web applications. Open Simulator (OpenSim) is a freely available open source tool-kit that empowers users to create and deploy their own 3D environments in the same way that anyone can create and deploy a Web site. Its characteristics can be seen as a set of references as to how the 3D Web could be instantiated. This paper describes experiments carried out with OpenSim to better understand network and system issues, and presents experience in using OpenSim to develop and deliver applications for education and cultural heritage. Evaluation is based upon observations of these applications in use and measurements of systems both in the lab and in the wild.Postprin

Empowering Citizen Science: A Generic Data Collection Framework

Citizen Science (CS) is collaboration between scientists and citizens to expand opportunities for scientific data collection and problem solving. Recent advancements such as the Internet, social networks and smart devices have created a technological platform for CS to engage more citizens to work on a wide range of scientific problems. Due to technical, financial and management resource constraints many organisations struggle to develop effective tools to collect scientific data in CS projects. A robust web and mobile interface for scientific data collection will ensure collection of higher quality scientific data. While web and mobile applications have been developed for some CS projects many CS projects are hindered by the complexity and intrinsic costs of implementing these applications. This thesis describes a web-based model for CS data collection suitable for both small CS communities and larger scientific organisations. Offering features commonly used in CS projects, this model reduces costs associated with software implementation and management in CS. A CS campaign is undertaken as a case study that validates our model in a real world scenario. Overall the generic data collection framework presented will empower communities and organisations to engage and use CS in more ways and on large scales

Empowering Citizen Science: A Generic Data Collection Framework

Citizen Science (CS) is collaboration between scientists and citizens to expand opportunities for scientific data collection and problem solving. Recent advancements such as the Internet, social networks and smart devices have created a technological platform for CS to engage more citizens to work on a wide range of scientific problems. Due to technical, financial and management resource constraints many organisations struggle to develop effective tools to collect scientific data in CS projects. A robust web and mobile interface for scientific data collection will ensure collection of higher quality scientific data. While web and mobile applications have been developed for some CS projects many CS projects are hindered by the complexity and intrinsic costs of implementing these applications. This thesis describes a web-based model for CS data collection suitable for both small CS communities and larger scientific organisations. Offering features commonly used in CS projects, this model reduces costs associated with software implementation and management in CS. A CS campaign is undertaken as a case study that validates our model in a real world scenario. Overall the generic data collection framework presented will empower communities and organisations to engage and use CS in more ways and on large scales

Question 74 - What are the facts regarding the Septuagint?

Information and communication technologies have had a significant impact on the lifestyles of societies, transforming them from their seeds. There are currently problems in the provision of information services, in accordance with the requirements of a process of sustainable development for the whole society. Concerning the term globalization, information, and communication technologies (ICT) are one of the primary references in the economy and sociocultural processes. In perspective, the use of ICT is aimed at broadening the bases through increasingly creative and participatory systems, offering products and services that facilitate decision-making and the preparation of today's society. The evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT), the Internet and their realization on the World Wide Web has facilitated the access to all kinds of information necessary for the user or client, provoking considerably the interactivity between people of different continents and countries of the world, providing the possibility to develop their skills and abilities with the aim of reducing the digital divide. Its impact changes the ways of doing and thinking, varying the needs, thus causing information specialists to increasingly have the task of offering and generating quality services or products, as well as being proactive to the information needs of globalized society.Las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones han impactado notablemente en el estilo de vida de las sociedades, transformándolas desde su simiente. Actualmente existen problemas en la oferta de servicios de información, de acuerdo con los requerimientos de un proceso de desarrollo sostenible para toda la sociedad. En relación con el término globalización las tecnologías de información y comunicación (TIC) son una de las principales referencias actuales tanto en la economía como en los procesos socioculturales. En perspectiva, el uso de las TIC se orienta a ampliar las bases a través de sistemas cada vez más creativos y participativos, ofreciendo productos y servicios que facilitan la toma de decisiones y la preparación de la sociedad actual. La evolución de las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones (TIC), Internet y su realización en la World Wide Web ha facilitado el acceso a todo tipo de información necesaria para el usuario o cliente, provocando considerablemente la interactividad entre personas de distintas continentes y países del mundo, brindando la posibilidad de desarrollar sus capacidades y habilidades con el objetivo de disminuir la brecha digital. Su impacto cambia los modos de hacer y de pensar, variando las necesidades provocando así que los especialistas en información cada vez tengan la tarea de ofrecer y generar servicios o productos de calidad, como también ser proactivos ante las necesidades de información en la sociedad globalizada

Evaluating global e-government sites: A view using web diagnostics tools

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2004 The AuthorsSeveral governments across the world have embraced the digital revolution and continue to take advantage of the information and communication facilities offered by the Internet to offer public services. Conversely, citizens’ awareness and expectations of Internet based online-public-services have also increased in recent times. Although the numbers of the different national e-Government web portals have rapidly increased in the last three years, the success of these portals will largely depend on their accessibility, quality and privacy. This paper reports the results of an evaluative study of a cross-section of e-Government portals from these three perspectives, using a common set of performance metrics and Web diagnostic engines. Results show that not only are there wide variations in the spectrum of information and services provided by these portals, but that significant work still needs to be undertaken in order to make the portals examples of ‘best practice’ e-Government services

Quality-testing the legal Internet: finding law with the SOSIG Law Gateway

English language version of a preprint of an article by Steven Whittle, Information Systems Manager at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, published in Recht Bibliothek Dokumentation, the journal of the AjBD Arbeitsgemeinschaft für juristisches Bibliotheks-und Dokumentationswese

An Analysis of Service Ontologies

Services are increasingly shaping the world’s economic activity. Service provision and consumption have been profiting from advances in ICT, but the decentralization and heterogeneity of the involved service entities still pose engineering challenges. One of these challenges is to achieve semantic interoperability among these autonomous entities. Semantic web technology aims at addressing this challenge on a large scale, and has matured over the last years. This is evident from the various efforts reported in the literature in which service knowledge is represented in terms of ontologies developed either in individual research projects or in standardization bodies. This paper aims at analyzing the most relevant service ontologies available today for their suitability to cope with the service semantic interoperability challenge. We take the vision of the Internet of Services (IoS) as our motivation to identify the requirements for service ontologies. We adopt a formal approach to ontology design and evaluation in our analysis. We start by defining informal competency questions derived from a motivating scenario, and we identify relevant concepts and properties in service ontologies that match the formal ontological representation of these questions. We analyze the service ontologies with our concepts and questions, so that each ontology is positioned and evaluated according to its utility. The gaps we identify as the result of our analysis provide an indication of open challenges and future work

Implementation of Internet based courses in computer information systems at Milwaukee Area Technical College

Includes bibliographical references