The Joined up Web - Newcastle University, a case study Dr Tony McDonald Faculty of Medicine Computing Centre (FMCC) Medical School University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Background Networked Learning Environments (NLE) project (TLTP 3-86) Four Consortium partners Newcastle University Medical Programme scalability issues led to development of curriculum database Nottingham University Medical Programme Durham University Biomedical Sciences Northumbria University Subjects Allied to Medicine ‘non-funded’ partner - Sheffield University Medical School Scalable Systems - eg no individual web pages written - extract from Database and output to other formats (HTML, RTF, PDF, XML-RPC, SOAP, etc)

Development Software/Hardware systems Core System - Zope –Object orientated web delivery system Rapid development of systems (Sheffield site created in < 1 week). Excellent database connectivity / very rich permissions structure. Plug-in ‘products’, separation of code/content Extensive use of ‘open-source’ / free software –Zope, Python, PHP, MySQL, Omnimark –UNIX servers / Solaris –Important for moving to other sites

Choice of Content Management System Project start - July 1998 System requirements: –Low cost, scalable, easy to use System chosen - Zope –Freedom from file ‘tyranny’ (.php3,.pl,.html etc.) –Excellent permissions system –Extensive database connectivity –Novel features - ‘undo’, ‘versions’

Integration - MIS Pivotal to a scalable system –Eg module codes, works for 10, works for 10,000 Possible users/Simultaneous users distinction Data Dumps - preferable to ‘live’ systems –Data warehousing –Student & staff info. Leads to authentication systems DON’T –Write single pages for a course, derive from database

Integration - Other ‘MLEs’ Data dumps from MIS Need primary key –eg Module code, student UCAS number Reuse existing management material –eg module -> exam info, student-> course taken –Don’t reenter student data –Don’t reenter module, course data

Working with other sites Scalability –Entering data a ‘no-no’ –Data source of staff/student/module information is essential –Zope allows editing site wherever a browser is available –Data Ownership (hosting our data at Newcastle? - no chance!) –Different Data structures not a problem

NLE in action All sites hosted at Newcastle –Designed for portability in mind Notts bought server to run their NLE UNIX backend, MySQL, Zope, Python, PHP3 Consortium sites have great autonomy Can use ZEO to distribute load over other servers

Successes Newcastle using NLE technologies extensively –MOFS (6200 modules, authenticated editing, resource upload and PDF output) Nottingham purchased server Addition of non-funded partner - Sheffield University Generally high regard from staff/students Remote Admins taking to Zope quite well

Problems NIH? –Not generally a problem Data Ownership –Reluctance to share data, eg staff ‘pet’ projects –Not always evident who owns the data Resistance to change –Senior mgmt might agree, but at ground zero… F2F communication - Invaluable

The ‘NLE’ way Scalability One source of data, ideally one data owner Repurpose existing data Create conduits (eg editing/uploading screens), not terminii (eg “I’ll upload that for you”)

Summary Obstacles (data ownership, data structures) can be formidable, but committed people at the sharp end make a real difference Open source systems help greatly –Easy to move to other sites, open data structures, lower cost Need bottom-up and top-down driving –Staff/student & Dean/PVC Hosting many sites at one location –No big deal (disk, processor and OS permitting)

Information Sources Zope - Object Orientated Web Delivery Platform – MySQL - Open Source RDBMS – Python - Scripting Language – Omnimark - Text Processing Language – Roxen - Graphically Rich Web Server –