Final Seminar for Matthias Palmér

Supervisors: Marko Turpeinen and Ambjörn Naeve

Abstract:
                   
Learning applications is a quite broad term which can be used for anything from textbook replacements to rich lab environments that allows experiments, communication and collaboration. In addition, the technology used when developing learning applications varies due to the target platform. For instance it varies depending on who and how many the intended end-users are, if there are requirements to support in-application collaboration, and naturally also the expertise of the developers.

This thesis provides guidance on a how to develop a category of learning applications based on Semantic Web technologies. The focus on Semantic Web is due to its basic design that allows expression of knowledge at the web scale. It also allows keeping track of who said what, providing subjective expressions in parallel with more authoritative knowledge sources. The intended readers of this thesis include practitioners, such as software architects and developers, as well as researchers in fields such as Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL).

The starting point is the experience from design and development of two learning applications. The first is the desktop application Conzilla, which provides a way to create and navigate a landscapes of concepts and concept-relations. The second is the web application Confolio/EntryScape which allows users to collect files and online material into personal and shared portfolios.

Based upon the experience of design and development as well as on more theoretical considerations outlined in the papers and in this thesis, three major obstacles have been identified:

• The first obstacle is: lack of non-expert and user friendly solutions for presenting and editing Semantic Web data that is not hard-coded to a specific vocabulary. The thesis presents a concrete software solution together with a list of the most important features that have crystallized over ten years of development and six major iterations.

• The second obstacle is: lack of solutions that can create new and manage existing resources and related Semantic Web data both privately and in collaborative settings. The thesis presents a concrete software solution together with a list of features that have crystallized over ten years of development in four major iterations.

• The third obstacle is: lack of recommendations for how to build learning applications based on Semantic Web technology. The thesis presents seven recommendations in terms of architectures, technologies, frameworks, and type of application to focus on.

In addition, as part of the preparatory work to overcome the three obstacles, the thesis also presents a categorization of applications, a derivation of the relations between standards, technologies and application types, five categories of tools that support editing and presentation of RDF, and finally, five requirements for a reusable read/write RDF framework.

An abstract of the thesis can be found below, and a draft (as of 30 sept) is available