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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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)
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
Choice of
Content Management System
• Project start - July 1998
• System requirements:
– Low cost, scalable, easy to use
• System chosen - Zope
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–
–
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Freedom from file ‘tyranny’ (.php3, .pl, .html etc.)
Excellent permissions system
Extensive database connectivity
Novel features - ‘undo’, ‘versions’
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
NLE in action
• All sites hosted at Newcastle
– Designed for portability in mind
•
•
•
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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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
The ‘NLE’ way
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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”)
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
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)
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk
Information Sources
• Zope - Object Orientated Web Delivery Platform
– http://www.zope.org/
• MySQL - Open Source RDBMS
– http://www.mysql.com/
• Python - Scripting Language
– http://www.python.org/
• Omnimark - Text Processing Language
– http://www.omnimark.com
• Roxen - Graphically Rich Web Server
– http://www.roxen.com
http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/nle/documents
tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk