Knowledge Integration

Museum of London

k-int are currently working with the Museum of London to implement a new, RDF based, Collections Information Integration Module (CIIM) as part of the Museum's Collections Online Delivery service.

Collections Trust on Culture Grid

Collections Trust have launched a campaign to promote the benefits of the Culture Gird to organisations in the Museums, Archives and Libraries Sector. More details are on the Collections Trust website.

New k-int website launched

The k-int website has been uodated (about time, too, we hear people say!). As committed supporters of open source software we've chosen to implement the new site using drupal as we feel this currently represents one of the most functional and usable content management systems available. Hopefully this will encourage us update the site more frequently in future.

Peoples Network Updated

From 1st July 2009, the Peoples Network website moved to new home. Although it looks superficially pretty much the same as before, it is now being driven entirely by the Collections Trusts new Culture Grid platform, based around k-int's open source aggregator platform.

FixRep project begins

k-int are participating in the JISC funded FixRep project which started in April 2009. The project is led by UKOLN with the National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM) also being a partner.

k-int to maintain Zthes

Maintenance of the Zthes specification has been transferred to Knowledge Integration (http://zthes.z3950.org).

Transcoder available for public testing

As part of a JISC funded project involving k-int and CETIS, a web based service has been deployed on the Amazon Cloud Computing platform which allows users to upload learning materials packaged in a variety of formats and receieve in return the same materials in a diofferent packaging format. Supported formats include varients of SCORM, IMS Conetnt Packaging and IMS Common Cartridge.

The service, made freely available by CETIS, is available at http://purl.oclc.org/NET/transcoder.

Made4U - EU 7th Framework programme

VocMan launches Lexuarus

The Vocabulary Management Group (VocMan) - a joint venture between k-int and Schemeta - recently launched the Lexaurus vocabulary server.

Lexaurus Bank allows users to search and browse controlled vocabularies via a web interface or via web services based machine interfaces. See the VocMan site for more details.

Theatre Information Group

Following a feasibility study and a successful funding bid, the Theatre Information Group, led by V&A Theatre Collections, have commissioned k-int to design a National Performance Database.

The system will take data from a variety of sources to build up a unique historical record of theatrical performances. Initial partners include UK Theatre Web, National Theatre, Royal Opera House & Shakespeare Birthplace trust. It is hoped to add data from other sources at a later date.

Application Profile Registry - v2 launched

As well as having an enhanced user interface, the revised registry is also accessible via SRU and SRW. The registry has been implemented entirely using k-int open source toolkits.

'IT For Me' service launched

The new service, available at www.itforme.org.uk, is hosted by k-int and jointly funded by the four local library authorities in South Yorkshire. The launch of service represents a massive vote of confidence in the system from the authorities who are prepared to invest in maintaining this innovative service provision despite a difficult financial environment. As a group we plan to investigate opportunities to bid for funding in future to further enhance the system.

BECTA Vocabulary Studio

The web service interface allows studio to communicate with third party applications, such as vocabulary bank, in real time. The adoption of a ZTHES 1.0 as a standards-based interchange format allows vocabularies to be consumed directly by applications such as the curriculum online portal and tagging tool. For more information about vocabulary studio, see the VocMan website.

JISC Consultancy

A comprehensive review of Resource Discovery services was conducted by a team led by Clax Ltd. k-int were lead partner for the advisory phase, working alongside Eric Lease Morgan of Infomatics, Inc.

A workshop and report, following up on our previous work on personalisation technologies, was commissioned by JISC to inform policy priorities. k-int worked alongside Seb Schmoller and Nicky Ferguson on this, as in the original study.

The outcomes of both studies will be published shortly on the JISC website.

Exploring 20th Century London

The chosen solution was to integrate the upload of information between partners closely with the peoples network ‘discover’ service, taking advantage of discover’s ability to both provide and consume OAI-PMH data feeds. The model ensures that e20cl data is automatically also available in ‘discover’ for wider dissemination and is seen by MLA and others as a model for similar projects in future.

Vocab commons 1.1.0 released

Vocab commons 1.1.0 - Knowledge Integrations core library for importing, managing and versioning zthes taxonomy and thesaural structures released today. Source can be found at http://developer.k-int.com/svn/vocman/bank/common/tags/vmb_commons-1.1.0 with the head development version available at http://developer.k-int.com/svn/vocman/bank/common/trunk. Compiled binaries are available from the maven2 repository at http://developer.k-int.com/maven2/vocman/bank/vmb_commons/1.1.0.

Our work took the outputs of a requirements analysis alongside details of existing databases and mapped these against the capabilities of iNode and associated software, using OAIS as a reference model. We found a good fit and were able to provide a detailed development and implementation plan which will form the basis of future funding bids.

Launch of PN Discover

'Discover' is based on K-Int's ground breaking open source portal toolkit, iNode. The service was developed for MLA by the IT For Consortium consisting of:

* University of Sheffield

* Knowledge Integration

* Futurate
.

Peoples Network Discovery Service

The IT For Consortium, consisiting of University of Sheffield, Knowledge Integration and Futurate, won the contract via a competitive tendering process, beating off strong competition.

The Discovery Service will provide access to range of content including Community Information, eGovernment, Digitised Resources and eLearning materials. It is due for launch in the Autumn.

European eLearning Standards

One part of this work is to develop and maintain a registry of Aplication Profiles relating to eLearning. The project will develop a generic Registry API in JAVA which can be accessed by a range of protocol adapters. The registry will be accessible to both human and machine agents.

Curriculum Online Vocabulary Management System

The successful consortium is led by Schemeta and, in addition to K-Int, includes taxonomy specialists Metataxis.

K-Int appointed by ALT as IT supplier

Following a competitive tendering process, K-Int has been notified by the Association for Learning Technology that we have been appointed as a supplier of web development services.

The appointment will lead to a framework agreement lasting three years. We understand that our friends at Futurate are the only other company to be successful in this tender.