Obfuscating. Overwhelming. And enough, already. With the plethora of legitimate as well as questionable information sources on the Internet today, "info-mining" is both easier and more difficult than ever before - especially if you care about the credibility of your source and results.
For a little clarity on the subject, info-miners in the distance education community can use one or more of
COL
's info-mining tools. First,
COL
's online Knowledge Finder offers a high-quality open and distance learning (ODL) information retrieval and search service. Two other tools reflect
COL
's consistent ability to advance Commonwealth educational development through strategic co-operation.
Significant management and content partnerships between
COL
and the World Bank has resulted in the online Global Distance Education Network (GDENet), and The Development Gateway Foundation for the Development Gateway (www.developmentgateway.org/e-learning).
These initiatives are part of a long-term plan to augment COL's existing info-mining services, which include
COL
's online Information Resource Centre and a Gender Training Resources database (www.col.org/GenderResources) developed in collaboration with UNDP, UNIFEM, UNICEF and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
In addition,
COL
's future ICT-based info-mining services will likely include producing digital libraries such as e-books, journals, reports and databases on DVD and similar high-density information storage media. These offline formats are commonly PC-accessible, and store considerably more information per unit than a CD-ROM.
COL
's Knowledge Finder
Launched in mid-2002, the COL Knowledge Finder provides one-stop access to approximately one million quality documents from pre-filtered online sources. Links include educational and development sites, with sub-indexes that focus on issues such as poverty alleviation, gender equity and health. With limited marketing, the Finder is now logging over 1000 page impressions per week. Encouraged by these numbers,
COL
has initiated an Internet-based promotional campaign that is expected to increase regular usage to 3000 times per week by the end of 2003.
Aware of the time constraints under which policy-makers, educators, developers, trainers, researchers and learners labour, the Finder provides starter "access pages" customised to specific topics or interest groups, such as open and distance learning (ODL, colfinder.org/odl), schoolnets (colfinder/org/sn) and development (colfinder.org/dev). Based on Convera's proprietary RetrievalWare data-mining software (www.convera.com), the Finder indexes about 200 document types, including popular formats such as .doc, pdf and html. It executes everything from pattern and concept to Boolean searches, and compensates for alternative spellings ("cheque" or "check"), meanings ("banking" or "finance") and typos (e.g., "colour"). Concept searching (the default), automatically uses its built-in dictionaries in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish to provide cross-lingual results and expand the search based on synonyms. Pattern searching also allows users to search for documents in additional languages such as Malaysian or Danish. The site also provides links to Babelfish (www/babelfish.org) for on-the-fly translation.
Users can download the freeware pakXpress reader - developed by 3waynet Inc. (www.3waynet.com) - to edit, catalogue, meta-tag and store search results. Advanced features, such as e-mailable custom "information packs," detailed note-taking and wider file-saving options, are available if required, for a fee, through an optional downloadable programme. (Speaking technically, this option allows the user to store IMS/SCORM compatible meta-tagging to tag content as learning objects!)
COL
and GDENet
Invited by the World Bank to host GDENet's Island States regional site and manage the global site, and with funding from infoDev,
COL
works with other implementing and content partners to provide ODL policy-makers, decision-makers and practitioners access to public domain and copyright secured quality resources covering setting up, implementing and maintaining national, regional or institutional programming. Registering approximately 3000 hits per month in mid-2003, the
COL
managed site interfaces with GDENet's five other regional sites in addition to a central resource site. GDENet offers access to information in five languages, covering ODL as well as the educational use of information and communication technology (ICT).
COL
also contributes to GDENet's global content management and editorial team.
COL
and the Development Gateway
COL
is also one of several partners from both the public and private sectors in the Development Gateway, an Internet portal aimed at showcasing practical information on sustainable development and poverty reduction. The Gateway's interactive, user-friendly format and broad emphasis on the significant contribution of education to development make this an ideal collaboration for COL.
A content partner in the portal's e-learning section since early 2002,
COL
co-manages the section with World Links (www.world-links.org).
COL
also works closely with an international group of independent specialist guides and advisers as well as a content editor to filter and categorise site content contributions from stakeholder governments, non-governmental organisations, corporations and interested individuals.
E-learning's more than 1796 resources are now available in five languages. Approximately half of the section's 2779 registered members hail from developing countries, with hundreds of new members signing up each month. Aside from feedback and member contributions,
COL
has provided the Gateway with 633 resource links to the portal's ever-increasing inventory of resource listings. These links are chiefly in the areas of e-learning, ICT for development and the knowledge economy.
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