Aperto Elearning Solutions - Open Source Integration Solutions

Updated WebCT Authentication plugin for Elgg 0.8

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:07:30 -0700

Elgg 0.8 introduced some small changes which required modification of the WebCT-authentication plugin.

We have just released version 1.0.2 of the plug-in, which is available from the download site.

The plug-in allows Elgg to authenticate users against the WebCT Vista (or CE6) database, thereby eliminating the need for administrators to set up duplicate accounts.

More information can be found on this page.

Update to Elgg-0.6-MediaWiki package

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:59:56 -0800

It was pointed out to me by a user of the Elgg 0.6-MediaWiki integration that a file was missing from the distribution zip. The file (error.php) was part of the Elgg 0.4 - MediaWiki integration package, so if you upgraded in place, you would not have seen the problem.

The omission has now been fixed, so if you experienced any problems with the integration, please download the package again and update your installation with the additional error.php file.

Apologies for any inconvenience and puzzlement this may have caused.

Elgg 0.6 Integration with WebCT

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 19:48:31 -0800

The integration between Elgg 0.6 and WebCT is now available on our download site. The WebCT Powerlink is identical, so anyone migrating from Elgg 0.4 does not need to update anything on the WebCT side.

The integration itself remains the same functionally - the Elgg-portion of the code has just been updated to take advantage of the database abstraction layer that was added for Elgg 0.6.

Authenticating Elgg users against WebCT Database

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:22:36 -0800

A few users of the Elgg PowerLink have suggested that it would be nice for their students to be able to log into Elgg directly, without first having to pass through WebCT.

We have just completed an Elgg authentication plug-in which addresses this request. When users access Elgg's login page and enter their username and password, Elgg's internal authentication is bypassed, and a web-services connection is made to the WebCT server instead.

If the username and password match those stored in the WebCT database, the user is logged into Elgg and is presented with their Elgg homepage.

For more information and download instructions, please see this page.

As with the Elgg PowerLink, this authentication plug-in is provided free of charge. If you have suggestions on how it could be improved, please let us know.

ElggSpaces Hosted Solution now available

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:58:21 -0800

Curverider, the company founded by the creators of Elgg, have just launched a turn-key hosted solution for Elgg at http://elggspaces.com.

This is a much-needed option for those institutions who don't have the technical expertise or the staffing resources to host Elgg for themselves.

Since the service is being run by Elgg's developers, users can expect all of the latest bug-fixes and features to be available as they become available.

MediaWiki-Elgg Integration updated for Elgg 0.6

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:44:01 -0700

We made some small changes for the MediaWiki-Elgg integration to support Elgg version 0.6. The original version was coded against Elgg 0.4.

Specifically, Elgg 0.6 supports a database table prefix for the Elgg tables, which is now a configuration option for the integration.

MediaWiki-Elgg Integration Posted

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:13:32 -0700

I have just posted the MediaWiki-Elgg integration for download off the Aperto download site. More information about the integration can be found here.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Elgg-MediaWiki Readme File

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:52:35 -0700

Elgg Authentication Plugin for MediaWiki

Requirements

This plugin has been tested with the following:

PHP 5.0.2 (should work with 4.3.x versions or later)
MySQL 5.0.2 (should work with earlier versions)
Elgg 0.4
MediaWiki 1.6.3 (assumed to work with versions at least as old as 1.4.9)

Installation

IMPORTANT: The Elgg instance and the MediaWiki instance must reside in the same domain.

Create a subdirectory under /extensions named elgg.
Extract these files into /extensions/elgg.
Open <mediawiki_dir>/extensions/elgg/constants.php in a text editor and make sure the following settings are configured correctly:
- ELGG_PATH: the path to access Elgg relative to the server. For example, if the URL to Elgg is http://www.myhost.com/elgg-0.4, then enter "elgg-0.4" (without the quotation marks).
- ELGG_MW_ELGG_WIKI_COOKIE_EXPIRY: the number of seconds before MediaWiki cookies expire. When these cookies expire, the plugin will force an authentication check against the Elgg database. If the check passes, the cookies are recreated automatically.
- ELGG_DB_HOST: the hostname of the machine hosting the Elgg database.
- ELGG_DB_NAME: the name of the Elgg database.
- ELGG_DB_USER: the user name with permissions on the Elgg database.
- ELGG_DB_PASSWORD: the password of the Elgg database user.
You may want to change the other settings, but generally it isn't required. You can refine the permissions by configuring the following:
- ELGG_MW_PUBLIC_ACTIONS: comma-delimited list of wiki actions that can be performed without being logged in to Elgg. DO NOT INCLUDE SPACES.
- ELGG_MW_PUBLIC_PAGE_ACTIONS: an associative array of page titles and their comma-delimited public actions. DO NOT INCLUDE SPACES. This takes precedence over ELGG_MW_PUBLIC_ACTIONS.
Open <mediawiki_dir>/LocalSettings.php in a text editor and add the following lines immediately before the PHP end-code delimiter (the "?>"):
```
        require_once('extensions/elgg/ElggAuthPlugin.php');

        $wgAuth = new ElggAuthPlugin();
```

How It Works

Anyone can view any page in the wiki without logging in. All other actions require a valid Elgg authentication cookie and the user must not be banned from Elgg. When a user tries to perform a non-view action to a page, the plugin first checks for the Elgg authentication cookie ("elggperm"). If the cookie is missing, the user is denied access to the page and redirected to the Elgg login page. If the cookie exists, the plugin uses the cookie value to generate a hash which is used to look up the user in the Elgg database. If the user is valid and has not been banned, the plugin creates the necessary cookies in MediaWiki and starts a session. If the user does not exist in the Elgg database, the user is redirected to the Elgg login page.

If the user exists in the Elgg database, but does not exist in the MediaWiki database, a new account is created automatically. Once this is done, the user is redirected to the appropriate wiki page.

The Elgg authentication cookie check is performed each time the user tries to perform an action in the wiki. This means that if the user logs out of Elgg, she will be denied access to the wiki until she logs in to Elgg again.

The user account lookup is only performed if the MediaWiki cookies do not exist. This means that if a user is logged in to Elgg and MediaWiki and is subsequently banned while still logged in, he will be denied access to Elgg but continue to have access to the wiki until the MediaWiki cookies expire.

Thus, to ensure that the user's status in Elgg is rechecked at a reasonable interval, the default MediaWiki cookie expiry is reduced to one hour.

Elgg-MediaWiki Integration

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:36:33 -0700

As part of our work with the http://earthblog.ca site, we integrated MediaWiki with Elgg 0.4.

The integration provides for single-sign-on from Elgg to MediaWiki, along with automatic user creation in MediaWiki.

The Wiki is openly accessible for reading, but editing actions require a user to be logged into Elgg. As soon as a user attempts to edit a page, the integration checks if the user previously logged into Elgg, and obtains the user's credentials. If none are found, the user is prompted to sign on (or to register) in Elgg.

The integration was created and tested with Elgg 0.4 and MediaWiki 1.6.3. Earlier versions of MediaWiki (up to 1.4.9) should work. As of August 15th, 2006, we have made some small modifications to support the current version of Elgg, which is 0.6. The 0.6 version is the default version available on the download site, but the 0.4 version is also available.

For an example of the integration, please see the earthblog.ca site - it should be accessible until September 2006.

We are making the source code of the integration freely available for download (see links below). Please let us know if you run into any issues, and if you have suggestions for improvements.

Links:

The Readme File from the download package for more details.
Download the integration.

WebCT Impact 2006 Wrap-up

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:25:41 -0700

I am back in Vancouver after an eventful week at the Annual WebCT Users Conference, held in Chicago this year. It was a bittersweet event for me, since it was the last official WebCT-only conference -- all future ones will be joint Blackboard/WebCT events. I was able to reminisce with a few old-timers about the past 8 annual conferences, and the great energy and enthusiasm the attendees and the staff have brought to these events.

Ok - enough of that. Let's get to some the major take-aways for me:

Blackboard's Beyond Initiative

This initiative was announced in March at BbWorld, and originally focused on 4 areas: Global Learning Objects Respository, Social Networking, ePortfolios for Life, and Outcomes Management.

In the opening keynote by Matt Pittinsky and Michael Chasen, a fifth element was added, which was Student Centered Learning. This was of particular interest to me, since it happens to be the exact title of the handout that I created for the WebCT-Elgg integration, and which was an insert for the conference bags. It is good to see that everyone is thinking along the same lines.

Blackboard is just starting on these initiatives, and clearly stated that they would be multi-year projects. While real details were not yet available, I hope that these central sites will have a trickle-down effect to the product lines, so that web 2.0-type functionality can be taken advantage of directly within the course environment right across the institution.

Blogs, Wikis, RSS and Podcasts are everywhere

There was a huge buzz on these topics at the conference, with many sessions and pre-conference workshops touching on one or more of these. Most of the users take advantage of centrally-hosted commercial sites, such as blogger, blogspot, del.icio.us, so I took the opportunity to mention Elgg as a locally-hosted option in many of my conversations.

Dr. Helen Barrett's Closing Keynote on ePortfolios

Very good presentation touching on a number of key points (Download slides here).

The take-aways for me were:

Concept of Working Portfolios vs. Presentation Portfolios
Is Portfolio to be used as an Assessment of learning (summative), or as an Assessment for learning?

The Closing Video

It would not have been a WebCT conference without some comic relief from Utah State's Kevin Reeve and Marc Hugentobler. This time, they wandered around the conference with a camera crew and captured some great moments. The sailor suits for the conference party at the Navy Pier were a nice touch.

At the WebCT User Conference in Chicago

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:13:48 -0700

Hello WebCT-clients - I am currently attending the WebCT User Conference in Chicago. If you are interested in having a chat about Elgg and the WebCT PowerLink integration in person, please feel free to send an email, with potential times that work for you.

I will also be demonstrating the integration as part of the following conference activities:

my talk on Thursday morning, July 13th, at 9:00 am in Room Michigan A
a demonstration in the Vista Developers Network booth in the exhibit hall on Thursday July 13th, from 10:45 to 11:15 am.

I am looking forward to catching up with you all in Chicago.

Sasan

Elgg Outside of Higher Education

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:23:32 -0700

Over the past few weeks, I have been involved in a project using Elgg in a non-academic environment.

Vancouver is currently hosting the World Urban Forum, an international event on global urban sustainability. Working with teams from UBC and Opn Design, Aperto helped set up two sites to support activities related to the event:

Earthblog.ca is a site to promote dialogue around social, environmental, cultural and economic issues facing the Greater Vancouver region.

Elgg's main homepage was branded with logos, and the entry page of Elgg pulls in the most recent postings of four key bloggers, as well as a 'hot comment' (as designated by one of the site admins periodically), and the most recent comment to the site.

Most of the Elgg functionality was disabled for visitors, except for the profile tool. The official bloggers have access to all of the Elgg functionality.

Another key part to this site was the single-sign-on integration between Elgg and MediaWiki. All login is handled by Elgg, and the session is transferred to MediaWiki if a user wants to edit a particular Wiki page.

We will be releasing the Elgg-MediaWiki integration to the community shortly, as a number of other Elgg users are looking for this functionality. More on that in a future post.

The second site Aperto worked on is GUSSE, a social site to collectively discuss, review and apply the best ideas for sustainable cities.

The integration here involved a customization to the Elgg entry page again. Registration and log in is being handled by the social tagging system opntag. Elgg reads the opntag session information and creates users in the Elgg system. GUSSE maintains all Elgg core functionality.

It has been interesting applying Elgg to a non-academic environment, and I hope that these examples help showcase the flexibiliity of Elgg, and the ability to customize the look and feel of the application.

WebCT-Elgg Integration Flash Demo

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:04:35 -0700

After getting a number of follow-up requests from the WebCT European Conference in Edinburgh, I decided to create a short Flash-movie which demonstrates the WebCT-Elgg integration.

The file can be found at:

http://www.aperto-elearning.com/files/elgg_demo.htm

The demo is best viewed on a 1024x768 or larger display, to minimize any scrolling.

For those interested, a PDF version of my presentation slides are also available for download from the conference site at:

http://gromit.webct.com/webct_europe_2006/Tu/Salari.pdf

Elgg Services

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 21:29:31 -0800

Aperto eLearning's goal is to provide you with the tools and the expertise to
successfully deploy Elgg on your campus alongside WebCT. We offer
you the following services to guide you from planning through to
implementation.

Planning

On-campus: Implementation Planning
Format:	2-day on-site planning session
Audience:	Project Leader, IT Staff, Instructional Designers, Faculty Support Staff
Suggested Group Size:	5-10 people
Agenda:	Overview of Elgg software and capabilities Overview of WebCT-Elgg integration Requirements/Need Analysis Hardware/software requirements Technical skills/maintenance Deployment options and customizations Deployment goals and timelines Roll-out/pilot planning
Cost:	US$ 3000

Professional Development

On-campus: Introduction to Student-centered Learning and Elgg
Format:	One-day seminar
Audience:	Faculty support staff, instructional designers, early adopters
Suggested group size:	10-20 participants
Agenda:	Benefits of Student-centered Learning in a WebCT Context Introduction to Social Networking Overview of Elgg functionality Effective blogging Podcasting Tagging Using syndication to gather external resources. Elgg's built-in syndication capabilities Integration with external tools (Flickr, del.icio.us, Blogger) Communities and Access Groups
Cost:	US$ 1500

On-campus: Student-centered Learning and Elgg Hands-on
Format:	Three-day Hands-on Workshop
Audience:	Faculty support staff, instructional designers, early adopters
Suggested group size:	up to 10 participants
Agenda:	This 3-day hands-on session covers the same topics as the Introduction to Social Networking workshop, but in greater detail. Participants will have access to a hosted instance of Elgg, and will get hands-on experience using the tools.
Cost:	US$ 4200

Training Materials
Contents:	License our training materials and customize them to your needs to jumpstart your faculty and student training initiatives.
Cost:	Please contact us for more information.

Support

Premium Support Package
Term:	12 months
Includes:	Access to Elgg's core developers Single-point email support Bug fixes on Elgg core components Bug fixes on WebCT integration Remote maintenance of your Elgg site
Cost:	US$ 8000

Hosting

Individual Elgg Installation

Term:

12 months

Includes:

Robust Linux-based hosted environment
Premium Support package
Latest version of Elgg installed

Cost:

Up to 200 users:	US$ 1000
Up to 1000 users:	US$ 5000
Up to 5000 users:	US$ 10000
Above 5000 users:	Custom Quote

Technical Services

Elgg Installation
Includes:	Installation of Elgg on a supported server configuration Elgg configuration Installation and configuration of WebCT-Elgg PowerLink Please Note: Database and Web-server installation are optional extras.
Cost:	US$ 1200

Elgg Installation

Includes:

Installation of Elgg on a supported server configuration
Elgg configuration
Installation and configuration of WebCT-Elgg PowerLink

Please Note: Database and Web-server installation are optional extras.

Cost:

US$ 1200

Elgg Customization for WebCT
Includes:	Customized WebCT look and feel for Elgg Any requested terminology changes Specific tools or functionality disabled in Elgg to fit into WebCT context Institutional branding
Cost:	US$ 600

Del.icio.us Tagging

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:06:08 -0800

Thanks to a note on Brian's blog, I attended a session by HP Researcher Scott Golder on his study of tags and social bookmarking on del.icio.us.

The talk was based on a paper which is due to appear in the Journal of Information Science.

Scott first gave background information on issues encountered when tags are defined by a community (ie. folksonomy vs. taxonomy):

synonymy: using different tags for the same thing (tv vs. television)
polysemy: a tag may have related senses (he gave the example of a window - either the hole in the wall, or the pane of glass)
homonymy: a particular tag can mean different things, depending on context (eg. speaker, chair, apple)
the 'basic level' problem: describing 'something' is related to the person's level of experience with that particular element. For example, a picture of a dog may be 'dog' to most people, but 'beagle' to a veterinarian.

In the analysis of the tags used to describe the bookmarks on del.icio.us, Scott found that they fell into 7 categories:

Identifying what or who it is about: topics of the bookmarked items. Tags consisted of common or proper nouns.
Identifying what it is: the kind of thing being bookmarked (eg. article, blog, book)
Identifying who owns it
Refining categories: these refine or qualify existing categories
Identifying qualities or characteristics: adjectives used according to the opinion of the bookmarker (eg. funny, scary)
Self Reference: identifying content in relation to the tagger (eg. mystuff, mycomments)
Task Organizing: information related to a task, used to group related information together (eg. jobsearch)

From this list, it can be seen that some tags are general, whereas others are very personal to the tagger and their experience. From an analysis of tag order, it appears to people use generally meaningful tags first (and these have the highest freqency across bookmarks), and more personal tags later. Therefore, analysis of the first few tags of a bookmark should give a good idea of the general topic of that link.

Scott also found that users' tag-lists varied greatly, and were not related to the number of bookmarks a particular user had. In one case, a user's number of tags increased steadily as their number of bookmarks increased, while another user's number of tags stayed level. This points to definite personal styles for tagging.

Another of his points related to usage of new tags. For example, I may have been doing some research on Africa, so I have tagged all of my bookmarks with that tag. However, a few months later, I decide that I need to be more specific, and add a country tag as well. This additional level of classification poses the following problems:

I cannot search my old bookmarks for instances of the country tag
Adding a country tag to my existing bookmarks (which could be in the hundreds) could be extremely onerous.

Finally, he found that tag proportions over time tend to be stable for a particular bookmark. This means that, after approx. 100 bookmarks for a particular URL, each tag's frequency is nearly a fixed proportion of the total frequency of all tags used. So for example, a particular URL may have the tag 'dog', which will have a frequency of 30% of all tags used for that bookmark, regardless of how many bookmarks are added and tagged for the URL.

The implication from this result is that "after a relatively small number of bookmarks, a nascent consensus seems to form, one that is not affected by the addition of further tags."

Some of the questions I am asking myself after the session are:

Do I tag for myself or for others? In the case of bookmarking, it is mostly for myself, but what about tagging my blog entries - is it so I can find them more easily later and selectively filter, or do I tag to make it easier for others to find my information? And if I do tag for others, do I tag with a specific audience in mind, and does that intended audience then define to some degree the tags that I use?
My own set of tags is evolving over time, based on my experiences. What is my responsibility for updating the tags of any previous content that I have tagged, should I decide to split a particular tag up into 2 or 3 different tags? On the one hand, the thought of inconsistency makes me uneasy. On the other hand, maybe I just have to accept the evolution of one's tag set, and consider the older tags as a snapshot of my state at that time.