4 September 2009

The information-gathering phase of the Vocabularies Review is now closed. The findings and proposals will be discussed at an all-day meeting at Academy York on 21 September 2009 - please contact Mike Clarke at Academy York to book a place if you wish to attend.

What is HEART?

The Academy is currently using two overlapping resource type vocabularies: these are the RDN/LTSN Resource Types Vocabulary, created for the RDN/LTSN Interoperability Project, and an 'Academy list' of resource types. The proposed new vocabulary (Higher Education Academy Resource Types, or HEART) will combine the two to create a single list tailored to the Academy's current needs.

A first draft of HEART is now available for comment (http://evidencenet.pbworks.com/f/HEART%20first%20draft.doc). A partial hierarchy has been introduced to clarify the relationships between some terms (for example, Book - Book Section - Chapter).

You are invited to consider the following questions:

1. Should any other terms be included? For example, should 'Podcast' be added?

2. Does the suggested hierarchy make sense?

3. Should any or all of the terms be formally defined?

This page will be used to gather comments and suggestions and will be active from 1 June - 4 September 2009, after which it will be locked. The proposed changes will be collated into a list of suggested amendments which will be considered at an all-day meeting on 21 September at Academy York. The final version of HEART will be published on 12 October.

June

Assessment Item: the hierarchical position of this term is wrong as it should not be a broader term (BT) for Evaluation Form, Examination, Test.

Would it be helpful to introduce a new term as a BT for all four terms, thus:

[Assessment?]

     [Computer-based] Assessment Item

     Evaluation Form

     Examination

     Test

or would it be better to make Assessment Item, Evaluation Form, Examination and Test all top-level terms? Would the broad term be useful as a catch-all for assessment resources that are difficult to categorise, or not?

July

No additional suggestions were made in July.

August (WB 3/8)

The hierarchical position of 'Guide' has been challenged, on the grounds that it could be either a book or an electronic book and should not therefore be subordinate to 'Book'. The proposal is to make 'Guide' a top-level term and move it and its subordinate terms out of its current position.

'Briefing Guide' has been suggested as an additional term; if accepted, it could be subordinate to 'Guide'.

August (WB 24/8)

The following additional terms have been suggested for HEAV: Wiki, Repository, Observatory, Taxonomy, Classification [Scheme], Learning Object. If added to HEAV they would be used to describe resources ABOUT these subjects; some or all of them may also be required as HEART terms.