IMS Common Cartridge (CC) Mime-type Registration Preliminary Review Request
Colin Smythe
colin at dunelm.com
Sun Aug 16 21:44:00 CEST 2009
Hi,
We wish to register a new Mime-type for the IMS
Global Learning Consortium's Common Cartridge.
As part of that process we submit this application for preliminary peer review.
Inserted is the Registration Form. The IMS's
Common Cartridge specification, to which this
application refers, is available at:
http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/index.html.
--------------------------------------
Name : Colin Smythe
Email : csmythe at imsglobal.org
MIME media type name : Application
MIME subtype name : Standards Tree -imsccml+xml
Required parameters : There are no required parameters.
Optional parameters : 'charset'
The charset parameter of application/imsccml+xml
is handled in the same fashion as for
application/xml, as specified in Section 3.2 of
[RFC3023]. However, per conformance of IMS
Global Learning Consortium's Common Cartridge,
valid Common Cartridge manifest documents MUST be
in the UTF-8 character set. If the charset
parameter is present, it MUST take the value
"utf-8". Common Cartridge processing software
SHOULD check the charset field, and if it is
present but not equal to "utf-8", MAY attempt to
recover from the error by processing the document
in the specified character set.
Encoding considerations : 8bit
This media type may require encoding on
transports not capable of handling 8 bit text.
Security considerations :
Several features of Common Cartridge manifest
require dereferencing arbitrary URIs.
Implementers are advised to heed the security
issues of [RFC3986] Section 7.
Common Cartridge describes how learning content
can be accessed. A simple Digital Rights
Management mechanism is defined through a Web
Services based authorization protocol which a
Common Cartridge instance may include. All
systems supporting the use of Common Cartridges
must implement the authorization mechanism.
The specification does not constrain how any
dynamic content may behave. Therefore, systems
must implement access controls that limit the
access of any content to system resources.
Interoperability considerations :
Interoperability is achieved through the use of
the 'imsmanifest.xml' which has an associated
XSD. The interoperability considerations in
Section 3.1 of [RFC3023] also apply to Common
Cartridge manifest documents. Common Cartridge
manifest documents contain XML elements defined
by each specific format, all of which are
published specifications. The Common Cartridge
XSD which profiles the Content Packaging v1.2
schema and the schemas which profile Common
Cartridge usage of IEEE Learning Object Metadata
v1.0 and
IMS GLC Question Test Interoperability (QTI)
v1.2.1 have been defined using the IMS GLC
SchemaProf tool v1.0. The tool produces a set of
derived schemas, corresponding to the Common
Cartridge schema and its profiled auxiliary
schemas, against which any cartridge must
validate.
SchemaProf also allows the application of
additional constraints which further constrain
how Common Cartridge may be used. These encompass:
(a) Static constraints - the parameters (e.g.
file names) are fixed in the profile;
(b) Dynamic constraints - the parameters are
taken from an instance document in the package
e.g. the href of a resource must point to a QTI
file;
(c) Conditional constraints - the constraint depends on a condition.
To be deemed to comply with the Common Cartridge
specification, cartridges must:
(a) Successfully validate against the Common Cartridge schema set;
(b) Satisfy all of the additional constraints.
Published specification :
This media type registration is for the IMS
Global Learning Consortium Common Cartridge
specification available at
http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/index.html. This
specification was published in October 2008 after
formal approval by the IMS GLC Technical Advisory
Board.
The mission of IMS GLC is to create standards for
the development and adoption of technologies that
enable high-quality, accessible, and affordable
learning experiences. IMS GLC is now enabling the
next generation of Digital Learning Services,
combining new forms of digital content,
assessment, applications, and administrative
services.
IMS GLC is supported by over 135 organizations
â¤" the worldâ¤s leaders in educational and
learning technology, including leading learning
technology product suppliers and publishers,
leading institutions of learning and training,
and leading government and professional
consortia. The breakdown of members is 58%
leading corporations, 24% leading institutions of
learning or school districts, and 18% consortia
and/or government organizations. Currently, 47%
of member organizations are headquartered outside
the United States.
IMS GLC has approved and published some 20
standards that are the most widely used learning
technology standards in the world. Widely-used
IMS GLC standards include meta-data, content
packaging, common cartridge, enterprise services,
question and test, sequencing, competencies,
access for all, ePortfolio, learner information,
tools interoperability, resource list, sharable
state persistence, vocabulary definition, and
learning design. These standards have been used
widely in higher education, K-12 education, and
corporate training in regions around the globe.
All IMS GLC standards are available free of
charge via the IMS GLC web site and can be used
without royalty.
Applications which use this media :
The Common Cartridge defines an open format for
the distribution of rich, web-based content. It
is designed to ensure the correct installation
and operation of content across any Common
Cartridge conformant platforms and tools. The
specification defines a profile for the use of
the following specifications which are (in the
versions adopted here), already widely
implemented and in use across the community:
(a) IEEE LOM encompassing;
(b) IMS GLC Content Packaging v1.2;
(c) IMS GLC Question and Test Interoperability v1.2.1;
(d) IMS GLC Authorization Web Service v1.0.
The LOM, Content Packaging and Question and Test
Interoperability specifications have each been
profiled to simplify their use. Thus their scope
has been constrained to those features commonly
implemented and in use by the community.
Experience suggests that interoperability
problems that have arisen with implementations of
these specifications are frequently the result of
differing interpretations of the specs and
options being taken that lead to divergence in
behavior. A key goal of the Common Cartridge
specification therefore has been to provide a
tighter definition of their use thus eliminating
this divergence. The resulting profile also lends
itself to more effective conformance testing of
implementations.
Additional features offered by the Common Cartridge include:
(a) A new resource type for initiating discussion forum interactions;
(b) Inclusion of a question bank (i.e., a QTI
objectbank), offering tutors additional questions
to those contained within the pre-configured
assessments, which they can configure around the
core material;
(c) Optional authorization to protect either the
whole cartridge, or selected cartridge resources;
(d) The present versions of the specifications
supported under Common Cartridge have been
selected to offer existing implementations a low
barrier to adoption of the Common Cartridge. It
is to be anticipated that as new versions of
these specifications achieve widespread adoption,
they in turn will be adopted thus further
enhancing the features supported in future
versions of the Common Cartridge.
Only platforms which meet the conformance
requirements identified in the CC specification
and fully implement the CC Authorization service
can claim CC compliance.
Additional information :
1. Magic number(s) : There is no always present single initial octet sequence.
2. File extension(s) : The CC manifest file must
have the name 'imsmanifest.xml'.
3. Macintosh file type code : TEXT
4. Object Identifiers: Not applicable.
Other Information :
The conceptual model of the Common Cartridge is
similar to "cartridge-like" features found in
existing commercial vendor solutions, several of
the features of the Common Cartridge are
included. Conceptually, a Common Cartridge is a
package of content and meta-data that is
integrated into an LMS learning context. At a
high level, this may directly correspond to the
notion of "course" in the target LMS. There is no
guarantee of the cardinality of the relationship
from "learning context" to "Common Cartridge",
i.e., the LMS may enforce an arbitrary 1-1
relationship. The data contained in the package
breaks down into the following categories:
(a) "Learner Experience" Data. These are the
resources presented directly to the learner, i.e.
content resources;
(b) Supplemental Resources. These are resources
that may be optionally integrated into the
learning context by an instructor or other
facilitator e.g. question bank;
(c) Operational Data. Data used to control
behavioral aspects of the LMS display/interaction
with the cartridge e.g. authorization;
(d) Descriptive Meta-data. This is the defined
IEEE LOM data, and is represented via existing
bindings.
A Common Cartridge is an IMS GLC Content Package
conforming to the following basic structure:
(a) A Common Cartridge may define a single
organization, or include no organization.
Multiple organizations are not permitted and the
default attribute for organizations is not
therefore supported. The single organization is
used on import to integrate with the learning
context, and defines the basic navigation
structure for the package. The organization
assumes the predefined "hierarchical" structure;
(b) Only "Learner Experience" resources may be
included in the 'organization' hierarchy;
(c) Operational data (authorization,
cartridge-level meta-data) are defined via
discrete resource types within the package;
(d) Supplemental resources must not appear in the
organization. The LMS provides a way for the
instructor/facilitator to inspect/deploy/utilize
these resources as they see fit;
(e) Common Cartridge resources must be identified
with GUIDs, in order to facilitate proper
integration in systems that execute "by
reference" content usage.
Person to contact for further information :
1. Name : Colin Smythe
2. Email : csmythe at imsglobal.org
Intended usage : Common
There are no further comments.
Author/Change controller :
The Editor for the IMS GLC Common Cartridge specification was Kevin Riley
(kriley at imsglobal.org).
Revisions of the specification are underway but
these will be backwards compatible and will
always require the presence of the manifest
document which is the subject of this
registration.
----------------------------------
This is our first attempt at such a registration
so please forgive any obvious errors on our part.
Thanx.
Colin S.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMS Global Learning Consortium * Innovation * Adoption * Learning
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colin Smythe
Chief Architect
IMS Global Learning Consortium Inc.
Tel: +44-(0)114-2334009
Fax: +44-(0)114-2334009
Mobile: +44-(0)793-2636911
SkypeName: dunelmcolins
SkypeIn(UK): +44(0)20-7193-5892
SkypeIn(USA): +00-1-978-631-0548
Email: csmythe at imsglobal.org
Web: http://www.imsglobal.org
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