As the LD4PE site continues to grow and mature, we are continually seeking feedback on its content and usability. At our Special Session at DCMI-2016 in Copenhagen last month, we had a couple of great sessions and received great input and suggestions for changes to the website. We would like to extend some of the exercises from the sessions to a larger audience.

We would be grateful for participation in a brief exercise that ask users to go through scenarios using the LD4PE website and Competency Index. Below is a series of prompts to follow. The assumption is that you would start at the LD4PE homepage: https://ld4pe.dublincore.org/

After completing each pair of prompts, there will be a short questionnaire.

Thank you for your participation. Naturally, you are welcome to provide feedback about the site, the Competency Index, and the resources through less formal channels. Contact information is available on our Participate page: https://ld4pe.dublincore.org/about/participate/

 

Open a separate browser window and begin at the LD4PE homepage: https://ld4pe.dublincore.org/

Prompts

A. You are a professor teaching an introductory course on Semantic Web and Linked Data concepts. One of the topics you wish to cover is the RDF Data Model. Specifically, you want to emphasize the differences between RDF and other data models.

Your task is comprised of two steps:
1. Browse through the Competency Index until you locate a competency which will meet the learning objective described above.
2. Choose an appropriate learning resource which has been aligned to that competency.

 

B. You work for a local government agency which is considering replacing a traditional relational database with a triple store (in order to better meet mandates for openness and transparency). However, some of your colleagues are wary of having to learn a “whole new language” to query data. It is your responsibility to gather information on what SPARQL is and how it is used.

Your task is comprised of two steps:
1. Browse through the Competency Index until you locate a competency which will meet the learning objective described above.
2. Choose an appropriate learning resource which has been aligned to that competency.

After completing prompts A & B, please proceed to a short questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LD4PE

 

C. While researching SPARQL in Prompt B, you found that there are a handful of resources that describe the query language very well, and you want to save these resources in one place so that you can send a single link to some of your co-workers referring them to the resources. You notice that the website has a “Saved Sets” functionality, and decide to try it out.

Your task is comprised of three steps:
1. Create a new “Saved Set” and name it something meaningful you will remember later. Also add a description for additional context.
2. Add several SPARQL related resources to this Saved Set (one of these might be the resource you found for the previous prompt).
3. Make sure the Saved Set is “public”, so that your co-workers will be able to see it.

 

D. In this final prompt, you are again the professor from Prompt A, who was researching the RDF Data Model for your course on Semantic Web and Linked Data concepts. You quickly realize that it may be difficult for students to see the connections between the various components of Linked Data (RDF, SPARQL, OWL, the various serializations for publishing data). This means that presenting the concepts in the correct order will be very important. To help organize your thoughts and plan the curriculum for the course, you decide to use the websites’ “Learning Maps” functionality.

Your task is comprised of three steps:
1. Create a new “Learning Map” and name it something meaningful you will remember later. Also add a description for additional context.
2. Add several Competencies to the Learning Map. For example, you may want to start out with the RDF Data Model and then move on to a closely related concept, such as how to query data represented in RDF. The Learning Map functionality allows you to do this using the same skills you learned from Prompt A and Prompt B.
3. When you are done adding Competencies to your Learning Map, look at the order in which they appear. Can you think of a more logical way to group them? Try re-arranging the order of the Competencies in your Learning Map.

After completing prompts C & D, please proceed to a short questionnaire: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LD4PE2

 

Thank you for your participation. Naturally, you are welcome to provide feedback about the site, the Competency Index, and the resources through less formal channels. Contact information is available on our Participate page: https://ld4pe.dublincore.org/about/participate/