By providing the community with additional functionality not directly linked to the actual 

repository, EdNA provides users with more reasons to be a member of, and contribute to the 

community. It is important to note however that services such as EdNA have been operational 

for over 10 years and thus we should not underestimate the time it takes for a community to 

use a repository initiatives as a `one stop shop' for all their requirements. 

2.4.8 Contribution Schemes 

A number of the larger sites that are keen to grow their resource collections are adopting a 

variety of schemes that will hopefully encourage resource contribution. They vary by offering 

award systems, for example MERLOT's `Editor's Choice' Award that is based on peer review, 

to Wisconsin Online Resource Center's credit system which is done on an institutional level. 

2.5 Reflections on JORUM  

The initiatives included in this report are a disparate group, with very few of them actually 

sharing similar functionality to JORUM. However the sites surveyed are relevant as they have 

all attempted to build an online community around learning resources. JORUM will stand 

apart from the majority in terms of its specific objectives, as its functionality, as well as its 

focus, will be very much about the contributions users make to the content of the site, and 

reuse and repurpose of actual resources deposited in the repository. 

The initiatives that seem to be more successful in terms of their sense of community are 

those that are related to a specific geographic area i.e. the Wisconsin Online Resource 

Center or Maricopa Learning Exchange (MERLOT and EdNA are exceptions to this trend, 

although they are both relatively mature). As JORUM is a national service, quite unlike many 

of the initiatives surveyed, the way in which JORUM is rolled out is critical to the way in which 

it will be perceived by individual HE and FE

institutions. The initial strategy must ensure a 

sense of community support, belonging and ownership at an early stage. 

For JORUM to succeed the focus must be as much on community building and support, as it 

is on the content storage and delivery. The content of this report illustrates that a number of 

services have become extremely successful, while providing very little functionality 

technically. The promotion of the JORUM service will focus not only on the repository and its 

functionality, but also on the support and community building aspects that will help ensure its 

success. 

The purpose of this report is to summarise developments of mature projects such as 

MERLOT and discuss their applicability to JORUM. It should be noted that JORUM has 

already taken account of research done by mature learning repositories like CAREO. It is 

important that we acknowledge that there are very few, if any, repository initiatives who have 

implemented the IMS `Digital Repository Interoperability Specification' at the core of their 

strategy and are investigating the best possible solutions for issues such as metadata 

creation, learning object management, workflow, licensing, digital rights and content 

packaging.  

We should note, however, that most of the resources and tools do not fit our 

definition of repositories; many do not store the electronic objects but only 

manage the creation, maintenance and searching of meta data. It is the 

hope of the Academic ADL Co Lab that  true  repository systems will 

develop that combine content and metadata management.  

[ADL 2004, p.2]. 

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