2.6 Recommendations 

In terms of JORUM, there are a number of features and/or projects that are relevant to the 

service in development. These recommendations are categorised as follows: worth looking at 

in greater detail, keep an eye on their development or consider practical use of now. 

2.6.1 Investigate Further 

Look at ways to develop the JORUM website from the perspective of community 

support rather than simply as a collection of introduction pages for the repository 

Look at ways of developing international links/affiliation with like minded projects that 

may share actual learning objects i.e. Connexions, EducaNext, CAREO 

Look at a service which obtains permissions and fees for respective objects like 

AESharenet 

Consider contribution schemes to get content created by users in first instance 

Consider how JORUM could be `White Labelled' so that it could be integrated with 

institutions' own VLE i.e. like EdNA Online  

2.6.2 Repositories to Watch  

The Belle R&D Project: This has many shared aims with JORUM and there could be 

significant benefits to seeking some contributions from

or alliance with

them 

Peer to Peer Initiatives: In terms of growth in number of users, the culture of P2P 

within the academic community is an interesting one 

Open Source: Especially the Connexions Initiative, and the vast amounts of relevant 

functionality the underlying Plone open source software has to offer 

2.6.3 Practical Implementations 

Federated search services through the likes of MERLOT, CAREO etc. 

Tool Kits to allow institutions to create their own mini JORUM (like DSPACE) 

Production of a JORUM metadata tool similar to RELOAD, which could automatically 

upload resources to the repository and allow the user to browse and search the 

JORUM repository 

Focus on limited communities at launch to test functionality and collate content 

Provide tools for community support, using EdNA Online as a model for success 

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