Hierarchical Worksites - Worksites that contain other sites

(Sakai 2009, Boston, 10 July; Moderator R. Hill)

Seeking use cases and status of various endeavors.  Two interpretations emerge:  

1.  Physical containment of a worksite structure inside the worksite class; a recursive attribute.  This is the first case below, where A and B are separate objects, but connected by references.

2.  A logical mapping of a set of worksites, imposed on those worksites via another tool.  This is the second case below, where A contains B.

 Is there any reason to prefer #1?

What are the attributes of a worksite that might be inherited or referenced by a hierarchy?

• Content
• Realms (privileges and permissions)
• Membership and groups
• Tool set

Use cases

• Sharing content, as in OpenSyllabus for comprehensive sharing
• Administrative membership and privileges
• Student project sites with full tools
• Megasite problem (self organizing subdivision)
• Shared Materials, separate activities
• Repository of permanent course materials
• Research development with subcommittees working independently

Diagram of Site B Inside Site A and Diagram of Site A pointing to Site B

Status

• Oxford : Students can join arbitrary site, imposing a graph of connections, preserving the hierarchy track
• Severance: Trees of worksites for purposes of use (neighborhood)
• Edia : Community manager - creates large unit with admin workspace and templates for creation of subordinate sites
• Berkeley : Large courses broken up into sections with own graders. Would be useful to have a top level site that applies to the whole course. Sections tool cannot accommodate.
• OpenSyllabus: Can link sites together for concept map and ordering

Thanks to Matthew Jones from U.Mich. for taking notes and pictures.