OKI (The Open Knowledge Initiative)
Note: This information is taken from the TALL Desk Study
Vendor
MIT in collaboration with partner universities and specification and standards organisations.Context
The OKI Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs) are designed taking an ELF approach, so there are many services which closely match.As they are definitions of how services would communicate (not actual software that can be used directly), some OSIDs are relevant to multiple services and multiple service layers.
Relevance
OKI is highly relevant to the ELF. Developers attempting to build a component of the ELF or attempting to connect a legacy system into the ELF should check for relevant OSIDs before starting. OSIDs can be used as the basis for a WSDL and can therefore be used directly in the development of ELF components.Features not directly related to ELF
- Dictionary OSID. Tag-value pairs of use for, e.g. language dictionaries, configuration setting. Might be a subset of the Mapping service.
- Digital Repository OSID. Storing and retrieving digital content. May be a special case or a subset of the Filing service.
- Hierarchy OSID. A generalised interface for working with hierarchical data, e.g. course structures, file hierarchies.
- The Osid OSID. An additional layer of indirection designed to aid the substitution of a given service with an alternate implementation.
- Types, as defined in the Shared OSID, are a mechanism for classifying objects in the system, allowing different authorities to create their own vocabularies.
- SQL OSID. An interface for working with tabular data, using SQL statements.
