CodeBash brought together about thirty participants to test different e-learning applications over the two day event. The event was co-organised in conjunction with the newly launched EU-funded project called LIFE - Learning Interoperability Framework for Europe. LIFE's goals are to explore the e-learning interoperability in practice, to identify its dimensions of real importance to Europe by exploring the current state of art, the trends and challenges, the important issues to be addressed, and guidelines and recommendations for the target groups. LIFE attempts to bring together different e-learning actors from academia, government, industry, education & training, etc

Riina Vuorikari: The name of the event "CodeBash" might not be self evident for all, could you please tell us what is it actually about?

Lorna Campbell: The primary aim of the CETIS / LIFE Project CodeBash is to test the functional interoperability of tools and applications that implement a wide range of content related standards and specifications including IMS Content Packaging, Learning Design, Simple Sequencing and Question and Test Interoperability, various flavours of metadata, SCORM, METS, plus many other open standards and specifications. The CodeBashes are modeled on the successful ADL PlugFests, which test the interoperability of SCORM implementations, we use the term CodeBash simply to distinguish between the two events.

CodeBashes are really about testing the functional interoperability of implementations, i.e. can these two applications exchange resources in a meaningful way; rather than testing the formal conformance of implementations, i.e. does this implementation conform to a given specification or standard. This distinction is important as previous events have shown that applications that appear to conform to a standard or specification may not necessarily interoperate if they have implemented a different subset of a standard or interpreted the implementation of a specification in different ways. However practical interoperability testing events of this kind can be viewed as an important step along the road to formal conformance testing and certification.

Riina: Could you tell us about the the main audience, how many are coming, who should be concerned?

Lorna Campbell: The CodeBashes are closed technical events which bring together a wide range of developers and implementers to test their applications in a supportive and confidential environment. Although participation is by invitation, we make every effort to accommodate all developers who have a commitment to implementing open learning technology standards and specifications. 29 organisations from the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA and Australia will be participating in CodeBash3. These organisations, range from public sector bodies, to university projects to multinational vendors. 22 participants will travel to the University of Bolton in the UK to take part in two days of face to face CodeBashing while 7 remote participants will take part online via a CodeBash website developed by CETIS' Wilbert Kraan.

This website allows all participants to post packages and resources generated by their own tools and to test and comment on materials produced by other CodeBashers. When participants are satisfied that their resources interoperate with other systems and applications they may choose to publish them on a public area of the website. By publishing these resources participants are able to demonstrate their commitment to interoperability to large potential market.

Riina: How can this type of an event benefit the end-users who are using e-learning tools and products?

Lorna Campbell: Although we don't advertise how individual applications perform at CodeBashes we do publicise which organisations participate and what level of interoperability is achieved overall. This enables the educational community to see which developers have not only implemented open learning technology interoperability standards but have demonstrated a commitment to achieving real interoperability with other vendors. The main benefit of CodeBashes for end users is increased interoperability which in turn should facilitate increased choice - choice of systems and applications, choice of content and ultimately choice of learning experiences and pedagogical models.

By publishing these resources participants are able to demonstrate their commitment to interoperability to large potential market. Visit the CodeBash 3 website at http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/codebash3 to view the tested resources that CodeBash participants have made available to the public.

Riina: Can you see this types of event being instrumental in achieving more interoperability in Europe? What are the main tools to achieve it?

Lorna Campbell: Yes, we really do believe that events such as CodeBashes and Plufests can help to achieve greater interoperability cross Europe and beyond. Practical interoperability testing events enable implementers to develop a common interpretation of the standards and specifications and help to establish best practice. In addition CodeBashes help developers to learn a lot about practical and technical aspects of the specifications in a very short space of time. A participant at the first CETIS CodeBash, held in conjunction with Learning and Teaching Scotland, commented that they learned more in the two days that the event took place than from reading specifications for weeks.

In addition to establishing common practice another important benefit of the CodeBashes is that they help to identify inconsistencies, ambiguities and errors in standards and specification which can be fed directly back to the appropriate maintenance authority via CETIS. In the past, CodeBash participants have made a significant contribution to the development of the IMS Content Packaging specification by identifying problematic issues and suggesting potential solutions. Many of the issues identified by the CodeBashers have since been rectified in the 1.1.4 maintenance release of the specification.

Riina: You are now organising it for the 3rd time, has it been so beneficial for the participants that you are planning to make a yearly event out of this?

Lorna Campbell: Yes we are planning to make CodeBashes a yearly event as all our participants have been unanimous in their agreement that participation in these events has been of direct benefit to them. To date, all CodeBashes have been held in the UK, however we hope to plan future events elsewhere in Europe as many developers from countries such as the Netherlands and Norway have shown a considerable commitment by traveling the the UK to attend these events. We also hope to encourage more developers who are unable to travel to take part online.

And ultimately we hope that all those that participate either in person, online, in the UK or elsewhere in Europe will choose to make their test materials publicly available to the European educational community to demonstrate that we can achieve real interoperability by working together.

Riina: Thank you, Lorna, for your time to do this interview! And have fun bashing that code ;)

More about CodeBash at:
CodeBash 3 website:
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/codebash3
LIFE: http://life.eun.org
CETIS: http://www.cetis.ac.uk/

An article by Tore Hoel on the Norwegian eStandards site at http://www.estandard.no/stories.php?story=05/03/23/7048277
Invitation to the event:
http://www.eun.org/goto.cfm?did=34046