Paradata
What is Paradata?
In creating the concept of the STEM Exchange, we needed to distinguish between traditional, relatively static metadata that describes a digital learning object and the dynamic information about digital learning objects that is generated as they are used, reused, adapted, contextualized, favorited, tweeted, retweeted, shared, and all the other social media style ways in which educational users interact with resources. In this context, paradata captures the user activity related to the resource that helps to ellucidate its potential educational utility. We first presented paradata at a March 3, 2010 presentation as...
Paradata
- a complement to metadata, not a replacement
- separate layer of information from metadata
- a means to automate information generation about resource use by using social networking tools
- a means to create an open source and open access data space around resources
- emphasizes dissemination rather than description
- accommodates expert and user-generated knowledge
Paradata opens opportunities to…
- visualize a resource at the center of its own social-style network of activity
- explicates usage patterns and inferred utility of resources
- map network connections as teacher communities add multidirectional flows of information
- create persistent, short references to resources
- aggregate activity around the resource through user-friendly practices, such as hashtagging
- power feedback loops with teacher communities
Interpreting Paradata
What are the elements of paradata we can collect and are of value to collect?
Share your thoughts by contributing to the graphics below. All images are Google documents open for editing via the indicated links, and will automatically update as new versions are created by the community.
1. What user actions are weaker or stronger indicators of intention to use a resource in a particular teaching/learning context?
Add your ideas. Rearrange elements on the spectrum. (Don't forget to save your changes). Tell us why in the comments at the bottom of the page.
2. What peer actions might teachers consider more or less valuable as indicators of resource utility?
Add your ideas. Rearrange elements on the spectrum. (Don't forget to save your changes). Tell us why in the comments at the bottom of the page.
NSDL's Technical Schema for Paradata Exchange
An NSDL team including Katy Ginger, Susan Van Gundy, John Weatherley, and Jonathan Ostwald have created a framework for generating and sharing paradata records across resource developers, aggregators, and user platforms.
Presentations and contribution: NSDL Comm_para metadata framework
- Find out more about contributing paradata via NSDL's comm_para metadata framework at NSDL's Technical Documentation pages for paradata
- Contributing Usage Data (Paradata) and Annotations to the NSDL (PDF - April 2011)
- April 2011 NSDL Brown Bag on paradata
The Learning Registry community is consuming metadata about both resources and usage data, from a variety of contributors (via LR "nodes") and is developing new formats for sharing usage data that function more like social networking data than library data. Find links to documentation and technical email lists on the NSDL Learning Registry page.
Developing Activity Stream specification for paradata exchange:
- Paradata Cookbook, V 1.0 © Copyright 2011, Learning Registry. CC-BY-3.0
| Attachment | Size |
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| contribute-usage-data-v1.pdf | 100.9 KB |