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FAQs for OER World Map editors
- How do I log in?
- What do I have to consider before I enter new data?
- How can I add or modify entries?
- Which data can I add or modify?
- Service, Organization or Project?
- Should this service be put on the map?
- How to add locations?
- How to add levels and subjects of education?
- NEW How to add policies to the OER Policy Registry?
- How can I include formatting to texts?
- How do I provide feedback to the developing team?
- How can I delete entries?
Please register and choose a personal password. The registration and login mask can be found in the upper right corner of the screen. The registration includes getting editing rights for the OER World Map.
Before you enter new data, please make sure, that the data set is not yet included in the world map. In order to do so, please use the search function of the world map.
As soon as you are logged in you can see a small orange button in the left upper corner with a plus sign on it. Clicking on it opens a pull down menu, which allows you to add following data types:
- Add Organization
- Add Service
- Add Project
- Add Story
- Add Event
- Add Publication
- Add Tool
More information on our data types can be found on the FAQ page under "What belongs on the OER World Map?"
Clicking on one of the fields will open the corresponding template. After entering the data, please make sure that you click on "save data" at the lower end of the template.
In order to modify an existing data set, please navigate to the data set and click on the pen icon in the upper right.
All registered users are allowed to input all data types for all countries. The "country champions" are not restricted to entries from "their" country. Actually we would like to encourage "country champions" to input data from other countries as well, since many countries are still lacking a world map champion!
All registered users can also add "stories". If you are pretty sure about the story you would like to publish, you can do so. But we also offer editorial support, so in doubt do not hesitate to contact us!
One lessons learned from our experience so far with mapping the world of OER is, that it is sometimes difficult to decide on the data type on an entry. Especially it can be hard to say if something is a service, an organization or a project.
The logical relation is as following: A service is an online offer that provides OER-related contents or functionalities (e.g. it helps finding, assessing, creating or publishing OER). The most important subsection of services are OER repositories. But there are many other kinds of services available (or thinkable) like authoring tools, search engines, community platforms, etc. A service is often run by a providing organization or in the case of grassroots by a person or a group of persons. Normally the service has been developed within a project, which is often run by the same organization, which later on provided the service. So if you aim at completeness, it can be necessary to record all three types.
Example: hbz drives a project called "OER World Map". The project aims at developing the service "OER World Map". Since the launch of Version 1.0 the service "OER World Map" is provided by hbz.
Nevertheless we believe that this is not always necessary. Rather it is preferable, to decide from case to case, which "degree of resolution" makes most sense. Indicators are:
We believe that services are the most important data types, because services provide direct value to users. So in most cases, it will be most important to record the service.
In most cases it will also make sense to capture the providing organization as well. This is especially true, if the organization is a major OER agent, which offers several services and/or runs multiple projects. As a rule, locations should be added to organizations. Once a service (or a project) is connected to an organization (via the "provider" field) the service is displayed on the map at the location of the providing organization.
Including the project makes special sense if either the project does not aim at delivering a service or has not delivered the service yet. It can also make sense to add a project, if you want to provide additional information, which is related specifically to the project, like its start and end date, special lessons learned, its budget or its funder.
If you find it hard to decide on how to model a special constellation, as always, please do not hesitate to contact us at info [at] oerworldmap.org!
Sometimes it is difficult to decide if a service should be put on the map. To support your decision ask yourself following questions:
- Are the available resources explicitly designed for education?
- How many resources are available?
- Does the site offer an search function for it`s resources? Is it possible to search for education specific qualities, e.g. related curricula?
- Are the materials openly licensed?
- Does the service have a name and a dedicated URL, or is is just a general portal with some resources on it?
- How up-to-date are the materials and the website? Does it look like the centre of a community, or does it look rather inactive? All this questions serve only as indicators. If in doubt, please contact us!
Simply type your address into the search field opening when you click on “Search Location …” and choose the best fitting suggestion from the pull-down menu. If you cannot find the exact address, try omitting the house number or enter only the city. Then drag the pin to the correct location and fill in the details below.
Entering a location for a service or a project is special: We believe that the real location of a service is the web. Therefore we argue, that a service has no location and that the pins on the map can only refer to the location of the organization, which is providing the service. So the "regular" way to locate a service on the map is to add the providing organization and link the service to this organization via the "provider field", same for projects.
Nevertheless we found that in some exceptional cases it is necessary to add a location directly to a service or a project. We therefore added an address field in the service and the project template as well. The address section of the service or project takes priority to the address of a linked organization. So if the address directly connected to a service or project is different to the address of a related organization, the address of the service or project will be displayed on the map. This allows to locate e.g. a project, which focuses on the use of OER in Africa, in Africa, even if the driving organizations are located in different parts of the world.
We are using ISCED levels and ISCED based fields of education to describe services. We believe that this will make it much easier for users to find the contents they need. Nevertheless it has to be admitted, that ISCED is a science of its own. Deciding on the levels and especially on the subjects of education can be time-consuming, especially if you are recording a service, which provides resources from different educational fields. In this case it can be helpful to start with the top level of the hierarchy, leaving out level 2-4. More information on ISCED can be found here.
Please check out the manual at: OER Policy Registry @ OER World Map
The "description" field for organisations, services and projects as well as the "teaser" and "body" field for stories can be formatted using common html tags or markdown syntax.
If you are registered on Github, you can easily provide feedback by opening an issue at https://github.com/hbz/oerworldmap/issues/new. If you prefer contacting us by mail, we invite you to send your request to info [at] oerworldmap[dot]org.
At the moment users cannot delete entries. If you created a data set by error and want to delete it, please send us a mail to info [at]oerworldmap[dot]org.
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