LEAP 2.0

Managed as part of the JISC CETIS Portfolio Domain work

LEAP 2.0 is the name given to a set of exploratory concepts, aiming to provide a sound basis for practical interoperability between e-portfolio and e-PDP tools, and other tools dealing with the same kinds of information. The information covered may include, for example,
 * digital artefacts created by the portfolio holder;
 * structured information about those artefacts; about relevant activities, achievements, goals, people, abilities, interests, resources, plans, etc.;
 * links to other resources, or definitions e.g. of skills or competences;
 * unstructured or structured reflections and assertions about any of the above;
 * relationships between all of the above.

In the belief that information related to a person should be in all cases easily accessible to that person, and wherever appropriate under the control of that person, LEAP 2.0 provides the basis specifically for representing the kinds of information that can be owned or controlled by the individual concerned.

It is currently under development and subject to change at any time. It is also open to your input. Any announcements will be made on JISCmail's cetis-portfolio-dev list.

LEAP 2.0 basics
LEAP 2.0 is based on Semantic Web concepts. Portfolio information is conceived as a blob and arrow diagram (labelled directed graph), where each blob is some portfolio information, and each arrow link represents a named relationship between them. These can be written as triples: (blob, arrow, blob) = (subject, predicate, object), as in the RDF graph data model.
 * The LEAP classes page specifies a set of classes which are the allowed types of subject blobs. These give a good picture of the kinds of information covered.
 * The LEAP predicates page specifies the metadata / attribute / relationship arrow types.
 * The notes on LEAP triples explain the different forms of triples that can occur, and how they are represented in this documentation.
 * The basic LEAP specification sets out the Semantic Web friendly model, and how it relates to XML implementations.
 * Each class has its own page (linked from classes page) the where examples and further explanation are given.
 * LEAP 2.0 does not currently attempt to cover any accessibility, security or permission issues (though permission ideas are raised in the LEAP background page).

Requirements
The fundamental requirement for LEAP 2.0 is to be able to communicate portfolio information between systems, whether or not they are designed with interoperation in mind. This includes: Further discussion of requirements is given in the requirements page
 * backing up and restoring portfolio information, and moving it in bulk
 * downloading portfolio information for human reading
 * communicating parts of that information between the various systems which might generate or use it

Practical development
From December 2007 there have been Portfolio interoperability projects (PIOP) underway to define a practical, developer-friendly specification based on Atom. The first stable version of this specification was agreed in March 2009. At some point in the future, a mapping or transform will be defined to convert this into RDF, thus mapping it fully onto LEAP 2.0. As practical implementability is of paramount importance, all Leap2A developments drive changes in LEAP 2.0. LEAP 2.0 is open to other XML bindings if a requirement arises: other existing specifications may also be mapped onto LEAP 2.0 with their own transforms.

Guidelines for using RDF for the same portfolio information as Leap2A will be given as LEAP2R.

Involvement
All members of the international portfolio development community are welcome to become involved, by using, commenting on, or helping to develop the Leap2A specification, or helping to elaborate LEAP 2.0 or formulate Leap2R.
 * Involvement with Leap2A is recommended for those who have systems for which they wish to develop interoperability.
 * Leap2R is ideal for those interested in any Semantic Web implementations.
 * LEAP 2.0 more generally is a good level for more theoretical interest.
 * You can participate by adding to or editing the wiki pages, or work with other collaborators.


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Further information
There is a page for LEAP and PIOP presentations.

There is a list of LEAP references to other relevant specifications and information.

For other background information, please see the LEAP background page.

Feel free to contact Simon Grant about any question related to LEAP 2.0.