Appendix to the Revised Business case: VirtualEdinburgh

Additional information

Virtual Edinburgh & MyEd Maker Platform Detailed Components byOptionOption 1 - Scoping Study would not deliver any of the components in Figure C, but rather evaluate what is needed technically as a soundbasis for the VE platform, enabling the subsequent components to be selected and built.

Figure A: Components within Option 2: Building Blocks - rudimentary demonstration of VE based upon one or two app templates

 

Figure B: Components within Option 3: including the maker tools that are essential for deeper student engagement and MyEdfeatures, giving a functioning proof of concept.

1.

Figure C: Components within Option 4: Full Virtual Edinburgh Concept, mapped to high-level overview

 

Table 1 (Extended version). Deliverables organised by level (Teaching and Learning, Application

Development, Data), under different options (2, 3, 4) for funding. Deliverables appearing in more

than one option will be scaled to the funding available.

Infrastructure Layer Deliverables Notes Available under Option #

Teaching and Learning A community of practice forVE users to share best practice,apps and materials online. Atraining and a developmentprogramme that will spread theuse of VE instances within theuniversity and the city.

2, 3, 4

Teachers and students can useVirtual Edinburgh in manydifferent ways. A lecturer ininformatics might use a codetemplate (skeleton code) andAPI resource in VirtualEdinburgh to put together aseries of exercises forinformatics students. A historylecturer might prepare someslides showing students how toinput research material (suchas historic postal directories)into the Content ManagementSystem to create an interactivevisualisation (similar toaddressing history). These usesof Virtual Edinburgh forteaching are themselves avaluable resource and will helppropagate the use oftechnology in teaching andlearning. They also support thealignment teaching and learningactivities with emergentscholarly and researchpractices such as digitalhumanities and bioinformatics. 

VE will organise events,hackathons, training,competitions and conferencesto bring together stakeholdersfrom across the city. This workis likely to be in collaborationwith existing research andacademic networks particularlythe cross-institution EdinburghBeltane Public EngagementNetwork as well as cross-sectorcommunities such asTechMeetup. 

Under Option 4 there will be anapp library where peoplevisiting Edinburgh in person oronline can find a review ofevery useful app or websiteabout Edinburgh. This will be aplace to market apps to thestudent population in particularbut also anyone else living in orvisiting the city. This webpresence and promotionalaspect might be workundertaken in collaboration andwith financial support fromthose already working on thevisitor experience, includingstudent recruitment teams inUoE colleges; MarketingEdinburgh Ltd (who runThisIsEdinburgh, http://thisisedi

); Festivalsnburgh.com/Edinburgh (see: http://www.edin

);burghfestivalcity.com/about Visit Scotland (http://www.visitscotland.com/destinations-maps/

); Edinburghedinburgh-lothians/Convention Bureau (http://www.

); conventionedinburgh.com/Universities Scotland (http://ww

)w.universities-scotland.ac.uk/etc. 

  VLE and assessmentintegration with other teachingand learning systems in IS

Interoperability with otherteaching and learning systemsin IS will enable VE data of allkinds to be used within theuniversity, for example, inautomating assessment.

4

2. Application Development App templates that enableauthenticated users to createnew instances of VE that arecustomised to meet therequirements of particularcourses or projects.

Templates for creating mobileapps and interactive web appswithout having muchprogramming knowledge.These apps will use datasets inthe CMS and elsewhere tocreate visualisations (similar toLitLong), tools similar toFieldtrip GB (or COBWEB) forcreating citizen science / dataapps, tools for creating guidedtours apps (similar to Women’sWalks), tools for events (e.g.science festival) andaugmented realityvisualisations.

2, 3, 4

  Authentication and integrationof VE with social mediaincluding Instagram, Facebookand Twitter.

Authentication for option 2would only be that fordevelopment of apps, it wouldnot be for authentication of theapps themselves.Authentication for apps wouldbe in option 4.

This is important for building thecommunity of VE users andconnecting with the largerstudent body. We could beginwith the simplest level ofintegration and progress tobuilding a Facebook app if andwhen required.

2, 3, 4

  Visualisation From simple visualisation toolsin options 2 & 3 to AugmentedReality and 3D Visualisation inOption 4.

2, 3, 4

  Maker tools in an appdevelopment resource hub. 

A set of sample apps andvisualisations for HTML5, iOS,Android. Tutorials for usingAPI’s (such as Lothian buses),worked examples anddeveloper forum. Github coderepository. Developers can alsocontribute widgets and plugins,which ensures others canbenefit from their efforts anduse them with their owncontent.

3, 4

  MyEd Channels Dependent on the use cases tobe developed, this could be aweb app that would beavailable through a MyEdchannel - note appauthentication is only in option4, so this would necessarily besimple for option 3.

3, 4

  Data analysis functions toallow authorised usersto analyse the statistical andindividual behaviour of users ofVE.

This will be used to assessstudent work, to enable learninganalytics, and to evaluate VEinstances individually as well asthe VE project as a whole.

4

3. Data Content as a Service will deliver a content managementsystem for thatuser dataenables authenticated users toview, upload, store, retrieve anddisplay data of different typeson a map.

This is the foundation of the VEframework and will provide a database that is scalable to largevolumes of data and largenumbers of simultaneous users.

Users can upload their owndatasets or digital assets suchas videos, 3d objects, images,citizen science observations asPoints of Interest and associatethem with the city. Qualityassurance tools/processes (e.g.as being developed forCOBWEB) and facilities toexport and expose data viarepositories (EdinburghResearch Explorer, DataShare,subject repositories, ShareGeo,FigShare, etc.) may also beincluded. This would help toensure data captured in VirtualEdinburgh has a betterlikelihood of discovery andreuse, raising the profile of theindividual pieces of workundertaken and of the VirtualEdinburgh framework as awhole. 

3, 4

  A Data schema that will allowVE to operate uniformly acrossall its instances.

  2, 3, 4

  APIs that will allow VE data tobe used by other applicationsand to be uploaded by apps

A key principal is that everydataset has an API, eitherhosted by Virtual Edinburgh orother provider (e.g. Lothianbuses). For each dataset,example code will be provided(e.g. Javascript, HTML5,Android, iOS) to show how touse the API. The data itself(unless real time) is alsodownloadable as csv, JSON,geoJSON, KML etc. VirtualEdinburgh will attempt to fill anygaps where data is missing anAPI or is not available in aformat appropriate fordevelopers.  This may includetemporary data such as festivallocations and events. Datasetsproduced by research projects(such as Lit Long) and citizenscience projects are alsoavailable as part of the mix.Those wanting to contributetheir own data/APIs will besupported to do so throughdocumentation and, if needed,support (though this may be achargeable aspect – e.g. forbrands like SnapFax if inclusionof these types of data sets weredeemed appropriate). 

2, 3, 4

  Open data, including maps Beautiful maps of Edinburghshould become the signature ofVE. Lots of maps (historic,contemporary, and scientific)are available as tile mapservices and / or for download(MBTiles). Possibly, also a tool(similar to MapBox) to helppeople style maps themselves.Also links and advice on how touse other map providers suchas National Library of Scotland.Data collected through theapps, as well as metadataabout the apps (e.g. coverage,usage) may also be visualisedas styled map layers.

2, 3, 4

 

Table 3 (Extended version). Courses representing some use-cases for VE.

Course (EUCLID code) UG/PG (Credits)Students 

School & Organiser Relevant LearningOutcomes

Notes

Data, Design andSociety (INFR08024)

UG (20)

40 (max)

Informatics

Ewan Klein

"1. Identify and applyrelevant strategies fordata collection andrelated prototype'interventions' whichaddress the interestsand needs of a specifiedcommunity ofstakeholders. 2. Interpretand evaluate data in away that demonstratesits relevance to selectedcommunication and/or

Syntpolicy objectives. 3. hesise and communicatethe information from twoor more datasets usingappropriate analytic,presentation andvisualisationtechniques."

The course organiserhas volunteered thiscourse as a pilot for VE.

Design, Data and SocialInnovation (DESI11027)

PG (20)

25

ECA

Arno Verhoeven

"Demonstrate an abilityto develop a clientdirected designproposal, developedthrough appropriatedesign interventions,using appropriate formsof data, translated intorelevant and insightful,visually orientedinformation, following aniterative process acrosswhich method andprocess are clearlyarticulated."

This course involvesstudents working inteams to create designproposals in partnershipwith City of EdinburghCouncil and relevantcommunity stakeholdersthrough the synthesisfrom three types ofdatasets: existing,people generated(social), and machinegenerated (technical).Some designs involvethe production ofenvironmental sensorsand circuits thatinterface with mobilephones.

Drawn from the City(ARTXD8058)

UG (20) ECA

Gordon Brennan

"Present evidence ofresearch andinvestigation ofEdinburgh as a spaceand an idea."

Edinburgh is amulti-layered city; itinvites explorationacross a compact anddiverse topography.Evidence of the historicand the contemporaryare visible side by side;this unique aspect ofEdinburgh provides arange of phenomena forinvestigation. Thisencompasses thetangible, physical,psychological andephemeral, all of whichinvite a wide range ofinterpretation andresponse.This coursewill explore aspects ofmapping, architecture,atmospherics, surface,structure, colour, time,history andcircumstance.

Origin & Diversity of Life( )BILG08001

UG (20)

500

SBS

Jonathan Silvertown

"Increasedunderstanding ofbiological processes"

This course will pilot VEwith an app designed foruse on field excursionsto the Botanics

Biology, Ecology andEnvironment 1(BILG08017)

UG (20)

400

SBS

Patrick Walsh

"Explore biological orecological topics ofindividual interest in aself-directed, butcollaborative way."

 

Semester-long project ingroups of 3-5(6). Students can design their ownprojects, underguidance. Intentionallyopen-ended. Suitableecological projectsinclude pollution alongthe Water of Leith,Invasive Ivy CraigmillarPk, Worm Census inCraigmillar Pk orHermitage, Lichen coveron trees, Beavermapping in Banff(Started by MariaChamberlain whoprobably has the olddata) End Feb eachyear. Leaf litter andinvert abundance inSoughton Woods - everyyear. 

Geoscience Outreach(EASC10058)

UG

(10-20)

Geoscience

Jennifer Tait

"Engage with clients todefine and agree aworkable jobspecification, and designand deliver it in the formof a resource and/ormaterial."

"Students will work withexternal partners ...todesign, develop and(where possible) deliverresources and materialsfor science engagement.These may includeclassroom teachingresources, leaflets, webresources,smartphone/tabletapplications events,,web-blogs,presentations ormaterials for museums,visitor centres,communities, membersof the public or younglearners."

Education and DigitalCulture (EDUA11222)

PG (40) Education

Siân Bayne

Students will "developpractical skills in the useof social media and thepresentation ofacademic discourseonline."

"Participants will gainfirst-hand experience ofworking individually andcollaboratively in aformal online-learningprogramme, will havethe opportunity to designtheir own learningresources,"

Physical Geography(GEGR08010) Practicalclass Introduction to GIS

UG (n/a) Geoscience

Ed Mitchard

"An appreciation ofimportance of spatialvariation and scale inphysical geography"

This 2 hour practicalintroduces students tothe use of the opensource QGIS package.Ed Mitchard is interestedin adapting the practicalso that it can trainstudents to work withinthe VE framework.

Pathways to impact (Extended version)Beyond the significant financial investment needed to develop and then sustain the data and application development  infrastructure of VEthere is a need to support the people who will use VE in teaching and learning. It will also be important to disseminate emergent pedagogiesand practices around VE, both to encourage adoption and to position this project as part of the University's visible achievements asinnovators in blended and online learning, as striving to improve the student experience, and as an organisation engaged in collaborativeleadership, working with the city of Edinburgh in a socially responsible way. 

It is suggested that the first aspects of this work - to support teaching and learning use of VE and associated approaches/tools - begin soon,building upon initial use cases and demand for Virtual Edinburgh, and taking advantage of interest already raised in the use of these kinds oftool and data (e.g. through the two recent GeoLocation events and in recent CSCS Network events). Extra investment in the teams bestpositioned to raise awareness and foster a community around VE would be welcome (and would allow more to be done  more quickly) weare confident that as a University we have routes and mechanisms that could support a lot of this work already. 

In terms of building interest, sharing practice, influencing technical developments and communities of practice we recommend an initialprogramme of VE themes events and workshops for academic year 15/16. These events would focus on the sharing of practice, buildingawareness of the potential of VE, gathering further use cases and particularly student-led or student-centred use cases for VE, and growingof the community of interest around the use of VE and associated approaches and tools. Events would also, in some cases, provideopportunity for reaching out to stakeholders beyond the University (e.g. museums and galleries with whom UoE have MoU; City of Edinburgh(already engaged in Smart Data Hack events). Training and development in the short and longer term could be progressed throughinfluencing groups like e-learning@ed, IS, IAD, etc. to add extra training events, modify existing provision to include VE.

Support for individuals and groups to try something new with VE.  There are small pots of funding for curriculum innovation from IAD (PTAS,ILW), IS, Development & Alumni.  There is funding to support academic networking to explore ideas with other groups around the University

(IAD academic networking fund).  For colleagues or Schools wanting to make a more in-depth and longer time scale investment indeveloping, for example, a new course using VE something like an IAD secondment or a Beltane Fellowship (public and policy engagement)could be relevant. For discreet innovative VE developments or projects the ISG Innovation Fund may also be a possible source of funding. PTAS also offers funding for discipline based pedagogic research – this could include evaluation of elements of VE or teaching that uses VEapplications.The level of support and engagement provided will vary depending on the financial support for the project but some of the most crucialaspects, including the establishment of a community of practice and the provision of support and guidance, would take advantage of existingUniversity communities and interest groups. Many of the activities suggested can therefore be delivered at no or low additional cost thoughstaff time - whether through in-kind support or separately funded - will be required to coordinate and develop this programme of activities. 

Table 5. Project schedule (note that this will vary dependent on the option funded)

Deliverable Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Scoping Study An initial scoping study willdecide which technologychoices are most appropriatefor the database, contentmanagement system anddevelopment toolkit.  Thescoping study will alsodetermine which and how many(2 or 3) courses to pilot andwhat their specific requirementsare.  This will require staff fromIS Apps and EDINA and willtake two months.  The projectteam will then workconcurrently on the remainingtasks. 

   

AD1: Content Management   The first year will create a basiccontent management system(CMS) on which authenticatedusers could upload datasets orassets and attach locationinformation to them asnecessary.  This CMS willunderpin the apps used for thesample courses.  The CMS willbuild on the experience ofdeveloping FieldTrip.GB inEDINA and iSpot for the OpenUniversity.  It will not includesophisticated visualisationfacilities and will have limitedintegration with other dataregistries.  If a mobile interfaceis required, this is most likely tobe implemented as an app fromdeliverable T2.

More support will be added forlinking with other dataregistries; particularly foraccess existing data sources.Visualisation facilities will beenhanced and support addedfor publicising data sets viaother data registries.

AD2: Apps The first year will develop ageneric app template for asample course, or a simpledemonstrator app.  A generictemplate would include thefunctionality required togenerate specific apps, in aframework that can beconfigured with specific datasources, branding and otherinformation to suit the specificcourses.  This process willresult in an app for a samplecourse, produced in such a waythat similar apps can begenerated with considerablyless development effort.  Theapps will be available onAndroid or Apple, and would bepublicly available (i.e. therewould be no app authentication)

The second year will addfurther generic templates formore sample courses.  Theexisting templates will beenhanced based on feedbackfrom the first app or samplecourse.  More courses will bechosen to use apps created byconfiguring the existingtemplates, using different datasources, presentation, etc. 

The work in the third year willbe shaped by the demandarising from the first two yearsof the project.  It is likely tofocus on support for configuringthe templates to generate newapps, making it easer toincorporate new data sources,graphics, text information, etc.The existing templates will beenhanced based on feedbackfrom the pilot courses.  Furthertemplates could be developed ifdeemed appropriate.

AD3: Social media   Basic integration could beimplemented.  This could, forexample, allow users to sendtweets or to link information toFacebook.  Note than onlyauthenticated users would beable to access the entriesduring the pilot stages of theproject.

Facilities will be created forlecturers to create social mediaspaces for each course orproject, to which their studentscan contribute.

If required, users could beallowed to post or share imagesthat can be accessed withoutauthentication.

AD4: Lecturer support   Google Analytics may be usedto measure generic statistics,dependent on the fundingavailable.  Facilities will beprovided to control useraccess.  Some basic facilitiesmay be provided for lecturers tofollow student activity but thiswill not be sophisticated.

More advanced facilities will becreated for lecturers to followthe progress of students ontheir courses. Support forlecturers will be enhancedbased on feedback from thepilots.

AD5: Resource hub   Existing code will be opensource and libraries will beshared.  Sample graphics willbe available.  Data sources willbe available.  This will besuitable for experienceddevelopers or Informaticsprojects, for example.

The Resource hub will begreatly enhanced, with moredata sources, more samples,tutorials, and support for peoplewho wish to configure existingapp templates.

D1: Database Basic database and applicationtier infrastructure will beimplemented.  The first year(s)of use are unlikely to requirehigh levels of performance.

Performance and availabilitywill be monitored. Theinfrastructure will be enhancedif necessary.

The infrastructure will be mademore resilient.  Performanceand availability will bemonitored. The infrastructurewill be enhanced if necessary.

D2: Data standards Data schemas will bedeveloped for the data used inthe sample app.

A framework for managing dataschemas will be developed.

 

D3: APIs APIs are fundamental to thecore design.  Access will belimited in the first instance.

The data framework willenhance the ability to use datafrom external sources, andwould extend to enableuser-contributed content.

Greater access will be given. 

D4: Interoperability     Consideration will be given tointegration with the mainUniversity VLE and assessmentframeworks.

D5: Maps The first App templates mayuse maps if appropriate for thedemonstrator app.  This wouldbe likely to focus on commonproviders such as Google orOpenStreetMap.

More map sources will be madeavailable as required for thepilot courses.

A wide range of map sourceswill be made available.

TL1: Network In the first year, the network willconsist of those peoplefollowing the project.

The network will be publicisedand new courses will berecruited to build on the existingApp template.

The network will be expandedand more support available forpeople wishing to explore theresource hub.

TL2: Training   Training courses will bedeveloped, with the earlyadopters as first users.

Training courses will be madewidely available with theUniversity.  At least onehackathon will be created(possibly as part of InnovativeLearning Week).

TL3: App Library     An App Library will be createdfor University students andstaff.

Project RisksTable 6. Risks

Risk No. Description(There is arisk that...)

Impact(L/M/H/C)

Probability(L/M/H/C)

Risk Owner Status Notes Last ReviewDate

1 Funding is notagreed forsubsequentwork,meaning thatfurtherprogress isslowed anddepends uponexternalfunding.

Critical Medium JonathanSilvertown

Open   13-Apr-15

2 The differentuse casesneed differentframeworks,but thisproject isproposing onecommonframework onwhich to build.

Medium Medium JonathanSilvertown

Open   13-Apr-15

3 The scopingstudy will notbe able togainagreement onwhichframework isbest to use asthe basis forthe pilot,meaning thatthe pilot isdelayed ordoes not goahead.

Critical Medium JonathanSilvertown

Open   13-Apr-15

4 Academicscommit todeliveringlearningoutcomes onthe basis ofthe VirtualEdinburghframework,but theframework isnot delivered(or deliveredlater thanneeded),leaving a gapin the deliveryof studentlearningoutcomes.

Critical High JonathanSilvertown

Open Onceframework isagreed andpilot usecases agreedthen this riskwill reduceboth in impactandprobability.Action todeterminewhich usecases shouldbe included inthe pilot withJonathanSilvertown.

13-Apr-15

5 Too many usecases areincluded inthe pilot,meaning thatthe frameworktakes longerto build toenablesupport of thevariousdifferent uses.

Medium Low JonathanSilvertown

Open   13-Apr-15

6 Too few usecases areincluded inthe pilot,meaning theframework isnot able to beconfirmed assuitable forsome of theintendeduses.

Medium Low JonathanSilvertown

Open   13-Apr-15

1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

6. a.

b.

7.

8.

7 ISApplicationsmay not beable tosupport suchan applicationin theproductionenvironment,as thetechnologiesused are notyetdeterminedthese couldbetechnologiesthat are notcurrently usedorunderstood.

High Medium JonathanSilvertown

Open This riskwould likelybe able to bemitigated bytraining, andbyinvolvementof ProductionManagementto determinewhat would beneeded forsupport, andthe possibleongoing costsfor thatsupport.

16-Apr-15

8 The currentsupport modelfor ISApplicationsdoes not lenditself to theongoingnature of thiswork (withpublicinteraction)and suitablesupportmodelsalternativesmay not bereadilyavailable.

Critical Medium JonathanSilvertown

Open A lack ofeffectivesupport wouldimpact thesustainabilityof the project.

Is this moresuited to thekind ofsupport modelthat isavailablethroughEDINA?

16-Apr-15

AssumptionsNet present value has not been taken into account in either the cost or benefit figures.Software development and allied staff have been costed at varying rates dependent on FTE type (contractor, EDINA). Servicemanagement staff have been costed at £50k per FTE on average, assuming that there would be hiring on a longer basis rather thanpermanently use a contractor for a service support role.EDINA and IS Apps will share the build, leveraging a suitable existing framework as the basis for this.Native Android and iOS apps will be produced.  Based on the experience of DEI, it was recommended that 0.5-1FTE of grade UE06 is allocated to developing the socialinfrastructure for the project. This has been estimated as 0.5FTE in the second year (Option 3 & 4 only) and 1 FTE for thesubsequent 2 years.There will be a small amount of hardware infrastructure cost, plus some Android handsets for the pilot courses.

Infrastructure assumption: 2-3 virtual machines per environment (2 DEV, 3 TEST & 3 LIVE), expecting a load-balancedapplication tier, at £1.8k for 5 years per VM => £64k over 5 years (building over the options)Android handset assumption: £80-100 for a course of 40 students each with a handset, and of 100 shared between acourse of 500 students => £13.5k. (Option 4 only)

20% contingency is expected to be needed due to the high-level estimation of the costs at this stage; this would be on top of thevalues estimated to date.  Further assumptions are detailed in the High-level Estimate (spreadsheet)

High Level Estimate

The breakdown of the estimate by each of the options is in this attached . Note all estimated costs excludeHigh Level Estimate spreadsheetcontingency.