Chris Candler
University of Oklahoma College of
Medicine
Abstract:
The XML family of standards has recently emerged as a powerful way to structure online information. Like HTML, XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a new subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). However, HTML has several limitations, as its static set of tags is more of a simple page layout language rather than a truly extensible markup language like SGML or XML. XML allows users to define their own discipline-specific tags that they may use to give meaning to their content. Through these custom ôelementö tags, documents can be given machine-readable context that will enable users powerful options view and manipulate content. Additionally, XML has the ability to separate style from data, which will allow media-independent portability (e.g., CD-ROM, hard copy, PDA). In these ways XML will bring more features to the web as it provides a more powerful framework to visualize, manage and share information.
XML is a more efficient way of
delivering online educational content as it provides instructors the ability to
define the content and scope of their web pages, allowing more precise
searching and more advanced linking within and among courses. When fully
implemented across the curriculum it will allow schools to better understand
the information they are teaching by revealing discrepancies, duplications, and
new relationships between courses and topics. Future applications could include
tutorials that automatically create quiz questions based on their content and
documents that enable students to view concepts from a variety of perspectives.
Benefit in Attending
Session:
Participants will be presented with an overview of XML 1.0 and the XML family of standards as a way to structure information. Elements, entities attributes, and DTD's will be covered. A working knowledge of HTML is reccommended as a prerequisite to this pre-workshop.
PRIMARY AUTHOR'S
INFORMATION
Chris Candler
941 Stanton L. Young Blvd
BSEB 115-A
Telephone Number: 405-271-9333
Fax Number: 405-271-9334
E-mail Address: chris-candler@ouhsc.edu