DISSEMINATE, an initial implementation proposal: a new point of departure in CALL for the ‘year 01’?

Abstract

This paper presents a proposed initial implementation for the DISSEMINATE concept and architecture first presented in 1998 at WorldCALL. Via an explanation of the explosion of the acronym, the article summarises the key points made in the initial article published by Swets and Zeitlinger in a volume edited by Chambers and Davies (Delcloque, 2001) where the project was described as the “implementation in the digital domain of the ring-binder philosophy”. It explains the slight changes and refinements brought to the general approach since its inception, presents briefly the results of a survey designed to examine authoring requirements and authors’ attitudes to authoring tools, summarises evidence of partially similar approaches taken by other developments and outlines the possible paths to the implementation of the project. It discusses some early proposals relating to the Macro Infrastructure and presents a Micro Module example. The article concludes with an explanation of the proposed provisional distribution structure, including commercial considerations, which, in the authors’ view, cannot be separated from the theoretical and practical questions which the concept poses. The conclusion also suggests that the principles of DISSEMINATE, whether or not resulting in a product, could nevertheless influence present and future digital learning authors.