Re: Cost

Hello Alan,
yes, you're absolutely right that cost can be very difficult. At the 
same time we don't want an incredibly complex mechanism for saying that 
something is FREE (e.g. MOOCs, which I hope are going to be a big target 
application) or has a relatively simple cost structure (many other examples)

Schema's way of setting variable prices is to model these as distinct 
instances of a http://schema.org/Offer with different values of 
http://schema.org/eligibleCustomerType

I suppose that a price of "it depends" or "POA" is also an option.

Phil


On 10/02/2016 14:00, Alan Paull wrote:
>
> I’ve duplicated the current (10 Feb) use case for refining course 
> search by cost below for convenience.
>
> We have a <cost> element in XCRI-CAP, defined as “the cost for 
> obtaining access to the presentation”.  It’s part of the XCRI-CAP 
> <presentation> element, which is equivalent to what’s already being 
> mentioned here as “specific instance of a course being offered” 
> (Learning Opportunity Instance in the European MLO model).
>
> As part of our work on XCRI-CAP we investigated how to model ‘cost’ in 
> relation to UK HE.  Our conclusion was that it was a very fraught 
> area.  Most issues were to do with costs varying in relation not only 
> to the mode of study and location of study, but also to the specific 
> (detailed) circumstances of the individual.  Particular difficulties 
> were raised because an individual might be offered a very different 
> price (or free of charge) dependent on where they were living (UK / 
> specific country in the UK / EU / EEA / RoW), or their own 
> circumstances (dependents / no dependents / employed / unemployed / 
> etc), and whether they had access to scholarships and bursaries.  Also 
> VAT / No VAT (for EU).  The upshot was that the <cost> element in 
> XCRI-CAP is unstructured.  No-one supported the idea of putting just a 
> numerical or currency value in there, because context was vital.  
> Current web page entries from UK Universities are very varied in 
> content and structure.
>
> For these reasons I suggest we modify requirement c) to:
>
> “must be able to identify text that describes the costs associated 
> with studying a specific instance of a course.”
>
> This (I hope) doesn’t suggest a requirement for definitive values in 
> relation to what a specific individual might have to pay. So it would 
> be possible to have an entry like: “2015-16 fee for UK students was 
> £10,500.  Fee for 2016-17 academic year not yet determined.”
>
> I would miss out the requirement of cost by mode of study.  Where 
> they’re available, they could be included.  Where not available, I 
> suggest we don’t put off usage by narrowing the requirement.
>
> For more on XCRI-CAP: http://www.xcri.co.uk (redirects)
>
> use case 1.1 refining course search from UC1 by cost
>
> description: an extension to use case 1, where the searcher is 
> concerned about the cost of the course.
>
> note: where a course is offered in different modes of study, e.g. full 
> time or part-time, face-to-face or at distance, the cost may vary by mode
>
> requirement p) must be able to identify web pages that describe 
> specific instances of a course being offered
>
> requirement c) must be able to identify cost of course in each mode of 
> study offered.
>
> Alan Paull
>
> --
>
> Alan Paull
>
> APS Ltd
>
> 80 Fenton Road, Warboys, HUNTINGDON, PE28 2SL, UK
>
> alan@alanpaull.co.uk <mailto:alan@alanpaull.co.uk>
>
> 07977 120886
>
> Skype: alanepaull
>
> http://www.alanpaull.co.uk
>

-- 
Phil Barker           @philbarker
LRMI, Cetis, ICBL     http://people.pjjk.net/phil
Heriot-Watt University

Workflow: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/~philb/workflow/



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Received on Wednesday, 10 February 2016 15:20:11 UTC