Mark J. Norton, Consultant























Technology Based Learning and Sakai

As a contributing architect, Mark Norton has been involved with the Sakai Project since its start. A variety of services are offered around Sakai, including technical training workshops, requirements gathering and analysis, tool development, enterprise integration, web services, and others.

Work around the OKI Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs) is also offered.

Web Applications

Over the years, I've developed a number of web applications using a variety of server technology and database systems. Some of these applications include site automation, email marketing, live and video based presentations, document management, content management, online marketplaces, and accessibilty support.

Virtually any central database can be augemented with web applications to enable your users and customers to have access on a basis that you control. Interfaces to legacy database systems are commonly available now, so it's not necessary to update your older data repositories just to make them available via the web.

I have experience with evaluating software and content for accessibilty support, including Section 508 compliance. As chairman of the IMS Accessibility Committee for two years, I led the development of several key standards in this area. This gives me a great deal of insight into the needs of disabled users which can be used to improve the accessibility of your products.

Standards Development

At various points in my career, I have participated in standards development activities. In particular, I helped to develop the Edit Decision List standard in the SMPTE, and a variety of eLearning standards at the IMS Global Learning Consortium. I have experience developing and intepreting XML based standards.

If you need someone to represent you in the standards development process, or just need help in understand existing standards, contact me and we can discuss your needs. Implementing standards be a great way to expand interoperability with other products and thus improve the competitive stance of your own, but knowing which ones to use requires an understanding not only of the industry, but the standards themselves.

Program Review

Have you out-sourced a significant part of your develoment work, perhaps in another country? Are you considering buying a major software product and wonder if it will meet your needs or integrate with what you have already? I have conducted several major program review efforts which have evaluated software, system capabilities, performance, interoperability, extensibility, and accessibility needs.

System Analysis

Perhaps you are faced with a make or buy decision and are not quite sure what the actual requirements for the task at hard are. I can help you by interviewing stakeholders, potential users, managers, administrators, etc. and help develop a set of requirements that any produce, bought or built, should meet. Requirements are essential for measuring effectiveness and guiding the decision making process. I have years of experience gathering requirements and compiling them into a form which can be used by management and developers alike.

Software Development

With over twenty years of software development experience in a variety of langauges, I have the ability to develop software to meet your needs, quickly, efficiently, and reliably. In recent years, most of my development work has been done in Perl, PHP, C++, or Java, but I also have experience with C, Fortran, Pascal, and other specialty langauges. I am familiar with a variety of IDE's and development tools, including embedded systems design and development tools. As a designer and system architect, I've developed software systems ranging from SDK's to commercial products and custom one-off installations.

Technical Documentation

Nolaria Consulting offers a variety of documentation services including both online and print. Brigid Cassidy has edited and written books documenting applications, systems, and application programming interfaces.