Notes from the CMS workshop at the Oceania Indymedia Conf 2004

Andy is facilitating an overview of the various CMS's - Content Management Systems used within the indymedia network

CMS comparison sites: http://www.ngogeek.com - by wilderness society | http://opensourcecms.com * ngogeek is 404 30SEP06

Drupal

http://www.drupal.org/ | http://animal-liberation.org.nz/ | http://quebec.indymedia.org/

Brandon gives a rundown on Drupal - a significant open source project and "well-rounded" CMS, does everything ok -- with many useful features -- and there is a new release every coupla months marketclub

indymedias could benefit by linking in more with existing CMS projects like Drupal, and their wealth of resources and tech support, rather than continually developing new softwares

Discussion about log-in and moderation issues -- Finn suggests that carrots can be given to users to encourage user log-in such as webspace for projects, publication of articles when a certain number of users have read stories, module for clustering/group function for ppl to collaborate on stories/projects -- someone ..Drupal is v easy to install, good for non-techy ppl ..Brandon, wd be good as a CMS for a NGO fer example ( marketclub software)

Branson ..in Drupal "collaborative books" -- it's like a WIKI, for collaborative text ( marketclub software )

Plone

http://plone.org/

• which is more developed for this group authoring
• Shane has set up sites with plone..not great
• free ino tv
• Brandon sees plone more as as a document management tool
• Someone shows 3 websites which run comparison of CMS's .. can someone put the URLs in pls [listed at top of page]
• marketclub ino tv

Mir

http://mir.indymedia.org/ | http://www.indymedia.org/ | http://www.indymedia.org.uk/

• GDM gives Introduction to MIR which is used by global and UK indys
• MIR based on java and PostgreSQL
• facilities to do translations and link various trabslations back to the same place[ midphase review]
• have a browser redirect so that based on yr browser settings u get directed to the translations which is most likely best suited to you
• UK indy - Good for topics .. ppl can choose their articles and features to link to topic areas[ midphase coupon]
• writers can select a region that their storyt relates to, and automatically their story will go to the main uk indy front page, and also that region
• publish form links to a secure server[ midphase coupon]
• admin interface is relatively easy for newcomers to learn admin tasks
• you can keep a feature hidden while you're working on it[ midphase review ]
• box to make comments for other editors/techs to read

Dadaimc

http://www.dadaimc.org/ | http://www.indymedia.org.nz/

Finn + Clare on DadaIMC, which is used by Aotearoa

• login - user can be user, anonymous, editor
• can define yr own subjects - the default categories are quite American and u need to regionalise them
• hidden post/comment section ..editors can see who's hidden stories and read their notes as to why
• media gallery
• clare - easy to purge files when necessary, midphase coupon
• Editors can edit or use Options .. such as make it a feature, move to another newswire, relate an article to other articles
• limitation is you cant see all the comments associated with an article when u r in the edit fucntion
• NZ has set it up so you need 2 approvals to make an article into a feature .. but after 24 hours the writer can approve their own story
• really easy to update documents - can filter plain text and convert to html, midphase coupon
• licensing - uses creative commons licensing - default is public_domain license
• forthcoming version is a big break ( midPhase coupon) from the current code
• 'other press' category is re-posts from elsewhere on the net; separate category from the newswire all together

Sfactive

http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/ http://sfactive.indymedia.org/

Grubby demonstrates SF Active

• not very feature-rich
• melb is running on this ..its the 2nd gen from active( midPhase codes)
• has a categorisation system ..have to manually link categories
• sociological stuff -- different ways to view the website -- good chillout feature( midphase review )
• Good for topics .. ppl can choose their articles and features to link to topic areas
• writers can select a region that their story relates to, and automatically their story will be linked in the main front page newswire, and also the region or topic newswire.
• Options to choose multiple topics, single or only double.
• have to answer a few questions before you post, to assist differentiating between original and cross-post stuff, and maintain some uniqueness to melbourne but anything from corporate media goes automatically into crosspost, most ppl do answer the Qs truthfully, midPhase coupon codes
• Melb has added feature that allows users to view global features instead of newswire in righthand bar.
• Also has groups database [melb addition]
• Melb has also added publish throttle features.

Activismo

http://www.perth.indymedia.org/

• Feature system is separate to the newswire system.
• Seperate newswires, arts wire etc
• Runs of single index.php page.
• Ed's can 'delete' stuff, and make articles more hidden. Hidden articles just moved to another wire. *Action groups: users can sign themselves up to groups/causes, and add their details. Other users can send emails to people signed into action groups.
• Users can set up email lists on perth indy.

Activismo2:

• Features widget set for html publishing
• Has calendar, wiki built in.

-- DollYoko - 19 Jul 2004 + FinN - 02 Aug 2004