To The Web Gurus Out There

[mr_orgue]

I'd like some advice about a work project.  I know there are many wise and teched-up folks on this friendslist; if anyone has anything to suggest I'd be keen to hear it.

I'm leading a project to completely revise the website of the research centre I manage (current site: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/cacr/ ).

The vision we've developed seems, to me,

Comments

[marsden_online]

It seems perfectly reasonable to me, although I don't have the chops to develop something on that scale :D

I'd ask two questions at this point:
Can you identify specific failings in the tools you've examined so far which make them unsuitable?
Do you know of any institutions that already run a good system like this? Not just in NZ.

I'll point someone I know who may have dealt with this sort of thing in the past at this post and see what they have to say.

[mr_orgue]

Bearing in mind that I have been looking around mostly to see what's out there and to see if we can achieve our goals with something sitting ready to use - i.e. not conducting anything like a formal evaluation

[marsden_online]

A couple of years ago I evaluated a free package developed by a charity or relief agency for project and information management between it's international teams and other stakeholders which I think would have addressed these issues - and that was before social networking was a buzzword. Did I archive it or can I remember enough details to successfully google it it now? No :(

The only other point that has been raised is that it reads as if you want something which will deliver two completely separate interfaces/views of the data depending on the context of outside visitor/centre user. As a developer I'd go as far as physically separating those with a /staff directory on the site or something.

For a wider list of what's out there try a google search for "white label social network" if you haven't already :)

[broin]

I've used some similar things (and seen functionality I didn't use), but only in big organisations like GE. An interesting mixture of blogs, databases, wikis and profiles. Though I heard a rumor they were considering launching what they use for the general public. I guess as a rival to Sharepoint.

[mr_orgue]

Yeah, Sharepoint has been mentioned by several people I've spoken to as a possible basis of a solution. I don't know enough about how it works to be sure, but Sharepoint seems to me much more of a collaboration tool than a external-user-friendly communications tool. Hmm. Maybe it is a good fit though.

Thanks!

[evie_fae]

It is, however, the devil. Sharepoint is unfriendly to use, obnoxious, and badly designed. I know, I have to use the darn thing every day. -__-

Weirdly enough, I was at a presentation just the other week from a company pitching their new project as 'Facebook for work'. However, it's still in development, so that doesn't help you at all. Er, actually, this just generally isn't a helpful comment. I'll be toddling off now. ^^;

[mr_orgue]

Sharepoint = devil, gotcha.

Actually that doesn't surprise me at all :-)

[delichan]

I know you might not wish to outsource, or have any kind of budget for doing so, but this is the kind of thing that my old company in Japan specialized in. I can recommend them as being excellent and creating good value quality tailor-made software (having been a partner there for 5 years, I clearly have no bias ; )

Anyway, if you're interested, you can check out the website here: bluejava.com.

They've worked quite a bit with overseas clients before, and deal in English not Japanese. At the very least, if you contact them with your requirements, they will probably be able to point you at what does exist already and you can make the choice then as to whether you want to go down the road of having something developed custom.

[mr_orgue]

Thanks 'del - will definitely check them out and keep in mind!

[8w_gremlin]

Looks to me that your best bet is a good Content Management System, (CMS) stay away from the sharepoint, It's massively overpriced, bloated and a bitch to use, and code for.

A dynamic open source CMS system, like Drupal, or similar might fit your bill. you can tailor the look and feel of the site to be different to roles (user types) whats more its free, so you can spend you're budget on look and feel and bespoke development. its PHP and MySQL base - so plenty of developers out there, and it has a huge set of configurable modules.

If you'd like to meet up I can go over some of your requirements and see if i can suggest any other courses of action.

[mr_orgue]

Gotcha. Yeah, that's pretty much where I think I'm at - find a good developer who bring develop what we need out of a good, solid CMS. That's a pretty good place to be really.

I won't bother you further with this just now, but might tap you again somewhere down the line. Do you work for a developer?

[8w_gremlin]

I'm here in Wellington, and I'll use anything for an excuse to go get a good coffee..

I've worked for a number of IT solution companies and currently gainfully employed as a UI consultant.

I've come from a technical and psychological background, so can give you some pointers and steer you clear of some of the pitfalls

[mr_orgue]

I take it back, I *will* bother you further with this. I'll give you an email later (as soon as my calendar for the week tightens up) and set a time to take you for coffee!