Over at "Designing for Civil Society" they have an interesting list of 10 Open Source Tools for eActivism, taken from the Democracy Online Newswire. A lot of it is social software, including pointers to mailing list managers, wikis, weblogs and discussion forums, and it includes this nifty chart arranging the tools on two axes -- formal to informal, and centralized to distributed:
(I loves me some two-axis charts...)
i'd disagree with the formal/informal placing of wikis. one of the major points of wiki is that there's isn't any one true way of using them; it depends entirely on the users as to the formality of the edits made, and even then, formal and informal edits can mix without either seeming out of place.
The problem that i have with this is that it leaves out so many of the tools that people actually use to engage in democracy. Where on earth is SMS???
Oh, and Clay, cause you like two-axes charts, make sure to check out Karrie's analysis of different communication mediums: http://web.media.mit.edu/~kkarahal/generals/communication/index.html
The two dimensional map falls short in the case of Drupal (and probably also some of the other tools).
Drupal is a very complete tool, which will let you set up a whole variety of services - There are around 100 modules, which will let you do most of what all the other tools mentioned here do.
Drupal is used by www.deanspace.org as a very central tool for the Howard Dean campaign, and by eCademy which is a very advanced social networking platform with members in the tens of thousands, which in my opinion makes it THE MOST usable tool for eActivism.
It covers bulletin board functionality AND e-mail newsletters AND to some extent Wiki functionality.
Drupal does this in an INTEGRATED way via a role based permission system and a full fledged taxonomy system - which most of the other systems lack totally.
Drupal can be set up as a collaborative blogging system - both centralized and distributed. It can be set up as a web site hosting system, and "shoot off" websites very efficiently. It can allow users to create their own blogs, image galleries, pages etc.
Drupal can support collaborative writing projects - right out of the box.
Drupal can support collaborative development projects.
Drupal can....
Everything is fully integrated with the user data, the permission system and the content metadata.
Regarding the formal/informal axis - if you take a look at some of the sites that use Drupal (accessible via the drupal.org website) - you will notice that most sites are very formal. It is your own choice. To say that Drupal is informal whereas PostNuke is formal is simply wrong. Drupal can set up a BETTER slashforum or portal than PostNuke. I know it because I've done it.
That is what makes Drupal MUCH MORE POWERFUL than the other tools.
I agree that the two axis are both important, but if you try to fit in a system like Drupal, you will fail.
(I loves me some two-axis charts...)
1. milk on January 16, 2004 2:52 PM writes...
i'd disagree with the formal/informal placing of wikis. one of the major points of wiki is that there's isn't any one true way of using them; it depends entirely on the users as to the formality of the edits made, and even then, formal and informal edits can mix without either seeming out of place.
(just my 2p)
Permalink to Comment2. Seb on January 16, 2004 3:14 PM writes...
Totally agree with milk. Most wikis I've encountered (apart from Wikipedia) actually felt rather informal.
Permalink to Comment3. dreww on January 17, 2004 11:30 AM writes...
how can wikis possibly be more 'formal' than drupal? i suspect some kind of academicist activist connotations at work here.
Permalink to Comment4. David Wilcox on January 18, 2004 1:43 PM writes...
Thanks for the mention of Designing for Civil Society. Tools are, of course, only part of the story, so I've put something together on Ten Traps for Facilitators who may be using tools. http://partnerships.typepad.com/civic/2004/01/ten_traps_for_f.html
Permalink to Comment5. zephoria on January 19, 2004 3:24 PM writes...
The problem that i have with this is that it leaves out so many of the tools that people actually use to engage in democracy. Where on earth is SMS???
Oh, and Clay, cause you like two-axes charts, make sure to check out Karrie's analysis of different communication mediums: http://web.media.mit.edu/~kkarahal/generals/communication/index.html
Permalink to Comment6. Gunnar Langemark on January 20, 2004 4:12 AM writes...
The two dimensional map falls short in the case of Drupal (and probably also some of the other tools).
Drupal is a very complete tool, which will let you set up a whole variety of services - There are around 100 modules, which will let you do most of what all the other tools mentioned here do.
Drupal is used by www.deanspace.org as a very central tool for the Howard Dean campaign, and by eCademy which is a very advanced social networking platform with members in the tens of thousands, which in my opinion makes it THE MOST usable tool for eActivism.
It covers bulletin board functionality AND e-mail newsletters AND to some extent Wiki functionality.
Drupal does this in an INTEGRATED way via a role based permission system and a full fledged taxonomy system - which most of the other systems lack totally.
Drupal can be set up as a collaborative blogging system - both centralized and distributed. It can be set up as a web site hosting system, and "shoot off" websites very efficiently. It can allow users to create their own blogs, image galleries, pages etc.
Drupal can support collaborative writing projects - right out of the box.
Drupal can support collaborative development projects.
Drupal can....
Everything is fully integrated with the user data, the permission system and the content metadata.
Regarding the formal/informal axis - if you take a look at some of the sites that use Drupal (accessible via the drupal.org website) - you will notice that most sites are very formal. It is your own choice. To say that Drupal is informal whereas PostNuke is formal is simply wrong. Drupal can set up a BETTER slashforum or portal than PostNuke. I know it because I've done it.
That is what makes Drupal MUCH MORE POWERFUL than the other tools.
I agree that the two axis are both important, but if you try to fit in a system like Drupal, you will fail.
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