Cover Letter for Survey
Group Memebers:Eric Lakich and Raven McClure

Dear respondent, we are conducting a short survey for our Business English class regarding the Drupal website. Our Class is curious to understand why consumers use Drupal and the benefits that they have gained or would like to gain from Drupal in the future. This survey focuses specifically on the general use of Drupal and the use of resource and non-profit sites on Drupal.org. This survey should only take 10 minutes to fill out. For our purposes we ask that you complete this survey no later than November 23, 2004. Thank you for your participation.

Global Drupal questions:

1)What can a Drupal site do for an organization?
2)What is personal profile information used for if I join a Drupal site?
3)What type of credibility issues are associated with Drupal?
4)Can the content of some Drupal sites ruin the credibility of Drupal as a whole?
5)Can Drupal be implemented into currently running websites?
6) How difficult is the change-over?

Questions directed toward our group topic:
7)What are the advantages of using Drupal over other web patforms?
8)What signifies a Drupal site as a resource or a non-profit site?
9)What other search platforms cater to Drupal sites besides drupal.org?
10)What methods are used to establish credibility among resource or non-profit sites?
11)What adavantages can Drupal offer non-profit organizations?
12)How can a non-profit organization use Drupal to promote their cause?

We have decided to exclude the following questions. Please respond if you believe any of theses questions should be included with the survey. -Is Drupal simply a web forum? -Where does the word Drupal come from? -Is drupal.org considered the foundation for Drupal or has it simply gained popularity with Drupal users? -Are there Drupal sites that are used to generate a profit? -Can the content of some Drupal sites ruin the credibility of Drupal as a whole?

Comments

rmcclure28’s picture

Today we will be posting our final Drupal case study project.Through extensive research over the past six weeks we hope to have learned about the effective utilization of Drupal software. We hope that our case study provides an opportunity for others to learn about Drupal software and when sucessfully implemented its useful and resourceful tools,functions, features and modules.

rmcclure28’s picture

Case Study of Drupal Resource and Non-Profit Websites
By: Eric Lakich and Raven McClure

Purdue University
Business writing
December 9, 2004

Abstract

This case study includes information about the use of the open source website Drupal.org and the effectiveness of Drupal's tools for non-profit and resource websites. Drupal is an open source website which provides free application software for users to utilize in developing their own websites. The software incorporates features such as, forums, blogs, and event calendars, as well as multiple other modules to help users organize information on their various websites for numerous purposes. This case study of three non-profit and resource websites includes ways that Drupal can be used to assist with the development of nonprofit and resource websites as well as recommendations to effectively incorporate Drupal software on these web pages.

Executive Summary

The recent popularity of open source documentation through websites, blogs, and software has sparked the introduction of numerous open source websites. Drupal being a member of this open source movement is providing users with free application software assist users with the development of their own websites devoted to a cause, activity or topic that these individuals feel strongly about. Drupal’s software allows users to benefit from a numerous array of tools that can help in the development of websites that will have the ability to increase awareness about an individual’s particular topic. This case study evaluates Drupal’s efficiency in offering these benefits to users and recommendations that may improve the effectiveness of Drupal’s functions.

Introduction

This report will be evaluating the use of Drupal software in the design and maintenance of research and advocacy websites. In order to gain a broad view of what these types of sites have to offer, and what Drupal functions are used successfully to help the user, we must consider the difference between the sites. Research websites generally give information on a topic and rely on the feedback of credible sources to inform the community. Advocacy or non-profit sites are generally designed to promote an organization where users are encouraged to actively participate in growing a belief or promoting an organization. The following cases will offer an overview of some types of resource and advocacy sites and how they use Drupal.

Purpose for Studying Resource and Non-Profit Websites on Drupal

Resource and non-profit/advocacy sites have been chosen to be researched to gain a better understanding of the purpose of using Drupal modules and to understand the distinction between resource websites and non-profit organizations from other websites that use Drupal. A clear understanding of the purpose of these sites will encourage others to utilize the Drupal modules for their own sites. Zack Rosen, a webmaster for Civic Space Labs, states that Drupal modules can be added to current web sites. The transition involves reorganizing the information currently on the site to fit the Drupal modules. The changeover is somewhat easy for an experienced user. This ability to transition from a less organized, traditional format to a reorganized, user friendly Drupal format can improve the quality and credibility for not just research and advocacy sites, but many other types of sites as well.

Research Methods

In order to gain credible knowledge of the use of Drupal modules, a survey was composed, which asked Drupal users to provide some feedback on the questions listed below.

Survey Questions

The following are responses to some of the questions asked to obtain a better understanding of how Drupal modules can be used.

Q- What can a Drupal site do for an organization?
A- There is a technical feature list on the Drupal.org site. For me I
wanted a BLOG and a web-based forum which people other than a Webmaster
could post to. I wanted to have an easy ability for people to join, and
then I could grant different levels of access to people who are
known/trusted in the community better.
-Russell McOrmond (Internet Consultant)
Build community. Organize constituents. Disseminate information.
-Zack Rosen (Webmaster for Civic Space Labs)

Q- What is personal profile information used for if I join a Drupal site?
A- Anything other than the email address could be an alias, but those who
use pseudonames are less likely to have their access level raised. I run
a site that is intended to be politically active Citizens, and citizens
interact with their government using real names.
-Russell McOrmond (Internet Consultant)
Putting a face / personality to a name.
-Zack Rosen (Webmaster for Civic Space Labs)

Q- Can Drupal be implemented into currently running websites? If so, how difficult is the change-over?
A- Migrating existing content over to a new CMS is always dependant on what
format the old content was in. In our case we didn't migrate content
(archives to out mailing list, links, etc), we left them where they were
and just added Drupal to offer new features.
-Russell McOrmond (Internet Consultant)

Q- What advantages can Drupal offer non-profit organizations?
A- Drupal is FLOSS, runs on FLOSS architecture (LAMP), and is growing in
visibility such that it is easier to find people who can support/manage a
Drupal site.
-Russell McOrmond (Internet Consultant)

Q- How can a non-profit organization use Drupal to promote their cause?
A- As an example, having a lefty-political or union site ranting about
privatization that is running on a Microsoft server is just amusing to me,
given the use of "software manufacturing", the methodology that Microsoft
is successful in, is the ultimate in privatization.
I typed "union privatization" into Google and looked up the server used

Example: by the first link.
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.nupge.ca
This to me suggests that The National Union of Public and General
Employees (NUPGE) hasn't a clue of what they are talking about, and can be
safely ignored as an out-of-touch community.
-Russell McOrmond (Internet Consultant)

Since it was difficult to obtain information from the original survey questions posted. We did further investigation, by emailing experienced members of the Drupal community. The information gathered above came mostly from webmasters such as Zack Rosen of Civic Space Labs and Russell McOrmond who is a web consultant. These webmasters were able to answer all of the questions included in our survey which provided a better understanding of what Drupal is and how it is used.

Observation and Evaluation Method

The second method used to research Drupal modules is observation and evaluation. Searching websites that use Drupal modules for interesting, accurate and credible information to be used as part of the case study was challenging. There is a fine distinction between research and advocacy websites opposed to news and profit organizations. Since both include information that will help the individual learn more about a specific topic in an informal fashion. Careful research of the organizations and their usage of Drupal modules helped distinguish the differences between the sites.

After determining what methods would be used, evaluation of the content contained on the sites and the effective incorporation of Drupal modules within different sites that pertained to our topic began. The following cases studies represent a range of websites starting with what we felt poorly used Drupal website up to a site that uses the Drupal modules very well.

Case Study: Community Information Service Cairns Inc.

Community Information Service Cairns Inc. (http://66.39.50.138/) is an example of the typical use and organization of Drupal functions. The company’s purpose is to offer resources and information to local businesses in Queensland, Australia. The site implements some useful Drupal features such as. Information center for Queensland, Australia, A sidebar which contains info such as the weather, upcoming events, and other miscellaneous resources.

Recommendations

-The main page of the site is a little cluttered with different sections that do not flow well together. At first it is hard to understand the purpose of the company by the website. The center of the main page is full of posts from current members of the site. These posts would be better organized by using Drupal to set up a Forum section outside of the main page.
- There is a login function at the top left in a noticeable area however; the organization chose not to use the Distributed Logon Function. Instead the site utilizes its own login and registration process. This does deter some users from taking the time to join the site in order to use all of its functions. Although, it may be easier for the organization to keep track of its members and distribute items such as newsletters it might benefit the site to switch to the general login that Drupal provides to make it easier for users.

Although this site offers some useful information for users, its poor design, and difficult navigation, may distract many users and deter them from using the site.

Prison Activists Resource Center

The Prison Activists Resource Center (http://www.prisonactivist.org/) is a Drupal site that utilizes many of Drupal’s Key Functions. One function that is used by this site is the Distributed Authentication Function. This function allows any Drupal user to access the site using a Drupal login and password. Since many people who are interested in using Drupal already has provided a Drupal login, they can freely browse this site without offering any additional information.
Our topic to consider is resource and non-profit sites. This site is a good example of both. The nature of the site is non-profit. The Prison Activists Resource Center (PARC) is a site designed to help prisoners and families to deal with the realities of civil treatment in prisons. The site is easily navigated using the link bar at the top of every site. Since the link bar does not move or change, the user will always be able to get back to any point on the site in only one click. Fishing through a maze of links to get back to where you started can be frustrating, the strategically designed link bar can alleviate these stresses.

The site also allows users to access the third party company Paypal via a link on the homepage. Paypal is basically an online money transfer and banking system which when used on this site allows users to make donations to PARC using a credit card or bank account.

The site also has included many other functions such as a search page, forum, links, news, archives, and issues. The search bar is used to locate lines of text within the site so if you read an article a month ago and cannot find it, you simply go to the search page and enter what you remember form the article and the site will automatically redirect you to the article. The forum function is used on this site for users to discuss current events and experienced related to PARC. This Drupal tool can be very useful when used correctly and monitored. The reason the forum must be monitored is because many immature or disgruntled users may begin posting threads that are negative toward the site or other users. This behavior deters people from using the forum at all. The links page contains links to related websites and internet resources. The news page is used to update active members about upcoming events and basically any interesting facts about the organization. The archives contain all old news articles and posts from the website. The issues tab contains recent changes in legislation and other rules that affect the interest of the organization. This website is a good demonstration of the power Drupal can have for designing a website.

Recommendations

This website utilizes the Drupal modules the best of all the websites evaluated. The only recommendations that might help better serve the site would be to have a stricter monitor system for the forums or possibly implement a blog.
When researching sites which use Drupal modules, it became evident that there were numerous similarities in which modules are commonly used. Two commonly used modules are forums and blogs. Initially it was difficult to determine what separates a forum from a blog. Further research established that a blog is setup by an administrator or respected user of a website. The topic is predetermined and other users are invited to comment on the topic, post replies and converse with one another. The content is regulated by the originator. According to Russell McOrmond, the blog is used to build community within an organization. The blog seems to be more credible than a forum, and the originator has ultimate control. Russell also mentioned that as the administrator of a blog, it is possible to grant different levels of permission to registered users to control the types of content that is added to the discussion.
The forum is different from the blog in many ways. A forum is liberally structured. Any member can start a topic and other members can reply. A forum generally lists the main category with all of the replies as sub categories and displayed as links, where as a blog relies on a systematic display of posts usually in chronological order. The forum generally lacks structure and commonly deviates from the original topic mainly due to a lack of content control by the administrator. The structured approach of a blog makes it a better tool for organizing feedback in relation to a discussion.

BrideTime Resource website

The last resource website analyzed in this case study is BrideTime (http://bridetime.com) a resource website that is available to users looking for information on weddings and traditions. BrideTime is a resource site that provides information to brides about wedding traditions, wedding rituals in different cultures,and numerous other information for organizing a wedding. The site only utilizes three modules
- links to other wedding related sites
- a forum for members to interact with one another to learn more about weddings to help others find out more pertinent information regarding their own individual needs

-Login module

Recommendations

Since the site only uses three modules, it would be more beneficial to users if some other platforms and modules were integrated. Although a forum module is in place. The only user that has information on it is the administrator. The links in the sidebar provide some useful information about weddings, but the placement and arrangement of them deters users from going to them and utilizing the information. The site should invest time in developing a more attractive webpage also. When first visiting the site it simply looks like a blog or personal page the title of the page is the only thing that provides users with information about the site that they are visiting. Improving the visual appearance of the website may help in attracting more users.

Conclusion

This case study investigated three different Drupal sites and pointed out how they effectively and ineffectively use functions and features provided through the software. All of the sites we considered have some positive uses of Drupal, however, we also included some of areas of improvement that may benefit users. Demonstrating poor uses of functions on a website gives a practical comparison of what separates good sites from bad.

Drupal resource websites provide users with an opportunity to database specific information. The resource websites evaluated during this report provide users with an opportunity to learn more about specific topics. The advocacy websites provide users and others viewing the website with an opportunity to speak their minds about certain topics such as community involvement and prison activism.

Based on the findings from our observations and evaluations of Drupal resource and advocacy websites Drupal software offers an opportunity for those who have experience and expertise in an area to develop a web page which will provide an opportunity to pass their knowledge on to others who have similar interests. The advocacy websites provide a low cost opportunity for advocates of a certain topic to promote their cause and advertise to get others involved. With the integration of Drupal software these organizations will have an opportunity to further their causes in ways that may not have been available to them without the use of Drupal. Although Drupal websites provide users with an opportunity to have a free software program, the complexity of the software may stifle the effective usage of the software. Inexperienced users who do not fully understand Drupul modules, functions, and features, will never be able to benefit from its capabilities. Drupal software provides resourceful features for users to help them make their websites as detailed as possible and it’s also unique to create a relationship with individuals who hold common interests. The resource and advocacy websites on Drupal are helpful tools for users who are looking to keep costs to a minimum and have the experience to fully integrate the functions of the Drupal software.