Is Drupal really the best tool for the job?
as part of PTP's Community Organizing and Technology Institute (COaTI) Program, we use a Drupal powered intranet website to help participants stay connected and share information and resources between sessions and after the program is over. And lately, I've been wondering if Drupal is actually the best tool for the job.
We went with Drupal because we didn't really know what was going to happen, and Drupal seemed to give us the most flexibility in terms of being able to do things that we hadn't anticipated.
Three COaTI programs in, I find myself thinking that maybe Drupal isn't the right choice as the program moves forward. Mostly, this is because the actual usage that has evolved is much simpler than what is possible with Drupal. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that we could do what's needed with a simple online forum/bulletin board system.
So, what's needed? here's the list I'm working from - anyone who's participated in a COaTI, please jump in and suggest changes/disagree with me/etc.
- ability to post questions and get answers from other COaTI participants - past and current
- ability to attach documents to posts
- ability to upload and share images/graphics
- ability to see a list of members along with some information about those members
- connection to email - you can email in posts
- connection to email #2 - posts are also sent out via a listserve, from the listserve you can respond on list and the email is connected back to originating post.
That last requirement is actually the one that has been most important, and its the one that I think only Drupal does (still).
This is filed under the brainstorming category. Please share your thoughts.
