Who is using Web 2.0?

Submitted by Jason Luoma on August 1, 2007 - 11:59am
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Who is using the ContextualPsychology.org website? For those who are new to web 2.0 concepts (which is was how this website was designed), it appears that this is a major way that people will learn and interact in the future. Probably many of the people who use this site aren't very familiar with Web 2.0 concepts, as most of them are likely to be over 30 years old. But as we go along, more and more people are going to interact this way. Already online learning communities are forming around evidence-based practice and other topics of interest to mental health professionals.

Here's an interesting article on who is using web 2.0 broken down by type and age group. Are you part of the wave or behind it?

Comments

Link please Jason?

Submitted by Tore_G on January 12, 2008 - 2:25am.

You said: "Already online learning communities are forming around evidence-based practice and other topics of interest to mental health professionals."

Cool. Can I have a look? :)

Web 2.0 or not, the design needs fixin'

Submitted by Randy Burgess on August 1, 2007 - 4:35pm.

I use lots of wikis and forums, and all of them seem far better designed than this site. As an example, here very temporary and relatively trivial comments (e.g. simple user-interface queries, like "how do I download this thing?") too often end up being permanently stapled to content that is more significant and meant to be lasting. There needs to be a better separation between learning content and discussion content, with appropriate and obvious jumping-off points provided. For example any large Linux distribution (Gentoo is the one I use) keeps its forums and wikis quite separate from the main content. This doesn't prevent the forums from being the acknowledged hotbed of user participation in the Gentoo community.

The forums here also seem pretty sparsely used, considering this is the World CyberHQ for ACBS. I can think of two possible reasons: (a) the design discourages use, given that virtually every aspect of the thread mechanism is grotesque from a usability standpoint, and/or (b) the mailing lists on Yahoo are both entrenched & reasonably usable, rendering this site's boards moot. Point (a) may be due in part to the weaknesses of Drupal - based on my experience here & on another board, I would never recommend Drupal to anyone versus the far better packages out there.

I'm assuming though that the site was built mostly by volunteer effort - for this I'm grateful as a balky site is better than no site. Still, I hope that when the site is overhauled & upgraded, as Steve Hayes has mentioned on the public ACT list, the above usability problems will be addressed.

Forums -- do hybrids exist?

Submitted by Steven Hayes on August 20, 2007 - 6:09am.

I think the biggest problem with forums is the the list serves work so well.
The site structure is also a problem, as is obvious,
but really this is not just a Drupal issue -- it is that
it has been all volunteer all the way. I think we are just
beyond that stage now as a community.

On the forums: I wonder if hybrids exist.
For example I think you can post RSS feeds off of a
list serve into archives on the site. If they were well threaded
that would be useful (Yahoo searchers are terrible).
It would be neat if folks visiting the site could
respond to the threads on the site but also have the response
posted to the list serve automatically.

When we implement values-based dues (beginning as soon
as the new site launches) everyone on the list and everyone
accessing features on the site will automatically will become ACBS
members so there would be no organizational barriers to doing this
but the programming is another matter

Anyone know?

- S

Steven C. Hayes, University of Nevada

from mailing list -> forum and vice versa

Submitted by Tore_G on January 12, 2008 - 2:23am.

Yes, it exists. I'm sure there are many but the only one that I know of is Community Server. (.org). The price for CS has increased a lot although so I don't know if it's a viable alternative. It's a powerful engine and is meant to carry large communities. The forums at Myspace are powered by CS. And also my website for swedish psychologist students: www.psykologstudent.se.

I've used Joomla for the swedish ACT-forum website but am not impressed. I've always liked integrated websites the best. The forum, blog and content management should all work as a whole. Joomla has no proper forum software and relies on phpBB (powerful forum but a different piece of software) to do it. So when a new version of Joomla comes, it may not work with the forum which needs a "translator" between the two pieces of software. And beeing a big site, you don't want any security risks from not having the latest update.

It seems from comments bellow that they're working on it although.

just checked Joomla out

Submitted by Tore_G on January 12, 2008 - 2:34am.

There is a forum on the official Joomla site which is quite okay I guess. It's not what I'd use but most people have their favorite forum software nowadays.. phpBB is great, but not an CMS.

working on it

Submitted by Jason Luoma on August 16, 2007 - 10:23am.

I've heard through the grapevine that ACBS is getting to work on this problem. Being a new bureaucracy (sp?), perhaps things move even slower than an established one! ;-) I think there may even be designated section managers, which would be cool.

I've talked to some folks who say that the slowness of Drupal (my personal/favorite complaint about the site) is something that is at the very kernel of the code and has to do with how database queries are structured. My sense is that the only solution for a larger site is changing to a different content management system. I'm playing around with [[http://www.joomla.org/|Joomla]] right now, which is probably the best known open source CMS. I'll let you and ACBS know how it works out and whether it might be a viable alternative. One good thing about Joomla is there seems to be a lot of available consultants.

For the forum section of the site -

Submitted by Randy Burgess on August 17, 2007 - 8:19am.

... something like phpBB might be good - [[http://www.phpbb.com/]]

That's what Gentoo uses for its forums - very effective - [[http://forums.gentoo.org/]]

website upgrade

Submitted by admin on August 15, 2007 - 2:15pm.

Thanks for your comments on this Randy. We are working to put the site into a new platform, but with the same Web 2.0 capabilities that Jason mentioned.

One thing that Eric Fox suggested that we will try to do with the upgrade is to make the "permenant" content appear differently (maybe a different background, or something) so that someone can tell if they're looking at relatively "final" content, versus someone's thoughts.

Another thing we're looking at doing is archiving the listserv in the site along with incorporating the listserv into the site (we're still trying to figure out if this is possible). As you say, the forums on the site are relative stagnant, compared to the listservs.

I have to admit that I am not a web guru of any kind. I only know what I've had to learn while working with this site, the previous ACT site, and another website I deal with.

You're right, the site is an amazing volunteer effort, for which we are eternally grateful (thank you Eric!).

If you have other specific suggestions/concerns, please contact me directly (just use the 'contact us' link at the bottom of any page, and let me know. We will be doing the major overhaul over the next couple of months, and the more we sort out now, the better.

(Also, I'm the first to admit that I use the site in a way that no one else does, and I'm only seeing it from my point of view... the general user will see other things that I don't.)

Thanks again,
Emily Rodrigues
ACBS

From what I've seen

Submitted by Tore_G on January 12, 2008 - 2:45am.

"Another thing we're looking at doing is archiving the listserv in the site along with incorporating the listserv into the site (we're still trying to figure out if this is possible)."

The two forums that I know of that allow this is:

dotnetnuke + active forums + mailinglist addon
Community Server + addon (internally developed)

These two are not LAMP applications and will give more expensive webhosting configuration. At least CS which easily gathers a database for a community with 300 active people about 500 mb big and steadily rising.

I guess the important thing will be to have a forum which will post back to the mailinglist. And I'm guessing but I don't think there are freeware out there that takes care of that.

I'd advice going with community server but it recently got more expensive but not for profits should get a discount so perhaps it's a possible way to go.

I just have to add that I really like the colors of this new site. Great work!

// Tore Gustafsson

Thanks Emily -

Submitted by Randy Burgess on August 16, 2007 - 5:31am.

I do want to emphasize that it was excellent for Eric to build the site - my comments aren't directed at him in any way - so another thank you to him.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know via e-mail, Emily - the only thing I would reiterate is, if possible, do see if you can switch from Drupal to another content manager. From the Googling I've done, I gather that Drupal is difficult to maintain/upgrade. Wish I had some suggestions for low-maintenance managers - but probably you are already on top of this.