Cargo Cult Websites

A cargo cult website is a site that has all the bells and whistles of a dynamic community facing website but might as well be hand coded HTML for all the difference it really makes. The sites that imitate other sites and wonder why they too are not earning billions. A fine example of Cargo Cult CMS is Drupal. It is an overweight and underpowered system that tries to incorporate every kind of template system and every kind of website type in order to summon the gods of cool websites, community or success.

Lordmatt.co.uk (2007). Articles>Content Management>Community Building>Drupal

Forum and CMS Integration

The nucleus of building an online community is a popular an well run forum. When building a community using php CMS software the forum is the first thing that should be configured. Unfortunately most opensource php CMS software is lacking in the area that it should be strongest, the forum. For users a lot of time and effort goes into choosing the right software to accomplish the task of building an online community. Missing is the effort by the CMS developers to ensure that the software is up to the job.

Hiveminds (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building

Managing Valuable Chapter Content

One of the ways that STC chapters can improve their value proposition to present and prospective members is to make available some of the best content that is created by and owned by the chapter members.

Kinder, Meredith and Sheila Loring. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building>STC

Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization

New online participatory tools like blogs, YouTube, and MySpace can be powerful and valuable--if they mesh with your goals. Colin Delany walks through the benefits and costs of common participatory tools and suggests which are likely to be useful for you.

Delany, Colin. IdealWare (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building

Web Two-Point Uh-Oh  

The problem with many Web 2.0 applications is the assumption that the community's motives are good, or at least neutral. Perlin's column explores how one of the drawbacks of Web 2.0--potential loss of control over information--has manifested itself.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Content Management

Six Steps to Effective Discussion Forums on your Intranet

When you have a small base of users (say, under 10,000), everything has to be perfect to create effective discussion forums. Here are 6 guidelines.

McGrath, Chris. One Intranets (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building>Intranets

Caught in the Current of Writer River: Building and Participating in Community-Driven Websites    

When hundreds of people engage in content-generation and exchange, impressive results can happen — namely, you find a lot of interesting, accurate content. Writer River doesn’t have nearly enough community to be on par with these sites, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Johnson, Tom H. Intercom (2009). Articles>Content Management>Community Building>Taxonomy