NTEN: Open Source CMS

<p><em>I updated this now that i am back in NY and had a little time.</em></p> <p>But a cute little joke, one of the panelist from <a href="http://www.ashoka.org">Ashoka</a> said some people in her org have come to call open source "Open Sores" because of their bad experience with some OSS.</p> <p>This session started with a conversation about CMS selection, the process by which an organization should go about selecting a CMS. Usha Venkatachallam from <a href="http://www.beaconfire.com" target="_blank">Beacon Fire Consulting</a>suggested it is best to sit down and identify all of the functionality that you are looking for BEFORE you start looking at CMS packages. Once you start looking at the systems, their avialable features will influence your scoping. Having done the later, I will agree 100%. This was the best vendor presentation i saw, the presentation was completely agnostic. There was no sales pitch (or at least not an overt one) from the vendor.</p> <p>The second part of the session was a speed geeking circuit where folks presented 5 minute schpiels on <a href="http://www.civicspacelabs.org" target="_blank">CivicSpace</a>, <a href="http://www.mamboserver.com" target="_blank">Mambo</a>, <a href="http://www.picnet.net/soapbox_preview.html" target="_blank">Soap Box</a> (a package of Mambo from PicNet.net) <a href="http://plone.org/" target="_blank">Plone</a>, <a href="http://openconcept.ca/index.php/besupport" target="_blank">Back End</a>, and Midgaard and while it seemed totally cool, it didn't seem like the right tool for the groups I work with.</p> <p>I was impressed with Plone, as presented by Andrew Burkhalter from <a href="http://www.onenw.org" target="_blank">OneNW</a>. and Mambo/Soapbox also seemed like it could work for some people I work with.</p> <p>I have an obvious bias toward <a href="http://www.civicspacelabs.org" target="_blank">CivicSpace</a>, and after talking with Andrew about Plone, he confirmed that for the civic engagement tool that I place a high value on, CS can not be matched by any of the others in the room at this point, but the trade off is that the UI for CS is not a slick for the non technical user as the UIs for Plone or mambo.</p>