Ongoing Portal Management

Of course, the creation of a Drupal portal based on the Open Semantic Framework is but the first step in the lifecycle of a portal. Upon initial release, there are a number of ongoing activities that merit continued attention. Some of these are maintenance in orientation, others are the basic care-and-feeding of content on a site, while others are continued expansions and enhancements to the site to keep it fresh and attract visitors.

This document outlines these various ongoing portal management tasks.

Standard Maintenance
A Drupal portal and its supporting OSF stack present many standard maintenance requirements in software, and user and content management.

Module and Version Upgrades
A common fact of software is that new developments and bug fixes result in new versions. Many of these are minor maintenance versions, chiefly focused on bug fixes and plugging security holes.

The large number of software components in the OSF stack (see this listing) ensures there is an almost daily stream of new versions. These need not be responded to immediately, but should receive scheduled and frequent attention. (Certain security updates do deserve immediate attention, however.)

For checking within Drupal and its direct modules (including for OSF-Drupal), you should check:

Admin -> Reports -> Status Report Admin -> Reports -> Available updates

Periodic checking of the project sites for the other components in the stack is also a best practice.

User Management
Depending on your use of groups or not (chiefly through Drupal's Organic Groups module), you will have normal demands on new registration requests and groups management. However, opening up a Drupal site for user registration (even for comment posting purposes as a minimal distinguishing factor) opens up your site to user spam.

Automated bots can often target Drupal sites for user registration. The user names so assigned are often non-sensical and appear as random character strings; they often have no or widely separated repeat visits. Single visits with immediate non-sensical comments or spam links are also indicators of user spam problems.

User lists are shown and maintained under:

Admin -> User management -> Users

Once problems are discovered, this user list should be monitored frequently, if not daily. The interface is fairly evident as to how to filter and sort users. So long as ultimate user numbers remain low, this interface is sufficient to conduct user management.

Comment Management
A key setting throughout Drupal is whether comments are allowed or not. These can be varied by content type and other rules.

When a new content type is first created:

Admin -> Content management -> Content types -> Add Content Type

You are given the option to enable or disable comments, anonymous or not, and other various comment settings. Then, when individual pages of that content type are created, you also have the option to set those same comment values for that specific page.

If you DO have comments allowed, you need to be prepared for spam. High spam levels might cause you to disallow anonymous commenting. If spam is still received, you should also take care to possibly remove the offending user from your user list (see above).

Other strategies, such as use of reCAPTCHA gatekeepers for comments or spam filters of various types (Mollom is a common one for Drupal) may also be employed.

In any case, IF comments are allowed on your portal, depending on comment volume, you should be prepared to review and approve comments as received. That option is found under:

Admin -> Content management -> Comments

Like the user list (see above), this feature also has useful sorting and filtering capabilities for culling through comments.

Content Freshness
Successful sites are fresh sites, with much new content added and other visible changes on a frequent basis. Keeping a portal site fresh need not be a full-time job; with the right tools and discipline, sites can be kept alive with attention ranging from 20 min or so to many hours.

Front Page Attention
Even with bookmarking to specific locations deeper within your site, many users will still enter your portal via the front page. This entry is especially true for those coming from search engines (since they tend to list all subsidiary pages under the main one) and for users simply remembering your site name.

It is thus important to use blocks or notification areas on the front page for updated content, announcements and links, preferably updated daily. Also RSS feeds from Twitter or other social networking sites can provide running commentary and updates "for free."

Blogs and Comments
Finding means by which content can be user generated (so-called "crowdsourcing" or UGC) can both measurably increase the amount and freshness of content on your site. Further, crowdsourced content -- properly monitored -- is inexpensive and brings a variety of views and voices to your site. That, too, also increases its attractiveness.

Blogs and comments are two immediate means for opening the site to user content. Other mechanisms (some described more below) include RSS feeds from related and relevant sites, surveys, rating and ranking systems, event calendars, community bulletin boards, and the like. Contests for submitted stories or pictures can also be effective mechanisms.

Dashboards
A powerful feature built into an OSF portal is the workbench, via which data display dashboards can be created. Having staff create new dashboards on a weekly or so basis provides new and interesting dynamic content, that also may be advertised on the front page.

Dashboards can be created according to themes, events throughout the year, or even by outside parties (assuming proper user and group settings). Such groups could include local faculty or researchers or staff of related local interest groups.

Since all dashboards can be named and retrieved persistently, they can also be assembled into listings, displays by chronological creation, or thematically. It is also possible to set up comments for completed dashboards. Dashboards might also be considered for contests or voting schemes.

Stored WebMaps
The sWebMap component has the ability to save map + query/filter configurations. These, like dashboards, can also be designed for persistent access and sharing. The system would need to be linked to a user/group management capability. The same benefits of UGC can be realized through this approach.

Dataset Updates
As a strongly data-oriented site, an OSF portal also has a high premium on freshness and currency of the data it presents. Setting work practice such that existing datasets are checked for updates and currency is therefore important.

Encouraging outside data contributions (via external imports or individual record crowdsourcing) can also be effective means for demonstrating an active site and keeping user interest. Like any other update category, new datasets or updates of existing ones are also candidates for site announcements and PR.

Ontology Management
Elsewhere we discuss the importance of keeping the ontology in "sync" with new datasets and attributes as they arise and are incorporated into the site. But ontology updates need not be limited to data drivers.

It is helpful to be attentive to new concepts, ideas, jargon and terminology in the domain of your OSF portal and then ensure that this new vocabulary is added to your site ontology on a frequent basis. You can also reorganize conceptual relationships or make further connections as they become apparent throughout your community.

Most of these changes will just represent an ongoing growth and evolution of your domain ontology. However, added new branches or significant expansions or new connections may also warrant some specific notice and promotion on the front page.

Content or Functional Extensions
Content or functional extensions or enhancements are by definition things that are added after the initial public release of an OSF portal. Some of these -- such as testing, comparing, and adding new Drupal modules -- can be considered to be part of a staffer's standard contributions, with efforts for those things worked into other schedule requirements. Adding new datasets or branch extensions to the core domain ontology might also be considered to fall into this category as well.

Other content or functional extensions may require additional temporary staff increases or budgeting for external contributions. Insofar as workflow and procedures are worked out in advance for such items as external dataset contributions or leveraging already proven Drupal modules, significant expansion can still occur without major infusions of budget or extra effort.

Events Calendar
Events calendars of various types are quite popular on many Drupal sites. Events calendars, by their nature, need to be kept fresh and current, which acts as a reinforcement to carrying through that mindset into other areas of the portal.

Depending on the nature of the portal and its audience, events could range from the daily to monthly or longer.

Some of the existing Drupal modules worth a look in this area include some Drupal forums, Calendar and Calendar Block modules.

Surveys and Ratings
Drupal has a rich suite of contributed modules in the areas of surveys, voting, rankings, ratings and preferences. These can take the form of daily quizzes and questions to +1 or thumbs up/down scoring of any and all forms of site content.

There are literally hundreds of various Drupal modules in these areas. Some of the many worth a look include WebForm, Quiz, VotingAPI, Fivestar and Vote Up/Down, among others.

User-supplied Content
As noted, user-generated content (UGC) can be a fantastic source for content extensions and enhancements, specifically in the areas of:


 * External dataset submissions
 * External record submissions to existing datasets
 * Engagement in commentary via comments, events postings, blog postings, guest articles, image postings, Twitter tweets, and RSS feed monitoring
 * User-differentiated groups that can take on more and more responsibility for content and moderation of same.

Other Basic Functionality
Here are some possible areas for such extensions. New Drupal module announcements (see here) and new OSF component additions (monitoring the OSF Google group is the best location) may occasionally surface some additional ideas. There is also a useful news aggregation site for Drupal worth monitoring.

Version Upgrades
No major piece of software can avoid significant version upgrades if it is to remain current. Practices and operating systems change; database systems evolve; and Web practice and expectations are constantly moving.

While it is dangerous to be an early adopter for most new versions -- since bugs are still being discovered and worked out -- by the first minor upgrade (say, X.1), it is perhaps time to consider a commensurate major upgrade of the portal. Key areas that might trigger such consideration are changes to any of these components:


 * Drupal upgrades (such as to the current version 7)
 * Major component versions (Solr, Virtuoso, PHP)
 * New releases of the OSF stack.

In addition. like trading in for new cars, most Web sites need to undergo a design update and revision every two to three years. Big trends, such as the migration to HTML5 or shifts to mobile devices or practices involving widgets or mashups, can force the understood baseline of current Web standards to also evolve. To maintain existing user bases, let alone continue to grow the audience, it is important that Web sites not be viewed as "getting long in the tooth."

Major upgrades of these bases need to be budgeted for and scheduled. They generally can not be accomplished with standard staffing commitments.

Other Maintenance Activities
Other maintenance activities you may want to consider, depending on budgets and appetite for initiative, may include:


 * Search engine optimization (SEO)
 * Web log analysis and monitoring
 * External links
 * Liaison with external groups
 * PR and community outreach.

One activity that should be explicitly accounted for and supported is the effort necessary to keep current with developments in Drupal and some of the other major OSF components. Again, these need not be collectively onerous. Tracking RSS feeds from the relevant host sites and blogs for these components (see, in part, this listing of OSF components for some links) only requires a few minutes each day. But, it does ensure that significant advances and new releases or developments are noted in a timely manner to keep your portal current.

A Comment on Staffing
Of course, there are many variables and many differences in scope and site traffic between different portals. However, the items outlined above need not require a dedicated staff of multiple individuals to maintain.

For the standard OSF portal, it should be possible for a single individual on a part-time basis to address all of the areas of updates and currency. Sure, there may be dedicated periods every so often where new themes or new expansions are worked into your portal. At those times, more staff or external assistance may be justified.

But, on an ongoing basis, and with a routine and rotating schedule for attending to all management areas, it should be possible to keep an OSF portal timely and exciting for your user community with much less than a dedicated full time person.