ASI Social Network Plan

Goals & Objectives: Create a Social Network Platform Designed specifically for Student Organizations, Clubs Teams, ASI Programs, and Student Groups.  It will be tailored to the needs of the students, with customized tools for communication, organization, and coordination.  This resource will help ASI promote the SFSU Rec Center, support student organizations, build awareness of ASI programs, create a stronger campus community, develop online resources for students, and promote sustainable green practices for all student groups. 

Brief Explanation: The project has been broken into six phases for easier organization and implementation, each with its own budget and timeline estimates.  Each phase will be a large step in the process, each containing many smaller technical improvements.  A brief description can be found at the top of each phase outline to give additional perspective. 

Initial Assessment: Total estimate 100 - 150 hours. At an average rate of $80/hour/developer, total cost is around $12,000.  The Assessment and Analysis Meetings will confirm our estimated budget and time line.

Phase I: Prototype
Cost: $2,000
Time line: November 1 - November 15

This phase is designed to establish the bare-bones structure of the site, upload it onto the server, and test it.  Meetings will be held to determine more accurate estimates and time lines of following phases.  Communication with established University programs is key during this phase to prepare for phase II testing.


Phase II: Basic functions
Estimate: $2,500
Approximate Timeline: November 1 - November 15

This phase is designed for customizing the Platform for use on Campus.  Required functions will be added to ensure stability.  New Development will personalize user interaction for increased usability and organization.  Initial set up for graphic interface will be designed and tested.  Once completed, this site will be tested by technically savvy students on campus for an initial student feedback survey.

  • Browse
  •  
    • Organizations
    • People
    • Groups
    • Areas of Focus
    • Schools / Major =>new development ~40 hours
    • Resources
    • Jobs
    • Events
    • WikiPages
    • Recent Activities => updated with Schools ~2 hours
  • Edit (No Add a School/Major? If yes, ~15 hours)
  •  
    • Add a School
      • Add a Major ~1 hour
      • Add a Specialization or Emphasis (within a Major)
    • Add an Organization (NPO/NGO only)
    • Create a Group
    • Add a Resource (report link rot option)
    • Post a Job
    • Add an Event
    • Add a WikiPage
      • Embedded Documents & Images (what is available)
    • User Survey
    • Feedback
  • Help
  •  
    • FAQs
    • Help Desk
    • Tutorial (Video Introduction?)
  • Basic Graphic Mock-up


Phase III: Intermediate Functions
Estimate: $4,500
Approximate Timeline: December 16 - Jan 20

This phase will add important technical tools for student groups, organizations, club teams, and project teams.  It will also add important security updates to ensure student information will be kept private, and structure will be created for problem reporting and bug fixing.  Structure will be created for long-term use, including options for Alumni, Group Leaders, and Faculty Advisers.  This phase will need the largest amount of programming, testing, and customization thus far, to prepare the sire for a spring semester launch.
  • Permissions
    • Group Membership
    • Faculty Advisor Privileges
    • Public / Private Information
      • Masked email forwarding
      • Faculty Advisor Access to leader email
      • Anonymous complaint posting
    • Additional Admin Privileges
    • Student ID Security (only use for joining groups)
    • Contact info Permissions
  • User Customization
    • Student Status => ~1hour
  •  
      • Student
      • Grad Semester
      • Year
      • Graduation Date
      • Alumni
    • Interests => ~1hour
  •  
      • Club Sports
      • Clubs within the Major
      • Issues
    • Personal Info
    •  
      • Real Name
      • phone number / office hours
      • email address
      • frequency of acceptable contact
    • Preferred Method of contact => ~1hour
  •  
      • Email
      • Mobile
      • Text
      • None
      • All
    • Personal Calendar => (need to know more before an estimate. )
  •  
      • Some / All groups & organizations (Check-box list for Calendar RSS feeds)
      • Class Schedule (Share with others confidentially as RSS)
      • Small group calendars
      • Birthdays (optional)
    • Organization Blog Streams (checkbox list of RSS feeds) => (need to know more before an estimate. )
  • Organization Customization (need to know more but probably ~40 hours )
    • Home Page
    • Customizable Look*
    • Calendar!!
      • Text based RSS
      • 160 Character Event Description
      • Event Tagging
      • Word Search
      • Checkbox list
    • "Report This" options
    • project groups (task forces) within groups
    • Newsletter subscription (w/ "Stop" option)
  • Customized feedback
    • Surveys
    • Vote for upgrade priorities
    • dedicated forums
  • Tech Support System
    • ASI personnel training
    • Dedicated Help system
    • Error Reporting & Bug fixes

Phase IV: Advanced Functions
Estimate: $3,000
Approximate Timeline: Jan 26 - March 1

This phase will add additional functions and tools for organizations that can currently be found other places, and integrate those options into our system for increased usability and ease.  These options will give our social network the edge necessary to pull established school groups into our network more heavily, making us the most valuable tool to promote events and connect with students on campus. 

Phase V: Content
Estimate: $0
Timeline: Jan 26 - March 1

We will be promoting the ability to unify and communicate with student groups, while simultaneously developing a simpler interface.  Content Creation will also be an important part of this phase, and we will be using classes to contribute interesting and creative information.  This will be time for ASI to move information to this digital platform, making the documents accessible, taggable, and searchable.

Additional Content (all with Wiki Pages; student/faculty created content)

Phase VI: Umbrella Business Additions (Optional)
Very Rough Estimate: $2,000
Approximate Timeline: March 1 - April 26

This phase is an optional addition to create valuable opportunities for Student Organizations to connect to the outside world.  Structure would be established to allow student orgs to solicit donations through ASI, following a strict set of guidelines.  It is also an option for us to connect student orgs to resources of our choosing, including sustainable puchasing deals, ASI supported tools, and valuable student resources.  The last portion of this phase will be to confirm the created five year plan fits our goals and objectives before handing the project over to the next ASI board of Directors.



Alex's Contribution

Possible Contractors - They have responded to our RFP
* http://www.trellon.com/
* http://www.workhabit.com/ - from what I am learning, might be expensive. I am adding one that might be good
* http://www.magicspark.com/
* http://www.infobeans.com/

example site at: http://www.campusremix.com

Alex's argument for the security of Drupal

    To start, Drupal is being used by a lot of people. Its being downloaded at a rate of 100,000 a month. Lots of people using Druple, means security issues will be found quickly. Also, Drupal has a core team dedicated to nothing but security (http://drupal.org/security). Another thing is that Drupal is being used by many large, and popular websites, as well as universities currently.
    Ultimately, any website is as secure  as you make it. Security is not something that originates from the software you install, but from the policies and procedures you develop as an institution. That being said, I think that the ASI has the ability to create a secure deployment of Drupal for the entire student body.

Drupal Security
* http://www.lullabot.com/articles/drupal-and-expressionengine-security-models
* http://drupal.org/security
* http://association.drupal.org/node/175


Possible Consultants

Most "Professional" - possibly not in bay area - probably very expensive
* http://www.opencircle.com/drupal-consulting
* http://www.lullabot.com/
* http://pingv.com/
* http://raincitystudios.com

Bay Area Drupal Sponsors
* http://www.achieveinternet.com/drupal/drupal-development
* http://www.fourkitchens.com/

Local Drupal Consultants
* http://www.ninjitsuhosting.com/
* http://www.chapterthree.com/
* http://graviteklabs.com/ - info@graviteklabs.com Email address protected by JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript to contact us.
* http://www.magicspark.com
* http://www.workhabit.com

Websites that use Drupal
* The Knight Foundation Contributed 200,000 to various Drupal projects that deal with journalism.
   * http://groups.drupal.org/knight-drupal-initiative
   * http://boston2008.drupalcon.org/session/drupal-and-knight-foundation
   * http://drupal.org/node/146323
* http://www.fastcompany.com/ - a business magazine, has social features
   * http://drupal.org/node/221481
* United Nations project - http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/
* The Onion http://www.theonion.com
* Popular Science - http://just-thinkin.net/2008/01/popular-science-now-using-drupal/

  Universities and Drupal
* Video - Cornell professor talking about why Drupal is useful for universities ("Brilliant!" -Sean)
  * http://buytaert.net/many-universities-use-drupal
* How Amherst is using Drupal (Confused me -Sean)
  * http://groups.drupal.org/node/10231
* University of Drupal
  * http://drupalcampcolorado.org/showcase-entries/university-colorado-redesign-and-conversion-drupal

Alex's Task List
* ASI Server Assessment (next tues or fri? In ASI business office)
* Web Hosting Research (not "hosting solutions")

Alex Work History
 * 2hr - Nov 6th, 2009 - Security, and Consulting research.
 * 1hr - Nov 11-13th - Talking with potentail consultants, setting up meetings.