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| Interview with George Brackett, module developer and expert user |
Interview with George Brackett, module developer and expert user
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| George Brackett holds a Ph.D. in physics, but has devoted his career to improving education through the thoughtful use of technology. He has designed distance-learning courses, written educational film scripts and study guides, programmed thirteen published educational software titles, served on the faculty and directed the Technology in Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and helped found a small urban charter school, Codman Academy Charter Public School. He is retired, but actively volunteers at the School and dabbles in consulting. | |
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by Robert Kennedy
15 February 2005
You have been involved with phpwebsite for (4) years. Please explain how you got started and what keeps you involved.
As I helped found Codman Academy four years ago, I was determined to explore how information technologies, and in particular web technologies, could support the business of schools. I was (and am) convinced that blockages in information flow make what is already tough (learning and teaching) much tougher. Why not use the web to share information more widely, to make ephemeral documents perennial, to enable any person who has key information to share it with those who need it? A content management system seemed ideal, and my research led me to phpWebSite. I found it (even then) to be the most flexible, powerful, and easy for novices (i.e., teachers, students, administrators) to use.
Your site (http://luceatlux.com/gba/) lists phpwebsite module development prominently under a lead sentence that lists most of your company's work as "educational software and web environments." What role has phpwebsite played in your work? (How does it fit in your overall mix?)
My educational software development days are probably over, although I'm interested in the potential of Java to make online powerful learning environments possible. Creating modules for phpWebSite was a natural result of using it in a school environment: certain capabilities we needed — listing positions available and faculty/staff, uploading documents easily — weren't there, so I wrote them. Icing on this cake was the ability to give the results to others with similar needs. I am proud to be able to contribute to the open-source movement, and hope to continue doing so.
Any advice for those of us who are interested in monetizing phpwebsite (and of course, giving back to the project via efforts or direct donations)?
What a word - monetize. Bleah. Although I'm not interested in doing so myself, I'm sure that opportunities exist to make money — but probably not a lot of money -- on the edges of open source. Support and customization seem the obvious methods. Open source creates a solid base of quality code. But there are always people who need their hands held (as open-source installation and maintenance are, ahem, not usually ready for prime time). And there are always people who need this or that capability, this or that tweak. Look at Red Hat, a company that makes money distributing what is free for the downloading. But it doesn't, really — it supplies and supports carefully-assembled packages, adding value that many folks are willing to pay for.
What, in your view, are the strengths and weaknesses of the most current version? If you sat down with the core developers at Appalachian State and they asked for your input, what would you suggest to improve the project? (What would you suggest to developers and other contributors in the community?)
phpWebSite does a lot of things right; I wouldn't continue to use it if it weren't, in my opinion, far better than the many alternatives. Could it be improved? Of course. (That's the horror of software: it can always be improved and, like a film, can never be finished, only abandoned.) Although the new wiki and forum are welcome developments, the available documentation is scattered, incomplete and out of date, both for potential users and especially for potential developers. The interface, even among 'core modules,' lacks consistency, and when we outsiders get busy, interface standardization goes completely out the window. From an outside developer's standpoint, the changes in core code, while admirable, result in the constant need to update modules, often without warning and without clear information as to what needs to be changed (unless you have the #phpwebsite chat open all the time). The lack of effective, centralized communication (odd for a content management project) suppresses outside development and hampers adoption. But, having ranted a bit, let me emphasize that these faults are entirely to be expected in a project that is fundamentally a gift from a university's crack internal development team working to meet the university's internal needs. The project, still deeply in beta, is nevertheless improving day by day as its community matures and becomes more numerous.
How do you see your involvement with the project in the future? Any big plans or ideas?
Although I am nervous about the next round of core code changes, I remain a willing contributor to the phpWebSite project and its community. There are plenty of possibilities for modules that address the information and communication needs of schools. Frankly, however, I don't want to write any more modules until the new core base is established. It's probably too much to hope, but I hope nevertheless that the new core will prove solid enough to persist for awhile without wrenching changes. Meanwhile I'll do what I can to help around the edges, and to keep my modules ticking over.
It's been a pleasure to talk with you, and an honor to be interviewed! Thanks very much.
George
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Created on 02/15/2005 07:19 PM by andrewp
Updated on 02/16/2005 07:12 AM by andrewp
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