Showcase African Sites (GHOP 2007-2008)

Hello,

I am a GHOP participant who completed Drupal Issue 75

I have selected two of the top sites and posted them on http://groups.drupal.org/node/6878 and posted the small thumbnails here, as per the GHOP issue.

Other sites I discovered and posted include: Liberdadi, Birdman, Suuch Solutions, Butronix, and FHSST. For links to these sites please see the showcase sites page at http://groups.drupal.org/node/6878.

Below is my report (For your convenience it's also attatched in the following formats: .doc, .odt, and .pdf)

Introduction:

While conducting my research for this project, I discovered numerous Drupal sites based in Africa. I decided to write on a diverse sampling that would be of most interest while still demonstrating a good use of features. The site first excels in use of Drupal’s technical abilities. The second demonstrates a great and unique African use of Drupal, and in doing so, demonstrates a good harnessing of Drupal for community-focused causes.

First Site:

First, http://www.afgri.co.za/ is a South African company that offers a wide array of services including financial services, producer services, and raw products. The first thing that is apparent and the factor that makes it uniquely African is the splash page offers the site in two languages: English or Afrikaans. When the user enters the site the next impression is of a clean, well-organized, well-developed site. The pages are clean, visually pleasing, and do not look “canned” or pre-made but instead very professional. There is a simple navigation bar under the main banner on all pages as well as a great menubar on the left allowing easy site navigation. On the main page, there is a pie chart style design with different colored sections linking to different areas of the site. The URLs throughout the site are concise, clean, and logical. The site is also internalized to make it mesh well with the local language. Another key element of the site is the ability to log in (user authentication). This is crucial since the company is also a financial institution and the log in is through a third party, not Drupal. Logging in gives users access to dynamic content specific to their business with the company. This is done accomplished by integrating roles into the site. This demonstrates that Drupal is extensible and has been used to allow this business to integrate its own systems with the Drupal structure. Other examples of integration of outside applications with Drupal-made content are present throughout the site. They include a fast and somewhat interactive local weather application (http://www.afgri.co.za/english/explore/weather) as well a promotion section with external video seamlessly weaved in with the page –http://www.afgri.co.za/english/explore/promotions/corporate-video. A final example of extensions off Drupal is the Dividends page, which shows changes in share prices updated hourly – http://www.afgri.co.za/english/investor-relations/dividends. In conclusion, the site is very professional and the wide array of features makes it both uniquely African and the perfect example of the potential for Drupal sites.

Second Site:

Second, http://abahlali.org/ is the ideal example of how Drupal can be manipulated to draw attention to a specific cause. “Abahlali baseMjondolos,” meaning “people who live in shacks,” is an organization that fights for the rights of landless people who are forced to live in informal settlements throughout South Africa. They have used Drupal to create a site on a minimal budget and effectively bring international awareness to the injustices they are combating. As Mark Theunissen, the Drupal user who led me to this site, pointed out in his post, “Drupal has been a very important tool for the dissemination of information, without it they wouldn't be able to have such a powerful online presence." This statement captures the essence of why this site is a showcase worthy Drupal site. Drupal as well as all free and open source software in general is important to world communities because it allows them to project their message to a larger audience throughout the world. This site also integrates technology well; it has integrated FeedBurner to create a "Recently at Abahlai..." section. Blocks have been utilized to for layout of sections and custom display of media content. Furthermore, this site uses terms as "tags" to classify post contents. Finally, users also have the option to post their own comments on stories.

Additional Sources:

In the process of completing this task, I consulted a variety of resources. I used two Africa focused groups and posted a request for input in both. See my posts in each group; the South Africa Group request and the Africa group request. I found many Drupal users from African through those groups and by searching for people who provide Drupal services then sorting for ones in Africa. There were three main companies I found that provide Drupal services in Africa. Two of the firms were relatively small: Suuch Solutions, a firm in Ghana that provides Drupal services and Burtonix, a self-trained South African startup site that provides Drupal services (after Winter break their site will be fully refinished and improved). In addition to these two firms, I also came across eConsultant, a firm in South Africa that provides Drupal web development and hosting. eConsultant has done over 300 Drupal sites from “large corporates to UN sponsored nonprofits” to small local business. I also consulted Drupal users via IRC. Overall, people were very open to the project and willing to help.

Note/Discolsure: The site afgri.co.za was developed by a consultant featured in the conculsion of my report, eConsultant.

Research and report assembled, written, and submitted by Yoni Blumberg. December 12 - 16, 2007