BabelUp is a social network for social activism. That is, it's a fun community to hang out in with friends and discuss global issues. BabelUp hosts forums, user blogs, image galleries, real-time chatting, groups, calendars, and lots of other features you'd expect to find in a well-designed (hopefully) social network.
The goal of BabelUp is to attract young people who wouldn't ordinarily be interested in social activism. BabelUp aims to do this through its highly interactive website and encouraging community. Hopefully, users will join for the social features on the recommendation of their friends and will become more engaged in activism as they spend more time on the site.
I myself am a student activist. I started BabelUp as an "action plan" developed at a summer program at Brown University last year; BabelUp was my first web design project. I really started working on the site around late September and finished in late January; the site was live in "Beta" for a few months before I rebuilt it entirely in mid-June. I've learned a lot about Drupal and found that I really enjoy web design in addition to the obvious feel-good incentive.
BabelUp is solidly designed with a lot of custom PHP (mostly in blocks and for other visual reasons - the functionality Drupal modules provide is excellent). I think it serves as a good example of both how Drupal can be used to build social networks as well as of how Drupal can be used for social good.
I hope you like the site and I'm happy to hear any feedback or answer any questions you have. Of course some of the more complex features you usually see in a social network require you to join in order to see them (like the Facebook-style user statuses), but I hope that you'll find the site worthwhile enough to join and take a serious look. If you have a favorite cause, joining can help you raise awareness; if you just like to talk politics, environment, etc., then BabelUp is also the place for you.
Comments
Hi I need your help
actually I am also involved in building a portal for students..
where they can interact .. but currently most posts are by me.
I visited your website and really liked the Idea.. cause there really needs to be a change.
Since I am myself student of XI grade.. i dont hav much time to hack the codes. But still much has been done but lacks proper planning structure..
i am using Drupal 6 and the same THEME as yours.. PIXTURE . I need help on how you have added the FEATURED POST and LATEST in BLOG, FORUM TOPICS n COMMENTS
http://www.creativeteensclub.org/ctc
Thanks
The Latest blocks and pages are custom PHP as you guessed; the featured post is done using a CCK checkbox on Pages that gets filtered by Views. At some point I'll write a module for the Latest block, but for now the code is not in a state where I can give it to you.
CCK Checkbox on Pages
I am not able to Understand these basic..
CCK and Veiws.. well I added Views Module a month ago. it was not working fine.
ok if can help me with the custom PHP for Latest may be i wud be able to add it. or learn sumthing seeing it and going through it..
.
I hate to say it, but if you're not able to add a checkbox to a content type using CCK, and if you can't get Views to work, you've got a lot more to worry about than getting a Featured Article working. I don't have time to walk you through it.
And I'm serious about not being able to release the PHP. It does absolutely nothing unless it's on my site. I'll let you know when I write a module for it though.