Using free software to support a faculty center
I realize that open source is all the rage, so call me old-fashioned for preferring the term free software.
In this post I write about the big-picture, web-based pieces I use to support faculty. In future posts, I’ll write about a) the free software I install on lab and faculty computers; and b) the free software I wish existed :D.
The faculty center I run, soon to be renamed the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning, owes a great debt to free software. Below is a list of free software I use to make my job a little easier (and more fun).
Disclaimer: With few exceptions, there are multiple free software solutions for the needs I identify below. I intend no disrespect to any of the other projects, but I don’t care to turn this post into a list or ranking of all possible solutions. If my solutions don’t suit your needs, check out freshmeat and sourceforge. Remember: choice is good.
Need: a server to run all the free software I need 
Solution: Ubuntu
For some reason I installed the regular desktop version, then installed the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) packages on top of that. I think that’s because there wasn’t a server install when I started, or perhaps it was pure stupidity.
Seriously, this is the least interesting, but most important, part. My guess is that if you don’t play with servers, you’re not about to start, and if you do play with servers, you already have your preferred flavor of linux.
Need: internal email discussion groups
Solution: Mailman
Pros: It’s popular, so it’s easy to find documentation and help online; easy to create lists and mass subscribe users; public or private archives; web interface for users to manage subscription options
Cons: No out-of-the-box search capability (In the age of google, does this really matter? To build your own search, try Namazu.)
Need: web-based discussion
Solution: PunBB
Pros: lightweight; fast; doesn’t suffer from feature bloat
Cons: no LDAP support
Need: a way to manage and track loaned equipment
Solution: phpScheduleIt (Web-based resource scheduling)
Pros: allows users to see what equipment is available and make reservations; you can have different schedules for different categories of items, such as rooms, or laptops, or cameras, etc.
Cons: I can’t get LDAP authentication to work 
Need: an easy way to set up and administer multiple blogs (or, a blog farm)
Solution: WordPressMU, a multi-user version of WordPress
Pros: relatively easy to set up; blogname.yourschool.edu url’s; can restrict registrations to certain email domains; users have a fair amount of control over their blogs; lots of styles
Cons: None that I’ve found yet, except this minor thing: no real “community” feature (e.g. site-wide feed) out of the box
Need: an easy way for faculty to access and share information about teaching and learning
Solution: the wiki TWiki
Pros: user and group access controls; professional looking; version control; some spam protection; multiple webs (or completely separate wikis); email notification; RSS feeds; printer-friendly templates; attachments; plugins; more
Cons: when everything now seems to be written in php, TWiki is written in perl–not a big deal, I’m just more familiar with php; it’s a bit complicated to set up and configure
Need: a way to embed RSS headlines in web pages
Solution: before you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting an RSS mixer/splicer, there was Feed2JS
Pros: provides simple interface for creating the copy-and-paste code; feed preview; multiple stylesheets possible
Cons: AOL might decide to use your install and hammer your server and then refuse to listen to your complaint and then tell you you should fix it yourself with http-cache headers or something
