Elgg Spaces is the new offering from Curverider for hosted informal learning applications. I’ve used Elgg a fair bit and like the amalgamation of blogging, social networking and online portfolio applications on one platform. I also like the ability to control the access levels for each entry, so that Elgg can be used for closed group discussions.
Elgg Spaces offers tiered hosting, as well as a free, unsupported version. What I am looking forward to is the ability to “Allow your users to collaborate with those in other communities, both on Elgg Spaces and across the web”. Lack of integration with other systems has been the main reason that I haven’t fully adopted Elgg, even though I still recommend it for individuals or inside a “walled garden”.
Hi Harold –
I’d be interested what kind of integrations you’re looking for (and what features other products offer that Elgg doesn’t in this area)?
Ben, so far I don’t know of any other product that offers this, it’s just what I want (I’m greedy). Elgg works very well when everyone else is using it, particularly the SNS. However, most people are using other applications, like WordPress for Blogging or Linked-In for SNS. These two may be options for integration. Some of the Google apps would be great too, but that may be a pipe dream.
I’m not saying that Elgg lacks something that others have, just that more integration may add more users to the community. I don’t know that many full-time users of Elgg and see integration as a way to increase the size of the community.
Elgg does integrate with WordPress to the extent that you can import your content. Eventually the plan is to have a fully modular system where you could swap out the Elgg blog and swap in WordPress or something, but that won’t be ready for a while – and will also require some extra (albeit generalised) integration support from the WordPress end.
Incidentally, there are also a growing number of full-time Elgg users, including a number of universities using it across campus. One of our issues has been recording that, given that it’s a free product that anyone can download without giving us any feedback.
Thanks for the update, Ben, and glad to understand your thinking on integration. Maybe you need to link each elgg install to a GPS and Google maps 😉