What is Drupal and why should I care?

Lauren Orsini

(I went with several other students to Public Media Camp. Here's an excerpt from our developing story.)

12:30 p.m. - "Drupal will save the world": Drupal and public media by Lauren Orsini

Even if you don't know what Drupal is or what it means, if you're reading this article, you're using it right now.

Drupal is the platform on which the American Observer is based. And other social media and news sites are following suit- NPR is just one site that uses Drupal to manage Web site content.

So what is it? According to Drupal.org, Drupal's core homepage, the product's goal is "to develop a leading edge open-source content management system that implements the latest thinking and best practices in community publishing knowledge management and software design."

In easier terms, Drupal is an open source product that uses the PHP computer language in order to create and manage sites. But one Public Media Camp presenter, Ken Rickard, said it is much more than that.

Ken Rickard presenting at Public Media Camp. Photo by Lauren Orsini

"Drupal is not about the code. It's about the community," said Rickard.

During his presentation, "What is Drupal and Why Should You Care," Rickard explained the two major schools of thought when it comes to programming- the "Cathedral" and the "Bazaar." In the "Cathedral" style, used by Microsoft as one example, the code is protected and for users, untouchable. There is no way for the average citizen to alter the program. However, in the "Bazaar" model, which Drupal relies on, any user or group of users can collaborate on the software to fix bugs and add extended applications to it.

With many contributers, as opposed to one programmer, Drupal becomes smoother and easier to use.

"Drupal as a collective is much smarter than I am," Rickard explained.

Tiffany Shackelford of Open Source Open Minds, a contributor to the "What is Drupal" panel, shared her experiences programming with Drupal. For this developer, Drupal provided opportunities to control the look and content of the entire site as well as install basic views for "the non-technical technical folks."

"Drupal will change the world," she said.

Rickard agreed. He said that Drupal accomplishes something very similar to what social media is trying to accomplish now.

“Drupal is similar to public media,” he said. “It's all about getting people who wouldn't otherwise be heard to get involved in the system. This is why we should use Drupal.”