This document outlines a web development and information management plan for the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. It proposes establishing centralized resources like a media repository and publication blog. It also recommends presenting research content in a Wikipedia-style format and supporting principal investigators through publication assistance and profile pages. The plan suggests collaborating with Stanford on shared Drupal development and hosting the site on Pantheon to benefit from their experience.

1. Allen
Discovery
Center at
Tufts University
Web Development
and Information
Management Plan
Table of Contents
1. Overview
2. Publications Management
3. Wikipedia-approach to Research
Content.
4. Media Repository.
5. Support for Principal Investigators
6. Support for mission of Allen
Institute.
7. Web Hosting and Site Architecture
Strategy.
8. Fourth-year grant renewal and
longterm support for Center.
9. Miscellany
10. My Skills/Experience
11. Summary

2. New York
Times-style
presentation
of content.

3. New York
Times-style
presentation
of content.

4. Wikipedia-
approach to
research
content.

5. Publications
Publications are
the bloodstream
of the Center and
have a major role
in telling the
Center's story
Publication blog
So lead authors can post
short items describing
the relevance of a new
publication to Center
members, with
opportunity for
questions and further
followup, with
notifications sent to
relevant teams and
center members.

6. Media
Repository
Centralized, non-public
repository for all media
(graphics, images,
screencasts, key
documents and reports
Drop n'drag to simplify upload
All media is complete with
captions, high-quality original,
authorship information, etc.
Original file can be deployed
throughout the site, reducing
duplications and simplifying
updates.

7. Research
content
Wikipedia-
approach to
presenting
research content:
Stake a claim to selected
research topics and
build content around
those topics so that
those pages are the top
search results and the
leading source of
information on those
topics.

8. Support for
Principal
Investigators
Providing as much
value and support
as possible will
help attract and
retain the top PIs:
Publications support:
Providing publication
development support, so
student and postdoc authors
can have help with producing
graphics, submitting the
article, finalizing the text, etc.
High-quality PI profile
pages, with up-date-
publication lists and
consistent urls (/people/
levin, people/adams, etc).
Ongoing series of high-
quality news features on
Center members.

9. Support the
mission of the
Allen Discovery
Centers
Develop strategy to
support and
enhance mission of
the Allen Institute in
general and Allen
Discovery Centers
in particular.
Stanford and Drupal
Stanford has no peer when it
comes to Drupal and web
development. Its lead
developer has moved from IT
to the Office of the VP for
Research. Stanford posts all
its Drupal content (modules
and themes) in its own Github
repository. Extraordinary
things would be possible, and
costs reduced significantly, if
Stanford and Tufts Discovery
Centers shared development
skills.

10. Stanford and
Drupal
Stanford has no
peer when it comes
to Drupal and web
development.
Extraordinary
things would be
possible if Stanford
and Tufts Discovery
Centers shared
development skills.
Stanford’s lead Drupal
developer has moved from
IT to the Office of the VP for
Research.
Stanford posts all its Drupal
content (modules and
themes) in its own Github
repository.

11. Fourth-year grant
renewal and
longterm support
for the Center
Identifying
potential sources
of matching
funding
Providing grant
processing support
and archive

12. Miscellany
Timeline and
milestones
Individual RSS feeds
for all relevant
content content
(Publications, news,
research updates,
etc)
Up-to-date,
international
Calendar
Website Help pages
and site
documentation
Report series
Newsletter
Website as
database

13. My Skills and
Experience
Information
Management
Graphics
Web
Development
Data security
Experience
Team member
23 years at MIT I
have been an
active member of
the team, working
to advance the
whole rather than
my individual
career.

14. Website
Hosting
Host on San Francisco-based
Pantheon.
Tufts has a number of sites
currently on Pantheon and its
new Web Services will likely
move all hosting there.
Stanford and Berkeley currently
host all sites on Pantheon.
Harvard hosts on Boston-based
Acquia.
Use Center website as
“distribution” (template) to quickly iterate
any other needed sites, to improve
maintainability and reduce use learning
curve.
Pantheon has a robust, simple interface.

15. New York
Times-style of
presenting
content.
Move beyond the standard
slideshow-events-news-items
approach,