Domains 19

The Modern Prometheus: How Building a Course Blog for 1200 Students Produced A Frankenstein’s Monster with no Head and a Google Backend

Rather than dedicating a Reclaim server to the 1200 students in a large intro class or building a multi-site, this project uses Google Sheets as a "free" database. This Google backend is tied to the lightweight, user-facing website by jQuery and can be hosted in GitHub pages, a couple of MB of Reclaim server space, or pretty much anywhere else.

In our Domaians 19 presentation, we will help you to fork the Google Sheets and GitHub code running this project, so that you can have your own CMS monster to play with. We hope that in sharing our process and replicating the product, we can convince our monster to stop killing our loved ones (We'll miss you William).

Features & Affordances

Free

This CMS is free in that it runs primarily on Google Sheets (the form and data) and GitHub (the head). It can be hosted on a Reclaim Domain with minimal server space or bandwidth.

Open

The code, both for the Google Sheet and the website is readily CC-licenced, readily accessible, and forkable. With minimal customization, you can have this system up and running in a matter of minutes.

Scalable

This project was originally designed to host a group blog for up to 1200 students, spread out over many sections of a course. It could also be used for a department, college, or K12 school.

Sustainable

At the beginning of each semester, just make a copy of the Google Sheet for your archive, and then wipe the original.