The Seattle Times: Internet connections grow when people Plone home

A feature story describing how a Plone-powered site is helping build community around a Seattle coffeehouse

Excerpt

Using a relatively new and little known open-source software program called Plone, the coffeehouse is trying to build an online cafe society mirroring its everyday role as a local gathering place.

 "We want people to hang out here virtually as well as in person," said Jill Killen, a former RealNetworks music product manager who co-founded Cloud City two years ago. If a coffeehouse serves culturally as a "third place" (after home and work), why not make it an equivalent online magnet as well?

Here's where Plone comes in. The freely distributed, customizable cousin of Linux and other open-source projects makes a priority of turning Web sites into communities. Anyone can join, or become members of, a site. Once they do, they can contribute information to the umbrella site or build sites of their own integrated with the mother ship.

Industry

Business and Society, Small Business

Country

United States

Published

Nov 13, 2004