The interview of the creator of the Jamaica Open Data Portal

THIS WAS DONE AS A TASK FOR THE ANNUAL COMPETITION CALL GOOGLE CODE IN. THIS IS A COMPETITION WHICH PRE-UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AGES 13 TO 17 ARE INVITED TO TAKE PART IN GOOGLE CODE-IN, OUR CONTEST INTRODUCING YOUNG MINDS TO THE WORLD OF OPEN SOURCE. WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF BITE-SIZED TASKS, IT’S EASY FOR BEGINNERS TO JUMP IN AND GET STARTED NO MATTER WHAT SKILLS YOU HAVE. MENTORS FROM OUR PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO LEND A HELPING HAND AS YOU LEARN WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK ON AN OPEN SOURCE PROJECT.

Drupal is content management software. It’s used to make many of the websites and applications you use every day. Drupal has great standard features, like easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. But what sets it apart is its flexibility; modularity is one of its core principles. Its tools help you build the versatile, structured content that dynamic web experiences need.

An Interview was held with the developer of the The open data portal for Jamaica with a a total of 15 questions asked.The creators name is Mr. Varun Baker and the site was created in 2016 using Dkan which is made with Drupal 7. Dkan is  an open data portal built in Drupal, it was also first based on CKAN(built with Python) but it is a far better system and has surpassed DKAN in terms of feature richness and extensibility. Therefore because it is a good open source open data publishing platform. The purpose of this site is based on the information given is so that the government can share data publicly in an open and reusable format.

How was your experience making the site with Drupal?

• According to the developer his experience in making the site with Drupal was good.The advantage of the code being online and easily accessible for him makes it easy to get any version to test and play around with. He was also being commended by the government stakeholders because of the overall and ease of using the site. Due to the good results gained from this  he now also still use drupal in his personal projects.

• Although he had a good experience while creating the site using Dkan made by Drupal, there was also challenges faced in the process. In the process of making the site the main challenge which was really faced was not making the site with drupal but gathering the dataset and having to change some of the data from one format to the next.

What do you like and dislike about Drupal?

• The reason Mr.Baker like Drupal is because you can start off with nothing but get really far really fast. It is also a good platform for managing content, and it also has its own API to  communicate with mobile application. The best thing in complete about drupal for him is that "Drupal I think is the smart and vibrant community."..

• On the other hand there is also dislikes for the system. He said that because of the vast amount of modules which can be found access in the system it makes it hard as you have to choose wisely the module you want for your task as most modules are similar. Another thing is also because of how much a beginner to drupal have to learn, updating a site between versions can take a lot of time and also if not done properly it can become very problematic.

What do you think about Drupal?

To be short he thinks drupal is an awsome platform. It has many advantages to its system and also make managing contents very fast and easy. Just precise in bringing you from your start to the end.

Having this interview with  him enlighten me about the many things which Drupal is able to do. Although there may be challenges in accomplishing the task their is always the relief to know the beauty speed and reliability your site may have when you are finish.

The picture below is a screenshot of the open data portal.