[Imc-alternatives] A list of questions for projects - please contribute

[Aaron Kreider]

This is a list of questions I wrote up for us to ask projects - stemming 
from the last phillyimc-web meeting where we thought having a list of 
questions would be useful. If there is already an existing list of 
questions, please point that out to me (I don't me to step on any 
toes!). If you think having this list is a good idea, feel free to add 
or edit them!

Also - I think it might be useful to categorize types of software that 
we're looking at. Basically I see us looking at:
-social networking projects
-activist directory/networking projects
-content-management-system modules (which could fall into either of the 
previous two categories)
Is there any other type of project that I'm missing? A lot of things 
like wiki-functionality or event-inviting, can all fall under CMS modules.

-Aaron-

General Project Questions

What is the project’s website?

What niche does it fill that isn’t already covered by the existing 
typical IMC implementation?

What other software projects and websites are most similar to it?

Who is involved in the project?

How long has it been going?

What is the current state of project activity? (Eg. is the project 
healthy – regularly updating its software?)

Who funds it?

How many organizations/sites are currently using it? How much traffic do 
they get (visits/day)?

Is the project apolitical or does it subscribe to a set of progressive 
values?

Is it open source? If so, have they released the software?

What computer languages are used?

Is there a easy to use administration system? How much work will it 
require to keep the software running smoothly? What measures have been 
taken to discourage spam?

Can it easily be translated into other languages? What other support for 
internationalization does it have?

Is the project using any standards or systems that make it easier to 
extract data from it and fit it in to other systems (eg RSS, web 
services, iCal, etc)?