Abstract
Four years after deployment of the public website using the Drupal 7 content management system, the ATLAS Education & Outreach group is in the process of migrating to the new CERN Drupal 8 infrastructure. We present lessons learned from the development, usage and evolution of the original website, and how the choice of technology helped to shape and reinforce our communication strategy. We then discuss tactics for the migration to Drupal 8, including our choice to use the CERN-override theme. This theme was developed by the CERN web team to support clients like the ATLAS experiment at the LHC to develop websites in the relatively complex and non-intuitive environment of Drupal. Furthermore, CERN has encouraged usage of this theme to mitigate support and ease future migration. We present the effects that this choice has on the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the new website.
Highlights
Communication of scientific goals, progress and achievements is a basic necessity of all fundamental research
Beyond the social responsibility of scientific communication, lies its ability to reach world-wide audiences with messages that go above and beyond the reporting of results. These can include the tools of science and the methodology of the scientific process, the value of international collaboration, and the contributions being made to health, finance, security and other indirectly related fields
The ATLAS Collaboration takes advantage of its communication platforms to bring these messages to a variety of global audiences, securing support for the field through key stakeholders and decision makers, and sparking interest in the broader public and the generation of scientists and engineers
Summary
Communication of scientific goals, progress and achievements is a basic necessity of all fundamental research. Beyond the social responsibility of scientific communication, lies its ability to reach world-wide audiences with messages that go above and beyond the reporting of results. These can include the tools of science and the methodology of the scientific process, the value of international collaboration, and the contributions being made to health, finance, security and other indirectly related fields. The ATLAS Collaboration takes advantage of its communication platforms to bring these messages to a variety of global audiences, securing support for the field through key stakeholders and decision makers, and sparking interest in the broader public and the generation of scientists and engineers. This document describes lessons learned from usage of the current site, the motivation behind the decision to migrate to version 8 of the Drupal [4] content management system, improvements to design and implementation expected for the new site, development plans and process, as well as a few of the glitches, challenges and solutions found along the way
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