Automatic content filtering and publishing by email for the UP Open University Doctor of Communication Programme learning management system

Abstract

The DComm website is an electronic learning environment using the Joomla Content Management Framework (CMF), designed specifically for the Doctor of Communication Programme offered by the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). Previously, when a faculty member or staff wanted to publish content on the website, content was first emailed to the web administrator, who uploaded it manually. While this method ensured that proper content was published on the site, publishing was delayed at times due to the unavailability of the web administrator. To enable DComm faculty members and staff to directly publish content without having to study web publishing or going through the web administrator, publishing content through email was enabled using Post-by-Email, an extension for Joomla that allows such functionality. The resulting website now allows authorised users to publish information in a particular section of the site by emailing content to a specific email address. However, without quality control over content that gets published, this practice raises the possibility of inappropriate content publishing. To address this issue, a strategy for content filtering and publishing that uses existing technologies such as email filters and SpamAssasin, an open source mail filter based on content matching rules, was designed and implemented. The result is a learning environment where faculty members and staff can automatically publish filtered content through email, making it immediately accessible to the students, ultimately providing for a more dynamic learning environment.