Flaws in Popular Drupal CMS, Cited by UB Graduate Students, Lead to Citation in Slate

Web Site's Review of White House Use of Drupal Points to UB Study

October 29, 2009
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A study of the popular Drupal open source content management system by graduate students in the University of Baltimore's Interaction Design and Information Architecture program has received new attention in the national media, via a highly critical review in Slate of the White House's use of the system to drive its public-facing Web site.

The study, conducted in 2008 by eight students in the Research Methods class in the IDIA graduate program taught by Associate Professor Kathryn Summers, found significant usability problems in the Drupal system. The builders of the system noted the high validity of the study and cited it on their Web site.

On Oct. 27, Slate published "Message Error," an article by assistant editor Chris Wilson on the use of Drupal to build and maintain the White House's primary Web presence. Wilson criticized the White House for migrating the site from the Bush administration's proprietary system to Drupal, declaring the decision "pocked with political landmines."

"Even the software's defenders admit that it is hostile to newcomers—or at least indifferent to their plight, as a University of Baltimore study found," Wilson wrote. "The apologists will tell you that, once you scale the learning curve, it gets much easier. This is probably true, but a lot of ordinary, code-fearing people who just want a simple Web site are getting left behind."

Nancy Kaplan, executive director of UB's School of Information Arts and Technologies, which houses the Interaction Design and Information Architecture program, said the attention to usability issues and the report"s citation in mainstream media are "unusual, but much appreciated."

"Our students do great work in usability studies, but nearly all of the time that work is recognized exclusively by Web developers, site designers and so on," she said. "To see UB mentioned in a major outlet like Slate is doubly gratifying."  

Wilson contends that the Obama administration's embrace of Drupal is likely to backfire, as Web developers and users make connections between technology and politics.

"If Drupal were an employee of the federal government, it would be the person who answers the phone at Immigration and Customs Enforcement who is unable to help you and unable to tell you who can," Wilson wrote. "If you suspect government is the problem, not the solution, this sort of bureaucratic sprawl is your worst enemy."

In their evaluation of the Drupal system, the UB student researchers noted that too much of its administrative tools are hindered by unclear labeling and difficult project paths. Since the study appeared, Drupal administrators have undertaken efforts to address some of the problems cited by the UB study.

The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.