Elgg (software)

Elgg
Developer(s)	The Elgg Foundation and the open source community
Initial release	July 25, 2006
Stable release	1.8.5 / May 17, 2012; 12 years ago
Written in	PHP
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Content management system; Social networking software
License(s)	GNU General Public License v2
Website	elgg.org

Elgg is free open-source social networking software that provides individuals and organizations with the components needed to create an online social environment. It offers blogging, microblogging, file sharing, networking, groups and a number of other features common to businesses, organizations, universities, and individuals utilizing social networking. Elgg runs on the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) platform.

Product history

Elgg was founded in 2004 by Ben Werdmuller (von Elgg) and David Tosh. Werdmuller, a web entrepreneur who had been building and facilitating online communities since 1995, and Tosh, a postgraduate student in online education, combined their experience to apply a social networking approach to electronic learning^[2], with the latter designing the architecture and writing most of the code. Subsequently, they founded the company Curverider Ltd. to continue the development of the software and to provide Elgg-related services, turning Elgg into a cross-purpose open-source social networking platform.

In April 2009, Werdmuller decided to leave the project^[3]. In May 2010 a hosted version of Elgg launched in beta. By the end of the year, Curverider was acquired by Thematic Networks, and Elgg was transferred to a non-profit foundation^[4]^[5]

In April 2010 former core developer Marcus Povey released a multiple-site version of Elgg called "Multisite Elgg."^[6] As of February 2012, this project can be found on GitHub ^[7].

Features

Features of Elgg include^[8]:

flexible data model for entity creation
plug-in API to build and extend functionality and features
activity stream API for pushing plug-in content to users
Web services API for plug-in and client development and publishing
user and relationship management
granular access permissions

Hardware/software requirements

Elgg runs best under the LAMP software bundle, as it requires an Apache Web server, a MySQL database, and the PHP interpreted scripting language.

Additional requirements for the Apache server exist. Please refer to the Elgg website.

Videos, screenshots, and other media

Screenshots for Elgg can be found on Softpedia.

Video tutorials of Elgg can be found on YouTube.

An online demo of Elgg can be found here. You'll have to register an account to use it.

Entities using Elgg

Examples of entities using Elgg include:

Aerospace, Australian government, British government, Canadian Employment and Immigration Union, Federal Canadian Government, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Harvard University Extension School, Johns Hopkins University, Live Out There, NASA, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Oregon State University, Oxfam, Royal College of British Architects, Saugus School District, Stanford University, The World Bank, Think Global School, Tides Canada, UNESCO, United Nations Development Programme, University of Brighton, University of Calgary, Grid Research Centre, University of Florida, Wiley Publishing

A full directory of Elgg users can be found at the Elgg website.