Feature #17416
openSunsetting Digital Research Tools feature
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Description
We decided during last week's dev call to sunset the Digital Research Tools (I believe referred to in the past here as the DiRT Integration category I just selected, but correct me if I'm wrong). The public URL for this directory is:
https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/tool/
It seems there may be a bug here, as clicking "Show all users" for any tool doesn't ever seem to show more than one user, which is unlikely. Rather than fixing that though, we looked at Google Analytics for that URL (see attached) that suggests along with anecdotal evidence that this feature is rarely used.
Especially as Sara looks to simplify the profile layout in #17385, this is a good candidate to remove. You can currently access "My Tools" from this link via your profile sidebar (also see screenshot):
https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/members/colinmcd/tools/
During the dev call, Matt said that we should document this feature with some screenshots and perhaps a little bit about its original goals -- building community around users of a certain DiRT, introducing users to new tools, etc. -- and how the feature worked before we remove it entirely. It will be good to have as a reference, and who knows, maybe we revisit someday. Scott, I'm adding you as a watcher, if you don't mind taking this on.
Files
Related issues
Updated by Boone Gorges about 2 years ago
- Target version set to 2.2.0
Perhaps we could set a goal of sunsetting as part of the 2.2.0 release? Scott, let me know if there's any assistance I can provide with documentation. (I'll attempt to do some backups of existing data so that it would be possible to reassemble for future research purposes.)
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
- Target version changed from 2.2.0 to 2.3.0
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
- Target version changed from 2.3.0 to 2.4.0
Updated by Boone Gorges 10 months ago
- Target version changed from 2.4.0 to 2.5.0
Updated by Raymond Hoh about 2 months ago
In today's dev call, we talked about getting some statistics for the Tapor Client plugin, which superseded the Dirt Directory Client plugin.
According to the BuddyPress Activity dashboard, since 2024, three people added WordPress as a tool. In 2023, 32 tools were tagged as being used by users. An important date is October 2023, which is the month we launched our Commons Profile redesign. As the redesign hid the "Tools" tab, the numbers dropped considerably after that.
For groups, 248 groups have Tapor enabled in total. Since 2023, 308 groups were created. Of those 308, 4 groups have Tapor enabled. Since 2024, 206 groups were created. Of those 206, 1 group has Tapor enabled. I don't know if that is a suitable metric or not.
I think we should proceed with the sunsetting as https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/tool/ isn't listed in the main nav at the top of the page and that the Tapor Client is only useful if a user can add tools from the Tools Directory page. Also, the Commons Profile doesn't show the "Tools" tab since the redesign.
Updated by Raymond Hoh about 2 months ago
- Related to Feature #22069: Groups Submenu design added
Updated by Boone Gorges about 2 months ago
Ray, thanks for researching this. I agree that these stats suggest that it's OK to remove the tool. Colin and Matt, I think the ultimate decision lies with you. We should decide first to what extent we need to back up/archive existing data.
Updated by Colin McDonald about 2 months ago
Thanks from me too for this research Ray, and I agree with Boone about removing the tool. Matt, what do you think?
As far as documenting this tool for posterity, I wonder if the current Help page goes part or even all the way toward saying what it was. Perhaps we could just archive it, or keep it active and note that the tool has been sunset?