CUNY Academic Commons

Looks like an interesting project. But it also looks like it's commercial, with no externally-facing APIs. So I'm not sure, from a technical level, how much interface there could be.

Some of the technical stuff behind Authorea - especially simultaneous editing by multiple authors - is difficult to achieve as long as we limit ourselves to WordPress. If this kind of thing is a feature we are really interested in, we may be able to build a progressive enhancement for the Commons specifically that would integrate with a collaborative editing platform like Etherpad.

It's possible that there could be a fruitful non-technical collaboration, or at least a discussion, with the Authorea folks. Erin, I guess that's your call.

Boone, I'm so glad you brought up Etherpad again. I agree that down the line what we're trying to achieve with Social Paper may not work with WordPress. I've been looking at the latest release of Etherpad and have to say I'm very impressed as it allows for multiple desired SP features such as downloading files as a doc/pdf, multiple authors, document permissions, or mobile friendly commenting(!). Though it would require another grant, I wonder if it's worth thinking through the possibility of integrating Etherpad into the Commons in a way that would allow for all the activity feeds and social functionality that we've designed for Social Paper? Perhaps this would be the more sustainable way to move forward?

And while I'm deeply committed to open source software developed within the academic community, I'd be happy to talk more with Authorea. Thanks!