International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, December 2008 10 DEPLOYING AN OPEN SOURCE WEB PORTAL AS A TOOL FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND COLLABORATION M. AHSAN CHISHTI & SHAIMA QURESHI * Department of Computer Science & Engineering AJAZ H. MIR Department of Electronics & Communication SHARIQ HASEEB Next Generation Networks The sudden increase of information in recent years has given rise to the issue of managing the vast amount of information in a systematic manner. For this purpose, a web-portal provides a suitable means to publish information in an organized manner for easier access and comprehension. It enables the efficient creation, editing and retrieval of data and information. We have developed a web portal system intended to serve as a central source of information and knowledge on technology and business, tailored for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry. This portal aims at being a one-stop centre for ICT professionals to access and share information as well as to collaborate. The portal was developed using open source software (OSS); an existing open source content management system was identified and selected, to which we added custom-built modules. This paper traces the need for creation of an ICT portal, the benefits of using web portals and also the services offered by our ICT Knowledge exchange portal developed through the use of open source software. Categories and Subject Descriptors: D.2 [Software Engineering]: Requirements/Specifications – Tools; Design Tools and Techniques – Software libraries, User Interface; H.2 [Database Management]: General; H.4 [Information Systems Applications]: Office Automation – Desktop Publishing; H.5 [Information Interfaces & Presentation (e.g. HCI)]: General General Terms: Open Source Software, Knowledge Management Tool, ICT Management, Web Portals Additional Key Words and Phrases: Content Management System, Collaboration Tool, Open Source, Knowledge Exchange. ________________________________________________________________________________ IJCIR Reference Format: * Author’s Address: M. Ahsan Chishti and Shaima Qureshi, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Hazratbal, Srinagar, Kashmir. India. 190006. ahsanchisti@yahoo.com & sheemzz@gmail.com A. H. Mir, Department of Electronics & Communication, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Hazratbal, Srinagar, Kashmir. India. 190006. ahmir@rediffmail.com Shairq Haseeb, Next Generation Networks, Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS Bhd.), Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia. shariqkhan1@yahoo.com “Permission to make digital/hard copy of part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyright notice, the title of the publication, and its date of appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.” © International Journal of Computing and ICT Research 2008. International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, ISSN 1818-1139 (Print), ISSN 1996-1065 (Online), Vol.2, No.2, pp 10-18.