Vocalo.org - Community Media for Chicago Public Radio

The members of the Chicago Technology Cooperative (site | drupal profile ) are pleased to announce the public release of Vocalo.org, a community-based media and social networking site that accompanies Chicago Public Radio's newest community radio station, Vocalo 89.5FM, proudly built with Drupal 5!

Vocalo takes traditional radio station websites to the next level by actively engaging listeners as members of the community. Besides just listening to an audio stream, Vocalo community members can be active content producers, uploading video, audio, and commentary to the site for possible inclusion on air, as well as real-time interaction with on-air personalities. In the short time between the limited beta release and the public release, the site has already turned into a thriving community of users sharing what's important to them, their city, and their world.

A lot of work went into creating this site, and we've really pushed Drupal to its limits in some respects:

• One of the most challenging features of the site was implementing a system that allows both users and hosts to create "playlist segments" that incorporate audio, video, images, and text into one discrete entity, while also keeping each piece as a distinct node that can be re-used or referenced individually. At the time we began development, none of the existing Drupal multimedia modules met CPR's needs in this respect, so we've structured a way to easily upload and manage multimedia content that can interface with the on-air real-time scheduling system. We hope to codify this into a generic module and release it into the community once a "final" version is completed this fall.
• Integration with large-scale audio content streaming services, as well as a real-time content scheduling system for hosts
• social networking tools allowing users to find others with similar interests, exchange messages, and share content in groups
• Pixel-perfect design: a lot of work went into implementing the client-supplied design mockups perfectly in all browsers to keep the user experience as clean and unified as possible.

We'd love to hear feedback from the Drupal community about this site - check it out!

The Chicago Technology Cooperative is an organization that builds and implements websites and web-based applications for nonprofit organizations in Chicago and across the U.S.