Project History

The initiative for the project development began about 2000 when the U.K. government started to initiate a national drive to enable local governments in the U.K. to deliver services online. In the first phase up to about 2007 there was a very lively development in close collaboration with Red Hat on whose Content and Collaboration Management System (CCM), APLAWS is based. Currently the project is in a vivid development to adapt to recent developments in the technology of Web applications and the development of small, mobile devices.

During 2001/2002 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funded the APLAWS Pathfinder Project to develop web standards and an Open Source Web Content Management System that could be freely adopted by any local authority in the UK. Following the massive interest in the Pathfinder, the APLAWS Project was taken forward as part of the Officer of the Prime Minister's National Projects programme and became the foundation of the Content Management Strand of the Local Authority Websites National Project over the period April 2003 - March 2004.

Apart from the financial and specific support provided by these two central government funded projects, the APLAWS concept has moved forward on its own momentum. There is an established user group which has already made considerable strives in taking the product set forward. Like any Open Source project, the sustainability of these products will evolve as the user group continues to grow.

APLAWS is based on an open source collaboration and content management system—a set of tools for managing web-based collaboration and website content.

Philip Greenspun and several colleagues from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) founded the ArsDigita Community System (ACS), from which APLAWS developed. ArsDigita was later acquired by Red Hat, and ACS was developed into the Red Hat CCM, the Collaboration and Content Management System. APLAWS (The Accessible and Personalized Local Authority Website System), is a special configuration of the CCM including additional specialised software modules that was originally designed in 2000 as part of a national drive to enable local governments in the UK. to deliver services online. Between 2001 and 2002, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funded the APLAWS Pathfinder Project to develop web standards, and an Open Source Web Content Management System that could be freely adopted by any local authority in the UK. Following the immense Interest in Pathfinder, the APLAWS project was taken forward as part of the Officer of the Prime Minister’s National Projects Programme, and became the foundation of the Content Management Strand of the Local Authority Websites Project over the period of 2003-2004. Between 2003 and 2005 the base system and the various website extensions were improved considerably. Because of its momentum APLAWS absorbed most of the development efforts over time and evolved into the central place of development.

Since its original release, APLAWS has continued to mature into a cost-effetive and easy to use content management system for public administration. Currently we are in the process of releasing the next generation of APLAWS+. In addition to technical improvements, there is also an advanced theme engine which improves the user experience and continues to make it easier for designers and administrators to provide a vivid website design.

From the beginning, the development of APLAWS+ was influenced and promoted by the London Borough of Camden. The development and promotion of Open Source web software that is available free of charge for all Local Authorities, is part of the Borough policy and laid down in its "Camden Plan 2012-2017". A particular goal is to allow for the migration to Web-based communication the inclusion and full participation of all groups of society, including people with disabilities or precarious social situation.