Project Overview
Proposed website will allow users to browse academic, literary and technical content submitted and reviewed by other users. Content will be ranked using algorithm designed by client and creatively implemented by vendor.
Project Requirements and Specifications
• User login, logout and password-reset system.
• Invite-code management system.
• Ability to create and edit user profiles with a large number of datafields. User should also be able to claim pre-populated “ghost profiles.”
• Ability to populate user profiles using LinkedIn or Facebook APIs.
• Ability to track basic user statistics, e.g. number of profile views.
• System for submitting, tagging and reviewing articles and books. System should be able to identify previously submitted content.
• Mechanism for dynamically generating user-facing questions about submitted content.
• Dynamic content-ranking system that implements proprietary algorithm provided by client.
• Ability to search individuals and content according to multiplicity of search criteria.
• Ability to search the web or 2-3 specific sites (e.g. Google Scholar, CiteSeerX) for publications written by a user.
Extra Features (desired, but not essential)
• Implementation of Scribd upload and visualization API.
• Ability to import bibliographic data from Zotero server.
• Ability to identify top-trending content in a given field.
Client Deliverables and Communications
• A single point of contact will be provided to communicate with the chosen vendor.
• The client will turn around all approvals or feedback requests in approximately two business days. Most approvals and feedback will be provided within one business day.
• The client will prepare all copy, logos and images.
• The client will deliver all userflows, wireframes and mockups.
• The client will deliver all UI and data validation specifications.
• The client will deliver schematics for curation algorithm.
Platform Requirements
• All programming should strive to meet W3C standards as outlined on the w3c.org web site.
• Vendor must be able to ensure basic cross-browser compatibility.
• The vendor is responsible for comprehensive bug testing.
Vendor Skills
General
• PHP preferred, or else Ruby/Rails or Python
• HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL
• Web architectures including database design, LAMP stack (or other languages) and Memcache
• Experience with RESTful and other remote APIs
• Linux or other Unix operating systems
• Linux/Unix shell script experience
• Good understanding of recursive structures and algorithms
• Experience non-relational data stores a plus
• Experience with other programming languages a plus
• Basic graphic manipulation a plus
Server Administration Skills
• Ability to configure, debug and maintain a LAMP stack a plus
• DNS configuration
• Linux setup and good security practices
• Installation, configuration and maintenance of email system
Estimated Project Duration
Since userflows and wireframes will be provided, the ideal time period for implementation and site launch should be two months, though we’ll consider longer timeframes if presented with an ideal candidate.
Basis for Award of Job
Proposals should include a portfolio and summary of an approach to the work with regards to process, methodology, and testing/quality assurance. Vendor should sketch which technologies they would probably use to build the site.
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
1. Experience (team and managers) – 40%
2. Price – 30%
3. Proposed process – 20%
4. Proposed duration – 10%
Payment Structure
We will use milestone-based payments as part of a phased project approach.
