History and Definition of Content Management System

	Definition
	A content management system (CMS) is the collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures are designed to: Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data Control access to data, based on user roles. User roles define what information each user can view or edit Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data Reduce repetitive duplicate input Improve the ease of report writing Improve communication between users In a CMS, data can be defined as nearly anything - documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data, etc. CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, revising, semantically enriching, and publishing documentation.
	Background
	The Drupal project was born around 2000, and was built by several students from the University of Antwerp. In the beginning stage, Dries Byytaert and Haans Snijder were inspired to work on a small news sites with a built-in web board which allows the group of friends to share, discuss, and announce. During that time, Drupal was called “Drop” which is the Dutch word for ‘village’, which was considered a fitting name for the small community. It was only later, in January 2001, that Dries decided to release the software behind drop.org as "Drupal." The purpose was to enable others to use and extend the experimentation platform so that more people could explore new paths for development. The name Drupal, pronounced "droo-puhl," derives from the English pronunciation of the Dutch word "druppel," which means "drop."
	Application In Education
	For educational purpose, Drupal can be used for creating dynamic learning communities to supplement the face-to-face classroom or as a platform for distance education classes. Academic professional organizations benefit from its interactive features and the ability to provide public content, member-only resources, and member subscription management. Source : http://www.ipangfu.net/EPS415/phase1/history-and-definition-content-management-system