Elgg or People Aggregator? Which do you prefer?

Marc Canter lays into Elgg a little bit, pointing out that People Aggregator does what Elgg does - and more. But, for once, someone's snarkiness actually helps me understand something better, like what on earth it is People Aggregator actually does. Ben has since replied saying it's all wrong, yadda, yadda...

What I'm struck by is the lack of traction People Aggregator has in the education world - no-one talks about it but tonnes of educators rave about Elgg.

Is this because Elgg seems more wholesome coming from Edinburgh University and somehow more suitable for academia and schools, is it that Ben and Dave are really nice guys that the edublogging world feels they can approach, with the notion that Marc is a big private enterprise kinda guy not interested in educators (you'd be wrong)?

Time for a wee tasting session of it in East Lothian. Who's up for some localised global community-building?

Comments

[Ben Werdmuller]

Quick, but important, note: Elgg was never affiliated with the University of Edinburgh.

Quick, but important, note #2: your link to Elgg actually points to PeepAgg ;)

With those out of the way, I did actually send an email to Marc - and received a favourable reply - about setting up some kind of impartial network comparison service, so people can work out what's best for them and navigate between the different options. A "taste test" sounds like a smart idea - let me know if you need any materials or information from our side for this.

[steve]

I think Elgg gets more attention in the educational world because 1) it was first 2) it was originally designed with learning in mind 3) Canter has done nothing to market social networks to education, and 4) Educators are actually using Elgg and so educators get to hear about Elgg.

Nothing to do with nice guys or otherwise. But as I've said many times, both projects have a similar vision.