Not everything has to be built from scratch -- especially when there are some great third-party tools that have already been built.

Here's a sample of some third-party tools that CCIT recommends:

Collaboration Tools

• MediaWiki
  A free software wiki package originally written for Wikipedia
• vBulletin
  A powerful community solution that makes it easy to add a forum/bulletin board to your site
• Blogspot
  A free blog publishing tool from Google
• Google Forms
  A flexible form and survey development interface with built-in reporting

Content Management Tools

• Drupal
  A free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a web site
• Joomla!
  A free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a web site

Multimedia Tools

• Google Earth
  Offers maps and satellite images for complex or pinpointed regional searches
• Google Maps
  Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions
• Audacity
  A free, open source software for recording and editing sounds
• Podcast Producer
  A complete, end-to-end solution for encoding, publishing, and distributing high-quality podcasts
• iTunesU
  A part of the iTunes Store featuring free lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, and more
• Adobe Presenter
  Transform presentations into engaging Adobe® Flash® multimedia experiences
• Adobe Captivate
  An electronic learning tool which can be used to author software demonstrations, software simulations, branched scenarios, and randomized quizzes
• Adobe Flash
  Create and deliver rich interactive multimedia and animations
• Camtasia
  Record on-screen activity and convert it into a video
• Jing
  Capture anything you see on your computer screen and share it as an image or short movie
• Flickr
  Online photo management and sharing application

Site Administration Tools

• Google Analytics
  Advanced usage tracking and visitor information gathered on your site
  
• AccVerify
  Validates content for compliance with accessibility standards and usability testing