Elgg

link to website
I can see Elgg being a really useful tool for someone wanting to start a community site, or where online presences persist beyond the boundaries of a course. This could be great alternative to trying to use a LMS as a community tool, given that community is built in from the word go.

from the elgg website
What is the purpose of Elgg?

"Elgg has been developed to serve as a stand alone personal learning landscape or as a complimentary addition to existing learning environments. The emphasis with Elgg is very much on the learner. Elgg looks to give learners the means to control and own their own development and growth through the use of everyday web technologies.

Elgg's initial concept was as a different type of e-portfolio, developed to contrast most current e-portfolio systems which are nothing more than form filling exercises to satisfy institutional requirements.

However, as the system has grown and developed (thanks to huge user input) Elgg has morphed into what we have coined a personal learning landscape. This learning landscape provides learners with the ability to control their own learning through the creation of their own online learning communities (both formal and ad-hoc), connection to other learners and resources, reflective potential, information gathering and sharing."