The initial system requirements for Hiko included the following:

• Creation of born-digital texts using rich text, Markdown or HTML

• Creation of individual projects

• Creation of collaborative projects

• Ability to peer-review work (review, comment, and critique work of others)

• Ability to archive work using a version management system

• Ability to manage workflow between primary evidence, research and publication

• Multimodal media integration

• Online student portfolio

• Software created using open sources

WordPress’ CMS was eventually selected for its plugin ecosystem, ease of which rapid development could take place, and the degree to which project requirements were fulfilled by WordPress core out-of-the-box. Both the frontend and backend of WordPress were heavily customised and a number of plugins used to deliver the end result.

Of all of the features we have built for Hiko, two are of specific importance: 

Hiko’s article types and editorial workflow.

To ensure that only the highest quality work can be viewed on the Hiko platform, Hiko has adopted an editorial workflow, where an author must have their work approved by an editor before it will become publicly accessible.

This workflow is comprised of the following stages:

The draft stage refers to any article you are currently writing and have not yet submitted for review (think work in progress). When you are satisfied with the article, you can submit it for review by an editor.

Once you have submitted your work for review by an editor, they may either consider it ready to be published or identify issues and send it back to you for further revisions (where the article will once again become a Draft).

Any articles an editor feels is ready to become publicly accessible will be published. Once published, you can share your work with others and add it to your portfolio via your Profile.

Hiko provides authors with the option to create digital works in the form of three different types of articles: Blog Posts, Projects and Series

Are articles which may be used for short-form textual pieces - be it a social media announcement, poetry, or short story.

These are the primary medium of the Hiko platform; you may use Projects for any written purpose; essays, creative works, scholarly articles - the choice is yours.

Are collections of Blog Posts, Projects and even other Series which are connected to a central theme. These may be also used to produce works comprised of multiple parts, such as zines, essay collections or periodicals.

Ryan Achten

Dr Cherie Lacey

Dr Sydney Shep

Walter Langelaar

Matt Plummer