Project Description
This project is a cloud-hosted informational website focused on substance addiction, covering commonly used substances such as nicotine, cannabis, and alcohol. The goal of this platform is to provide clear,
accessible, and non-judgmental information to help individuals better understand the nature of addiction, the effects of various substances on the human body and mind, and the resources available to those
seeking help.
Addiction is one of the most significant public health challenges of our time. According to the World Health Organization, hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by substance use disorders.
Despite this, stigma and a lack of accessible information often prevent individuals from seeking the help they need. This website aims to bridge that gap by presenting factual, evidence-based content in
a straightforward and approachable manner.
The site will feature dedicated pages for each substance, explaining their short-term and long-term effects and the mechanisms of dependency. It will also include a resources
section pointing users to professional support services and hotlines in Australia and internationally.
From a technical perspective, the website is hosted on a Linux Ubuntu server deployed on DigitalOcean, an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud platform. The server runs Apache HTTP Server, a widely used
and reliable open-source web server. This setup demonstrates core ICT171 competencies including cloud server deployment, Linux command-line administration, and web hosting configuration. The project
combines meaningful real-world content with practical server management skills.
License Rationale
This project is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0) license. This license was chosen because the primary purpose of this website is
educational and humanitarian, not commercial. The CC BY-NC 4.0 license allows anyone to freely share and
adapt the content of this site, provided they give appropriate credit to the original author and do not
use the material for commercial purposes. This aligns with the values of the project: openness,
accessibility, and public benefit. Sensitive health information should be freely available to anyone who
needs it, without being locked behind paywalls or exploited for profit. By choosing this license, the
project contributes to the broader open knowledge ecosystem while ensuring ethical use of its content.
View full license: CC BY-NC 4.0
