Our Drupal.org Website Is Stepping Up To Drupal 7
There's a new initiative in the wind to upgrade our own Drupal.org site to version 7, and look out, its flying on its own!
Yes, it's been a long time desire ever since Drupal 7 launched, but the momentum and prowess of our amazing community is finally magnetizing into action around the Upgrading Drupal.org to Drupal 7 initiative! It started with a fantastic planning and coding sprint in Portland, OR last month. (see the video) We are now full speed ahead in virtual space and IRC and the issue queues.
Application Process Opens Today For Drupal Community Cultivation Grants
Program Seeks to bolster community education and growth with new process
Building on a successful 2011 pilot program, the Drupal Association is opening a new application process for Drupal Community Cultivation Grants. The grants will assist organizers and leaders within the community that seek to transform, support, and educate Drupal communities around the world. The 2011 program awarded more than $20,000 to 17 projects all over the world in support of camps, training, sprints and a publication.
Marketing Communications growth at the DA!
We are pleased to introduce Marta Betts as the Marketing Communications Manager at the Drupal Association - our first-ever dedicated marketing resource.
Marta joined the Drupal Association as the lead of Marketing/Communications for DrupalCon Denver earlier this year, and is continuing with the Association to lead the efforts on Marketing/Communications for all Drupal Association activities. She will be focusing on raising awareness of the DA, as well as marketing the many programs and events that the DA managers. She is energized by the passion, excitement, and enthusiasm in our community.
Announcing Tatiana (tvn) as Drupal.org Project Coordinator
We're excited to welcome Tatiana (tvn) as the Association's first Drupal.org project coordinator. Keeping inline with our objective to make Drupal.org an amazing place for developers, site builders and contributors to collaborate we have begun to make investments to support the community.
Update on DrupalCon São Paulo 2012!
We are excited about our first conference in Latin America to be held in São Paulo, Brazil from December 6-8, 2012. This is a vibrant, new and growing Drupal community, and conference planning is well underway and the venue will be announced soon. Speakers from all around the world will be welcome to submit their proposals, as soon as the call for papers opens in the coming weeks.
Conference co-leads, Fabiano Sant'Ana and Fernando Paredes Garcia, in connection with the Drupal Association’s DrupalCon team, are looking for a dynamic group of volunteers to help plan this first-time event and a design company to theme the conference.
Rescheduling May's Virtual Meetup for Drupal.org to Drupal 7 Updates
On the first Thursday of every month the Association hosts an open Virtual Meetup (formerly Town Hall). These meetups are designed to provide an opportunity for the community to connect with the Association and to learn more about who we are and what we are working on, while also providing an opportunity to offer suggestions and feedback.
We are currently deep in the middle of upgrading Drupal.org to Drupal 7 and there are a lot of questions about the status of that upgrade. An update of the project will not be ready in time for Thursday's virtual meetup so we are going to reschedule the meetup for Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 6pm UTC (10am PT). Rescheduling will allow us to have an update from the project team, an update from the Drupal.org office hours, and prepare your comments for the board meeting the following day.
Drupal.org Upgrade Sprint Kicks Off
Today at OSUOSL's offices in Portland, Oregon a sprint kicked off to upgrade Drupal.org to Drupal 7. This sprint is a major step forward, moving the infrastructure that we all use onto the latest version of our software. We are also laying the foundation for additional upgrades on Drupal.org so we can continue to make it an amazing place to collaborate. This is step one in a major plan for Drupal.org.
Earlier this year we put forth two drupal.org initiatives:
Improve Collaboration tools on drupal.org and make it rock for developers
and
Make drupal.org awesome for site builders (module reviews, docs, etc.)
Tell us what you think in the Membership Survey
Like a healthy plant, our membership program needs TLC to grow. The Drupal Association has grown in the past few years, and in order for it to continue to do so (and thrive!) the membership program needs your feedback. We know you have opinions! Please share them.
I am the new membership coordinator and I have put together a survey of just under 20 questions (and fewer if you are in the Drupal community but don’t yet have a membership). It won’t be painful, I promise!
Members, Go here
Not yet a member? We’d love to hear from you too. Go here
I look forward to reading your feedback, as well as to continue to work with all of you to improve and grow the program. I very much appreciate your support. The confidential results will be published in mid-May.
Thanks for your time and energy!
DrupalCon Munich is around the corner: call for papers and registration open
As announced on stage at DrupalCon Denver, we have just opened the Call for Papers for DrupalCon Munich 2012, as well as keynotes, call for trainings, scholarships, and registration. The Drupal Association and the Munich DrupalCon committee have been preparing for the next DrupalCon for months now. Things will move into high gear once DrupalCon Denver closes its doors, later this week.
Announcing ...
Keynote speakers
DrupalCon Munich announces three keynotes by open source and industry visionaries, including Dries Buytaert - the founder of the Drupal project talking about the future of Drupal on Tuesday, August 21; Anke Domscheit-Berg, a renowned expert in open government and open data, speaking on Tuesday, August 22; and Fabien Potencier, CEO of SensioLabs and founder of the Symfony project speaking on Wednesday, August 23.
Introducing Tyler Ward - Our first drupal.org intern
One of the Drupal Association goals for 2012 is to enhance drupal.org and make it a better place for developers, site builders, and contributors to the Drupal project. Working out of the Drupal Association's office in Portland, Oregon Tyler Ward is helping us to achieve that goal. Under the guidance of Neil Drumm Tyler is an intern focused on building out new functionality on drupal.org so that we can make it an amazing place for the community to collaborate.
Tyler is still relatively new to Drupal but already has several websites under his belt. Now he is getting a crash course in Drupal development while also helping out the Drupal Community - an awesome win, win.