Drupal has a fantastic tradition of involving newcomers, from all sorts of backgrounds, in the project. From IRC help and banter to mentored/sponsored projects to a vibrant local meetup scene, "the community" this helps build is a major reason people stay with Drupal and how it keeps getting more awesomer.
A meeting to discuss an share experiences on progressive, citizenish, good and socially conscious Drupal initiatives.
Across its history, Drupal has shown itself as an important ally for good initiatives - grassroots political campaigns, big big big public international organizations, efforts to preserve minority languages, government efforts, NGOs, community organizing, - well, name it.
This session will be co-presented by myself and Mark Boulton. What will we cover?
Why (as a developer) should I care? (What's in it for me?)
Trying to underline the broader scope of the Drupal community- Drupal is used by plenty of people who don't contribute, don't follow along- how do we as a community address their needs and concerns? Not just designers, either, but designers' clients too (end users).
Why is the design community important? What value is there in addressing their needs?
When a small community is under pressure of a larger dominant culture, what can they do? Language has always been a major element for building a society's identity and it is not different for indigenous peoples in Brazil. If a language have less space and less space in its speakers' lives, it will shrink and may become endangered. To avoid it, one must seek all available resources to strengthen minority languages and give them more room to grow.
Creating an online community website is a weird and wonderful process that calls for both technological and sociological tools and design patterns in order to provide a structure within which your community members can interact and your community can thrive.
We will look at:
What different types of communities can exist
How different communities call for different tools
Why it doesn't always make sense to throw in every single tool and the kitchen sink and let them figure it out
