cross posting from Drupal For Good, and the french version at the France Group
A community effort to help a NGO get some ass-kicking internet presence — October 4th and 5th, 2008 — Paris, La Cantine Numérique
On the first weekend of October 2008, in only 2 days, the Drupal French Community will build a complete and live website for a selected NGO. All free. Free as in free beer, and free as in free speech.
What’s in it for the selected NGO?
You do not have an internet presence? You have a very lousy one? You want to to do a specific incredibly cool thing on the web?
Please register on the main Drupal n’Go web site (http://www.drupalngo.org/user/register). Then visit http://www.drupalngo.org/en/node/add/applications to fill in the project application form.
Both small and large NGOs can apply. The community will choose a single NGO project.
During the two days of the event we will build for you the most awesome, buzzwordy plateform imaginable, taking care of all aspects and all related costs of such an endeavor.
Unlike traditional web projects, having detailed specifications is not necessary. Our volunteers will help you do that.
Projects the community feels it can really contribute to — not only regarding the implementation but also regarding imagining the solutions, the design and the strategy — will probably get more attention.
And as Drupal is a free and open source software, with a strong ecosystem, the NGO will have total control on its website: no strings attached, no proprietary software to update, and a clear path of evolution.
The registration process ends on September 10th, 2008. The selected NGO will be announced on September 15th, 2008.
Fill in the form on drupalngo.org today, and grab a chance to get the best website money could not buy!
What’s in it for the participants?
As participants we will have developers (both newbies and hard core rockstars), project managers, themers, visual designers, journalists (to cover the event and help editing), information architects, sysadmins, and of course members of the NGO that will be the main stakeholders of the project and anyone else that is willing to come and can give us a hand.
The main idea being that on the evening of the second day, the site will go live to the amazement and pleasure of all :-)
Participants will be able to learn to know each other better, learn how incredibly fast Drupal is when it comes to building websites, improve their skills and exchange on best practices while providing real value to a good cause.
If you want to participate, we invite you to register on the Drupal n’Go web site: http://www.drupalngo.org. There you will be able to fill in the domain in which you are most interested in contributing.
Wait! Can it work? In only 2 days?
Thanks to the agility of Drupal and the large range of talents gathered in the same place at the same moment, yes, it will work.
Intensive coding session on a specific project has always been an essential part of the Drupal community (they are called ‘Code Sprints’) and the Open Source community as a whole. We want to extend this to the full range of the webdesign process, because Drupal alone is tooooo easy!
Even better: we have a really, really good plan.
So what’s the plan?
The basic schedule of the two days will be:
- Day One: on Saturday, the first half of the day will be a “normal” DrupalCamp — though there will already be sessions preparing for the later effort. At least two sessions will demonstrate how to work with a big team in a smooth and collaborative way with an introduction to using an SCM and writing issue tickets.
The afternoon will be dedicated to the preparation of the work on the website. Groups will discuss and prepare the information architecture, some of the technical choices, content, functionalities and so on. Also our team will solve any remaining infrastructure questions — even if most will be prepared beforehand. - Day Two: On Sunday most of the “concrete work” will be done. Graphic designers will do their share. Journalists will interview and write awesome pieces. Developers will develop. Integrators will integrate… and project managers will keep us on rhythm.
A lot of preparation work will be done beforehand to ensure we can start working quickly and effectively. There will be integration and testing servers ready, a dedicated code repository and issue tracker, even a live CD with a preconfigured development environment.
But wait, there is even more!
We won’t stop there: we also have a plan for the aftermath. A hosting company (Bearstech) will donate web hosting, there will be training sessions offered to the NGO after the event, and (yet to be determined exactly) community based support for project.
We already have some sponsors and will be calling for more.