Is Dojo for mentoring or just resources?

We are moving slowly towards the Dojo 2.0 goal of having a decent way to deliver videos. I do think bringing some stability and regularity to the Dojo is a useful avenue to pursue in the sense that we can provide good information to people in a, hopefully, sustainable way. I hope that more people will step up to nail down the basics of getting videos standardized and therefor easier for people to contribute as well setting up a better system to propose and deliver the live lessons that were the start of the Dojo.

All that said, I have been in the midst of a personal search for what "the Dojo" means. This is going to be a ramble because I am too tired to write, edit, review, refine, etc. I think a lot of people in the Dojo have ideas about it and lots of people outside the Dojo just sort of don't really get it. For me, personally, I am thinking more and more about the original idea of the Dojo and my own interests and goals. I feel that in the pursuit of videos and live broadcasted and captured lessons, while valuable in their own right and not something to be abandoned, we have lost a bit of the concept of "mentoring." These are certainly not all my own thoughts - several people have been discussing this in relation to what the Dojo is not recently. Notably the GHOP project has been very successful in a very non-Dojo model way of doing things and I was very disappointed that the Dojo, as a group, did not do more to rally and partake in that project since ostensibly we are into mentoring. It also further defined what the Dojo is not in the community's and newcomers' eyes.

So basically, with the movement behind the continuation of a GHOP-like program and other discussions about what "mentoring" is really about, the Dojo is at a place where it needs to decide if we will be a learning/tutorial storehouse or a true mentoring group, or preferable to me, both. What do I mean by "true mentoring group" you ask? Well to me, in contrast to what the 1100+ membership of the Dojo represents to me right now, it means have a personal connection between the people involved. It means helping individuals learn the ropes about Drupal - code and community. It means creating a friendly, non-threatening, accessible avenue for people to engage with the community and learn how to become part of it. Yes, the transfer of particular skills is part of that, but it isn't the only focus or goal. Now, what does that mean practically? How do you do it? Well I think that getting involved in the continuation of the GHOP program is a good place to start. And by getting involved, I don't mean talking about it or singing its praises. I mean rolling up your sleeves and actively helping, i.e. get involved in specific tasks. That is just a start to get a feel for what mentoring really means. How the Dojo can work with that model and work it into the bigger Dojo 2.0 plan is up for discussion and I welcome that to happen right here. Let me suggest though that we start small. Mentoring is a lot more work than putting a video together or even broadcasting a live lesson. Pie in the sky is all good and well, but if it doesn't end up happening because it is too far out of reach, then discussing it right now will be wasted breath. So what I'm saying is that large, collaborative projects are not do-able right now. We can't even get more than a few people to do any work on the Dojo 2.0 stuff we've outlined, so please let's a) decide if this is truly something the Dojo should even pursue and then b) keep it real and obtainable.

OK, end ramble. Sorry if this seems random, overly long and useless. I am quite tired but have been thinking on this for days and felt the need to post it before I was too tired or distracted to raise it.