Greetings from Sioux Falls, SD! Over the past few months I have been asked by a few people the question, "how many Drupal people are their in South Dakota"? I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm hoping this group will help us find out the answer. Perhaps, with enough people interested we can get some actual meet-ups going in this fine state of ours. Of course, you don't have to live in South Dakota to join our group. I know for instance plenty of people that enjoy visiting Sioux Falls from southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Welcome to all!
For starters, let me briefly introduce my background as well as my interest in Drupal. My "first career" was actually not in computers but as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. However, in the 1990s one of my side duties included managing the office's Webpage. Eventually, I made the switch to Information Technology Officer for the office. Meanwhile, I went back for a Masters with focus on information systems and became madly obsessed with Web content management systems. While I'm fascinated with a wide range of CMS applications, Drupal has been a favorite of mine for quite some time.
I'm not much of a Drupal developer, but I do consider myself a Drupal advocate. I like to use Drupal for my personal sites as well as behind the firewall at work. I really think the next big advancements and challenges for social publishing systems such as Drupal will not be on the World Wide Web, but the less explored intranet of organizations. More on that later.
Now it's your turn to tell your story...
-Bryan
Comments
impatiently learning
Thanks for initiating this group, Bryan. My background is marketing (20+ years). I am now Web editor (two months into my job) at Augustana College. Prior to launching www.augie.edu on Drupal 5 next month, I will be learning the basics, alongside other internal Augie Drupal newbies. Tim Broeker of Electric Jet (Mnpls) is developing our site for us.
My skills are definitely apprentice-level, though my desire to learn more, faster, is generating a long reading list. Initially, I'll be spending time with WysiwygPro for its editor, integrated image library, integrated file repository, and stability (less editing bugs)—all the while hoping its revoked status by Drupal improves in the coming months.
Social media (YouTube videos, viral sites, blogs, etc.), online alumni magazines and mobile content will play a large part in our students' future and I look forward to learning how to optimize our site for these environments.
I'm interested in a meet-up (in SD, though not necessarily Sioux Falls) later this Fall,
Peggy
I'm looking forward to
I'm looking forward to seeing Augustana's new Drupal 5 site. It's actually nice you get to start your position with a new application. I think it can be more difficult to start a job and having to deal with legacy software that is poorly documented or no longer officially supported.
Before you mentioned it, I hadn't heard about the WysiwygPro licensing issues. I learned long ago the GPL vs. non-GPL licensing issues can be very confusing. In a number of cases where modules are pulled from Drupal.org it is usually due to the module not being fully licensed under the GPL. In some cases GPL/non-GPL code have been merged into the same module.
I'm busy the next few weeks, but in a couple weeks I think I'll make sure I contact some Drupal sites with South Dakota ties directly to let them know about our group. Hopefully, others can do the same...
Bryan
Bryan Ruby
socPub
Aguie goes Drupal
Peggy,
I see that Augustana has brought their Drupal site into production...congratulations! The site looks great and is an improvement to the old site. It would be great if you created a new discussion, if you wish, in the South Dakota group. What's your thoughts/experience so far with the new site?
Bryan
CMS Report
Bryan Ruby
socPub
Rapid City User
Thanks for starting this group.
I've been using Drupal for sometime now, but it has been pretty limited so far. I am looking at moving many of my sites to drupal. The one that has probably been running the longest is http://stevensfootball.org which I set up two years ago - but as you will see when you check the site - it is pretty basic.
Greg
Canton
I'm from the rural Canton area.
I've been using Drupal since the 4.7-beta days and I'm currently the maintainer or a contributor for nearly all geospatial modules for Drupal.
Hi From Your Neighbor to the East
Just a friendly neighborhood "hello" from Minnesota, glad to see some SD representation! I was just saying the other day how we needed more voices out here in the midwest!
So, Kudos! Maybe we could start planning some kind of annual midwest drupal camp + lutefisk fry or something ;)
--
Matt J. Sorenson (emjayess)
d.o. | g.d.o. | WEBJAX'd! | twitter
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matt j. sorenson, g.d.o., d.o.
New Drupaler (MN/IA)
Hi,
I recently started working on a website redesign for my chruch, now hosted at http://www.churches.rca.org/americanluverne/news/home.html
I am just starting with Drupal as my first experience with a CMS, choosing it for its user management and flexibility. I want to make it easy for non-tech staff to contribute.
Nice to know, there are area people for support! I will need some.
The world's largest pheasant.
So a big hello from a fellow in South Dakota too! Great to get a chance to meet you guys, and I'd TOTALLY be up for some kind of meetup someplace. I'm in the town with the giant pheasant, home of the state fair, and not a lot else. It's great to see that there is a Drupal community in my state, since we definitely have to start "representing" the Midwest. :)
Keep me posted on how/where/when details for a meetup! :D
-dellintosh