Update: Notman House (http://notman.org), a hub for the tech community in Montreal, is providing the venue free of charge.
Update: the Multilingual Drupal sprint is a go for September 14th, 15th, and 16th with a possibility to run into Drupalcamp a bit over the weekend! The local organizers are busy to secure a fancy place for us. Let us know if you need help getting there or can help us in some way!
I just got an invite a couple days ago from Matt Corks to attend Drupalcamp Montreal 2011 and help organize a multilingual Drupal sprint (such as the one we had in May in Berlin), focusing on solving outstanding issues in the Drupal 8 Multilingual core initiative list.
While this is still pretty much up in the air (definitely don't make travel arrangements yet!), I'd like to ask for feedback on who would like to come, so we can refine the timing and space allocation for the sprint and look for sponsors. I did specify dates here, but those are subject to change as needed/discussed. The Drupalcamp itself is on the 17th and 18th of September.
Are you nearby and would like to join? Would you like to come but need sponsoring? We can hopefully get some Drupal Association sponsorship as part of the recently announced grants program if we can make our case, so don't be shy.
Comments
I'm a Montreal coder building
I'm a Montreal coder building Drupal multilingual sites and I would participate in a i18n sprint for sure. Let's go bug hunting!
I'm a Montréal developer
@Gábor Hojtsy: This is a very good idea and I would definitely like to attend and help. How much time does a good multilingual sprint usually last? One day? Two days? Does it happen at the same time as a DrupalCamp or the next few days following the event, or previous to the camp?
I like the idea of doing the spring September 14 and 15. It would be easier for the travellers if we do a 2-day sprint.
As for the venue, what's the best amount of attendees for a sprint of that type? 10, 15, 25? Which type of working environment do you need? A regular office space, a conference room, a classroom?
For travel, how much would be need to project as travel expenses?
By the way I am also in Montréal.
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2-3 days before the camp
I think 2-3 days before the camp is ideal. That is why I provided 14-15-16 as the sprint days in the above plan given 17-18 is the camp (my understanding is that 16th was already a planned sprint day isn't it?). This kind of setup worked for the configuration management sprint in Colorado, so they can run a bit into the camp time and discuss progress with the attendees. The Berlin sprint was 4 complete days on just i18n stuff (and we got a lot done). It obviously depends on how experienced people are with the stuff being worked on. I expect people coming will be familiar deeply with the modules and concepts, since they use them for client projects, so not counting so much "startup" time.
Space-wise, we have 8-9 people who expressed interest so far (in the comments here and in the signups). That is good. I think being ready for possibly 15-20 people is best, I really don't know the local sprinting activity likeliness. So far we have lots of locals interested, which is great. A reconfigurable open space with stable wifi is ideal I think. Think groups of desks and chairs, so people can form ad-hoc groups and focus on stuff. Nothing fancy I think (http://www.comm-press.de/sites/default/files/14.5_1.jpg) A round table conference room might do it as well.
As far as travel expenses go, I'd love to get a couple key European people who are interested. They might be able to join personally or virtually. @plach of translatable fields fame (very key for Drupal 8) already verified he can come if we match funding. I think flying in people from Europe is of highest cost, not sure how much funding would be needed for people much more local, if any. We can save a lot of money by either sharing hotel rooms, rent a flat or two together or couch-surf. We did couch-surfing in Berlin. This depends a lot on the local community obviously :) In terms of money I think we should (a) try and raise money specifically for the sprint from interested companies around the world (b) try to tap into the Drupal Association funding process (http://association.drupal.org/grants).
Actually the camp is 16–18
Actually the camp is 16–18 September, Friday to Sunday.
Friday content and format have not been finalized yet. For Friday morning there might be training sessions and for the afternoon there might be sessions targeted to businesses, other training or even a regular code sprint.
Your plan for a 3-day (or more if we secure enough resources and participants are willing) sprint is sound. The idea to discuss the sprint progress later on while running into the camp time or even have a track Friday or Saturday about the multilingual code sprint progress is great.
We will definitely discuss about the multilingual code sprint in our next organization meeting next week.
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Ottawa Should Send Folks
I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend, but certainly there will be people from Ottawa there. There are a lot of government agencies using Drupal and it would be very exciting to be part of this initiative!
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OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
This sounds awesome! You can
This sounds awesome! You can count on the participation of 2-3 developers from Evolving Web.
Proposed Venues
McGill will be able to send at least a few people.
Also, a few venues were proposed at last night's Drupalcamp organizational meeting:
sounds great
There are 13 people on the signup list for this event and I know of others (eg. McGill could send a few, Evolving Web people said they'll send multiples, but I think these people are not yet signed up, Plach will be able to come if we organize some funding). So it does not seem unrealistic that we'll need space for 20 people. I think the main question is whether we can finalize the dates, and then if the given space is available and at what price. I'll not be able to organize funding from remotely, so will need local help in this. More in email.
Evolving Web will be happy to
Evolving Web will be happy to host the event, should that be desirable. If we bring in a few extra chairs, our office can comfortably accommodate 15 people with laptops, not including the EW contingent.
We have a venue confirmed for
We have a venue confirmed for the code sprint! Notman House (http://notman.org), a hub for the tech community in Montreal, is providing the venue free of charge. Thanks to Simone for organizing this.
I propose doing a pre-sprint
I propose doing a pre-sprint evening at Benelux (http://www.brasseriebenelux.com) on September 13th at 7:30pm. I can set this up as an event if everyone likes the idea. Thoughts?
sounds good
Sounds good. I land at 6pm, so given some time for baggage claim, border control and getting to the place I'll certainly not be on time for 7:30p,, but should be there later as possible.
I created an event for the
I created an event for the pre-sprint meetup at Benelux: http://groups.drupal.org/node/174459. Hope to see everyone there!
Code sprint work?
Hi, I'm mostly a front-end guy, is there any work to be done for people like me at the code sprint?
yes, hopefully
Yes, although depends a bit on what do you mean by front-end (as in you are a front-end jQuery/interaction/CSS guru, or front-end website slicer/themer or front-end interface/interaction designer) :) We have plenty of UIs to look at in terms of designing better interfaces for them. There are some with good suggestions, others with suggestions in development, all need discussions. So first off discussions on interfaces/interactions/UI. Then if/when the group decides certain UIs/interactions are good to be coded, at that point jQuery/interaction skills will come into play. (Until then, if you are into JS, we have some JS related localization tasks too). Website themer/slicer tasks, well, those I don't have.
Update about the work on Documentation
Here was our meta-issue:
http://drupal.org/node/635590