DrupalNYC Meetup -- April.7th

We encourage users to post events happening in the community to the community events group on https://www.drupal.org.
skyredwang's picture
Start: 
2010-04-07 18:30 - 21:00 America/New_York
Organizers: 
Event type: 
User group meeting

Where?
7 World Trade Center, 29th Floor (Mansueto Ventures)

Directions?
http://tinyurl.com/mansuetoventuresdirections

Plans?
Who are you? What do you want to learn here?
Presentation: The challenges of using Drupal with non-profit organizations by Melissa M
BoF: DrupalCampNYC8 planning
BoF: Discussion of recent threats of violence on #drupal-nyc
Free slot, post your ideas!
Drupal Drinks and Drupal Fun at Dakota Roadhouse

Signup closes midnight of the day before the event. We don have the luxury anymore to add the "last minute" attendees

Comments

Wrong date in title?

tom_o_t's picture

I think the date in the title of this meetup is wrong - should be the 7th of April (the 10th is a Saturday, and the date in the post says the 7th).

edite by admin

sbedi's picture

edit: Please use 'create job' link when posting job offers rather than advertising them in event meetup thread.

This doesn't belong here

robbiethegeek's picture

There are many other outlets like the Create Job link to the right that this can be on, but it shouldn't be a comment on a meetup announcement.

Robbie

I propose that a Birds of a

nikkiana's picture

I propose that a Birds of a Feather be held at this month's meetup on the subject of conflict resolution within the NYC community. I've also started a discussion thread on g.d.o at http://groups.drupal.org/node/58143 about the subject so the discussion can begin sooner.

BoF or something else?

jackalope's picture

I agree that a discussion about this stuff should take place at the meetup, but what does it mean to call it a BoF? How do BoFs usually work at meetups? Do you envision a self-selected group of interested folks splitting off so that people who are interested in talking about this particular stuff can go talk about it? Or something else?

I have a suggestion

winston's picture

Let's strongly consider moving this to May instead of April. My reasoning:

The incident has been resolved for the short term. However, it is still pretty fresh and "raw". In my opinion putting this another month out to the May meetup (and after drupalcon) will help this to be the calm discussion it ideally should be to be productive.

Gotcha, but...

jackalope's picture

I see where you're coming from with this, but I think it's important to make sure that the parties most directly affected by this conflict are okay with the postponement. (For myself, not being directly involved with this particular situation and being only the slightest bit involved with Drupal NYC so far, I'm fine with postponing it.)

Well...

winston's picture

I was in the discussion where the immediate issue was resolved. I have a feeling that at least some of the involved parties might prefer not to be the focal point of this discussion since the specific issue at hand was amicably resolved.

I don't think it will be a "problem" to have this discussion in April by any means. Just thought it might be even better to let it sit a few more weeks and really approach it from the "how do we organize ourselves to be open to criticism and properly respond" in the future.

I don't have a strong opinion on the matter though, April is good too. Perhaps others can chime in if they prefer to let it sit till the May meeting or prefer to have it at this one...

+1 for not talking about this in April

jensimmons's picture

I was also involved in the four-hour-long discussion where the immediate issue was resolved (discussion in #drupal-nyc from 12 midnight to 4:30am on Wednesday March 31). We've come to a good place where everyone has agreed to use #drupal-nyc as our IRC channel, (see http://groups.drupal.org/node/58143#comment-170628 ) and agreed to move on.

I pretty confident that everyone who was directly involved with the matter has a deep desire to move on. Continuing discussion about the change in IRC channels at the April meetup could re-open a large can of worms. And, in my opinion, it could become very painful and destructive. I have no desire to participate in such a conversation.

If people feel like there is a need to come up with a "conflict resolution" policy to be used for any future issues that ever come up, then I also +1 that we postpone that discussion for a while. May might even be too soon. Let's do it later in the summer, once the raw feelings about the IRC channel have truly dissipated.

Sounds good!

jackalope's picture

Thanks for your responses, Peter and Jen. Based on what y'all have written it does sound like postponing the conversation for a while, at least until May, is the best way to go.

I hope I didn't sound like I was talking without knowing what I was talking about, since I wasn't involved in the conversations and only heard about it in random, scattered ways, primarily on this thread and on the "Conflict resolution" thread.

I was mostly speaking from a concern that people not feel silenced or ignored. To be clear, I'm not saying that was happening here and I've certainly not heard anyone say that themselves. I'm coming from a place of having seen similar conflicts arise in other communities and watching good faith efforts to postpone conversations until they can be handled more thoughtfully and constructively result in people feeling like their concerns were being sidelined or minimized. My post was intended to raise awareness of that possibility and encourage folks to speak up if they're feeling that way; doesn't seem like folks are, which is good.

Question: does anyone have a transcript of that four-hour-long (!!!) discussion? I'd be really interested in reading it if that's all right with folks. I'm brand new to Drupal NYC and having this kerfluffle go down right as I'm starting to get involved has been a bit unnerving in a "Whoa, what am I walking into?!?" sort of way, so I'd like to understand the situation as much as possible.

I'm supportive of postponing

nikkiana's picture

I'm supportive of postponing this until May or some other later date for reasons cited, and would encourage anyone who's interested in brainstorming about a conflict resolution policy to start thinking about what that should look like.

Form API presentation?

rockthedrop's picture

I'm new to the meetups. So I'm not aware if this has been done already.
If it hasn't, I'm interested in putting something together either for this meetup or the next one (emphasis on next) ;)

  • Khalim

Check me at RockTheDrop.com

would be great to touch upon

patoshi's picture

would be great to touch upon some of these topics:

  • drush tricks
  • ubercart - importing of mass products
  • using devel properly
  • under the radar modules worth mentioning...

(maybe have a top 10 modules of the month thing?)

I agree with duckxtales' list

kbell's picture

I agree with duckxtales' list above, and would nominate Spaces and Features modules (especially Features). Any takers?

--Kelly Bell
Gotham City Drupal
twitter: @kbell | @gothamdrupal
http://drupal.org/user/293443

Please add DrupalCamp NYC 8 to the agenda

winston's picture

Don't know how much progress we'll make 11 days before Drupalcon, but might be worth getting the conversation started.

If we get "serious" about it at the May meetup say, then we'd probably be looking at a mid summer date.

2nd for DrupalCampNYC8

tom_o_t's picture

Great idea - I'd definitely like to get this on the agenda, even if the people interested in this break out into a separate group at one of the tables to discuss like we did last time, getting input via IRC from people who are interested but can't make it to the event.

I've been speaking to various possible venues, but so far nothing better than Brooklyn Poly has surfaced. I've been talking to folk at NYU and Fordham. Has anyone made any progress with Columbia or the New School? Please coordinate with the group before making any fresh inquiries, just to avoid duplicated effort. Perhaps start a new topic here on GDO, and/or join the Drupal Camp mailing list at https://lists.mayfirst.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/drupalcampnyc

3rd for DrupalCampNYC8

LarryZ's picture

I hope some progress can be made. I am willing to assist if needed however I am still fairly new to Drupal and do not know exactly what DrupalCamp entails.

Progress is already being

tom_o_t's picture

Progress is already being made on the DrupalCampNYC organizer's list (everyone is very welcome to join, see the link in my post above, we use the separate list to avoid flooding everyone with all the discussion that's going on). When I (or someone else) has time we'll create a post here on GDO summarizing progress and plans for going forward.

All help is very gratefully received! Although much of the event happens with little effort, there is still a fair chunk of time required to make it happen.

Discussion/Decision Points for DrupalCampNYC8

winston's picture

Some of this came from tom_o_t (and I'm embellishing a bit) - posting it here for those interested in getting involved. It takes a solid effort to run a camp. Join us in this discussion if you're willing to take on some of the effort.

Discussion/Decision Points:
1. Pick 2 or 3 potential dates
2. Decide if we want to do a 1 or 2 day camp
3. Consider venues. Do we stay with same (which may have a way to accommodate more attendees) or continue to look for others?
4. Do we charge for registration in some way?
- "token" fee to minimize no-shows (waive for non-profits/students)
- "individual sponsorship" option
5. To Swag or Not to Swag, that is the question (but let's settle the above points first!)

You may also want to review this writeup from the folks who recently finished running the Florida Drupal Camp - http://drupal.org/node/755498. Good lessons learned some of which are applicable to us.

Location, Location, location

TomSherlock's picture

Has anyone considered Chase Metrotech near Brooklyn Tech or IBM midtown NYC?

How about coordinating with NYPC Sigs or NYPHP for possible larger venues in Manhattan?

What's the current limit at Brooklyn Tech? 100?

Regarding swag, i imagine there would have to be a registration fee to cover the swag unless there were beneficent sponsors.

We've not considered either

tom_o_t's picture

We've not considered either of those locations, or coordinating with any of those groups. Do you have any contacts there?

Last year the limit at Poly was 175. This year they say they can accommodate 300. Full details can be found in the organizer's list if you're interested.

So for the meeting then

winston's picture

If you want to help out as an organizer, can you chase up contacts from those groups/orgs and find out exactly what space they have available, and exactly what it would take to get it (fees, insurance, etc.). We'd want to support minimum of 175 (what we've had in past), but preferably 300. Ideally that means we need a location with a room that can fit 300 for at least one session on Saturday morning. Rest of the camp is classrooms that should be able to fit 30 to 50 with 5 or 6 simultaneous sessions, wifi, power, etc.

Unfortunately in past we've had a lot of folks to suggest location ideas other than NYU/Poly, but no one has come across with specifics.

We've generally had pretty generous sponsorship (enough to provide food, meet location expenses, and sometimes even a bit of swag though not much).

Regarding becoming a more active participant and helping organize. The first step is definitely signing up for the mailing list that tom_o_t mentions above. Once you sign up for the mailing list you can also view the archives going back quite a ways so you can see exactly how previous camps were organized as well as the current threads of conversation about this one. It's important to join that list to get involved as an organizer.

Hope to see you at the next meetup!

Thanks for the 411, winston

TomSherlock's picture

Thanks for the 411, winston and tom_o_t.

Who would like to open the

litwol's picture

Who would like to open the meetup?


------------------
Sometimes interesting things appears on http://litwol.com

As in start introductions?

winston's picture

Is Rob out for this one?

Anyway, I'd be happy to.

Right now it doesn't look like we have a lot of confirmed topics, so perhaps this meetup will be more about "breakouts" than the last one.

Thanks!

litwol's picture

Thanks!


------------------
Sometimes interesting things appears on http://litwol.com

Drupal for non-profits

Melissamcewen's picture

I can present on the challenges of using Drupal with non-profit organizations

Hi all, Im from Australia,

dgtlmoon's picture

Hi all, Im from Australia, but I'm in new york for a week killing time until DrupalCon in SF, discovered your meet tomorrow just in time :) So i'll drop by and say hello, oh and AdamJB wants me to give a quick talk about what on earth is happening with our draconian internet filtering laws in Australia, so i'll do my best paint the picture a bit.

Also, if anyone has a spare couch/floor for a night or two that would be awesome :) just privmsg me..

thanks :)

Leigh

The topic of draconian

AdamJB's picture

The topic of draconian internet filtering laws in Australia seems interesting, but I don't recall me mentioning that in chat .. :-/

I was just saying I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it tomorrow night.

You may be out of luck anyway...

winston's picture

Mansueto (actually 7 WTC) requires a list of real names for sign up sheet 24 hours in advance. I don't see your name on the signup list.

Did you intend for it to be?

I just realized my real name

sprugman's picture

I just realized my real name wasn't on my profile (but I've been signed up for a while). I just added it. Am I out of luck?

Yes. sorry. I hope you will

litwol's picture

Yes. sorry. I hope you will be able to come next time.


------------------
Sometimes interesting things appears on http://litwol.com

From what I remember of the

tom_o_t's picture

From what I remember of the chat in IRC, I think it was forest that mentioned it.

mcaudy's picture

There has been a very recent series of two direct attacks on IRC (#drupal-nyc) directed against one of our female group members, that included direct threats of rape and physical violence. The first was last Tuesday; the second was last Saturday.

We need to have a brief discussion about this at Wednesday's meetup, for 15 - 20 minutes.

This is a community problem. This is not just a "woman's issue", or just a problem for specific individuals.

Peter Dowling (winston) and I are planning to discuss the problem: how it arose, and recent offline discussions by local and global Drupal community members about how to resolve these new, very disturbing problems for the Drupal NYC group.

This is not a rehash of the previous topics (above) about "change in IRC channels" or "conflict resolution".
This is a discussion of a new, major problem that we must deal with directly as a group.

Michael Caudy

You probably didn't need to

dgtlmoon's picture

You probably didn't need to go into that much detail here :/

johnvsc's picture

bring your burning questions and i will (try) to answer them :)

i haven't done one to these for a while. so i decided to ignore my task-list, come and assist :)

those wanting to participate, just come a hang by me at one of the small tables ...

mcaudy's picture

We have decided to postpone the discussion about the recent cases of verbal abuse on #drupal-nyc until after DrupalCon San Francisco.

Presentation and recs from last night

Melissamcewen's picture

Hey, here is a copy of my presentation about Drupal for Non-Profits

Drupal Books for Newbies
Drupal in Action
Drupal's Building Blocks

Drupal Newbie Essentials
-Drush
- MAMP, LAMP, or WAMP
- Downloading site to your own stack and playing around with things
- Building a site from scratch

Web design idea books
The Web Designers Idea Book

Thanks!

jackalope's picture

Thanks for sharing your presentation. It looks great - sad that I missed it!