Posted by ellendiamond on March 16, 2015 at 4:34pm
There have been recent conversations concerning the acronym for New England Drupalcamp, and our goals for the camp. The intent has always been to create an event that promotes a greater sense of community amongst Drupal users across New England. However, we learned recently that we were jeopardizing the same sense of community we were hoping to foster with our old acronym. After listening to the concerns put forth by community members, it was time for a change.
Moving forward, New England Drupalcamp is to be known as NEDcamp.
Please read about our decision here and then register to save your spot for October 10, 2015!
Comments
Great choice
I wasn't particularly taken aback by the original name, but NEDcamp is a muuuuuch easier name to write in an email to my boss ;-) Already registered, and looking forward to it, since I had to miss out on the first year.
Looking forward to meeting
Looking forward to meeting you! Thanks for registering!
Looking forward to meeting
Looking forward to meeting you - and thanks for registering!
More details about the reason or the name change, please!
I found the name NEWDcamp humorous and not at all objectionable. And most important of all, I found it memorable! NEWDcamp seemed very much in the playful spirit of San Francisco's BADcamp.
And that's exactly what you seemed to be saying in your original May 27, 2014 "What's in a name?" blogpost. So, when you follow that up many months later with the sort of non-answer answer one expects from a politician, I find it quite disturbing. I have visions of either right-wing Comstock-wannabees or left-wing PC-types making credible enough threats that you had no choice but to knuckle under, Galileo-like, and admit that the universe revolves around the earth.
While "NEDcamp" is unlikely to offend, it's also not at all memorable. "NED" doesn't suggest any useful visual images for a logo, and it's neither funny nor memorable. It doesn't even suggest a location like "Drupaldelphia" does. Perhaps the conference should be named for Providence where the conference is being held. We could spell it "PRDcamp" and pronounce it "prude camp". :-)
If you had solicited suggestions for alternate names, I'm sure creative minds would have come up with better ideas. One obvious one is to name it the "New England Region Drupal Camp" or NERDcamp. Imagine Druplicon with horn-rimmed glasses, a pocket-protector, and a slide-rule!
But above all, in order for people to understand the justification for the name change and whether or not it truly was censorship, we need to know more about the objections than simply "our acronym of choice has given pause to some of our community members". That leaves the impression that you're afraid to reveal how many people objected to the previous name and what their objections were.
Maybe you ought not assume
Maybe you ought not assume that what you find amusing or non-objectionable is not true for everyone. There were several of us who spoke up recently (not the first time for me), the organizers discussed it and decided to change the name to something that wasn't suggestive or tacky.
Much love to the organizers
Much love to the organizers for listening to the community, the whole community, and not calling them prude, or whatever.
I'm personally happy about this course correction. Rock on to the organizers and see ya in the fall!
tearing down any walls
If the name was a barrier before, it is no longer. I welcome the change and can't wait to see even more great minds turn out for a fun and inviting day of learning and networking.
IMHO NED is fine
IMHO it really doesn't much matter to me what the name is. What's way more important are the people, not names. NEDCamp is fine and kind of funny (reminds me of Waking Ned Devine).
If NEWDCamp bothered some people, good move to get rid of it. I also thought NEWDCamp did not make total sense as why add the "W" when "NE" is New England?
Maybe ad the camp here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NED ?
The camp was really great last year and looking forward to this year.
Thanks to all the organizers!
NED and NEDx...
It might be fun to spin off a series of TED/NED and NEDx style videos from this name change:)
Handbook on Platform Cooperativism, a movement building platforms and tools owned by the people. http://bit.ly/hackitownit
Could have gone with New England Region Drupal Camp
or NERD Camp.
In Cambridge MA PHP Meetups are held in the Microsoft's New England Research & Devlopment Center or NERD Center.
Not to be confused with the
Not to be confused with the NERDSummit held annually at UMASS Amherst in September :)
Thanks for seconding my suggestion
I don't know if this is a case of independent invention or if you saw it in my earlier comment, but that's also what I suggested.
Current activity?
I have looked, but so far everything I find in the New England area is at least 3 years old. Is there any plans for a 2018 event?
BEGRAFX - The New England
BEGRAFX - The New England Drupal Camp (NEDCamp) has happened every year for the last 4 years. We have started planning for the 2018 camp and will be sure to post an update here when we know more. You can keep up with NEDCamp at https://nedcamp.org or you can feel free to post here. Hope this helps!