drupalcon

At Drupalcon? Join us Thursday 12-1PM in the Erie meeting room for Revolutionary Drupal: Coding and Supporting Social Change

Technology doesn't drive social change, but it is one tool used -- from the streets of revolutionary Cairo to community organizers in Detroit. Can we help support these social change movements with Drupal? Are there ways we can code and structure Drupal projects to make them more useful to activists? Does Drupal have a role in protests and strategic direct action?

This session will be an open discussion for those working around social change, case studies of using Drupal, and brainstorming for ways we could collaborate or support Drupal projects that support social change.

Here's the tentative schedule for the focused BoFs on Project Management. I took the liberty of scheduling one over lunch; if there's a major objection to that, let me know.

• Tools - Wednesday, 10-11 in the Ontario room
• Methodologies - Wednesday, 12-1 in the Ontario room
• Multi-threading projects - Wedensday, 6-7 in the Ontario room

I put these all on Wednesday to leave time for any follow-ups on Thursday.

If you're in Chicago this week, make sure to come to the OSGameCon 2011 BOF planned for Thursday afternoon at 2:15, in the Colorado room! We're going to work out the details for the First Annual Drupal Open Source Game Contest! If you can't come, then make sure you let your thoughts known here.

http://chicago2011.drupal.org/conference/bof/drupal-games-osgamecon-2011

http://osgamecon.com/about

If you're going to be at Chicago Drupalcon, be sure to stop in at the Drupal for Nonprofits/NGOs/Community Orgs Birds of a Feather gathering!

They haven't announced the date/time for the BoFs yet, but it'll be posted on that page once they do.

Hope to see you there!

We often have a Drupalchix Birds of a Feather at Drupalcon. Anyone want to do this again this year? Anyone interested in helping out?

Last Year
Last year, there were 100 people in the BoF. We also met for lunch on the first day. And also for a Happy Hour (which was just meeting in one of the Drupal parties.)

In our BOF session we said our names, and got a sense of roles and histories of attendees. We talked about some challenges that some attendees had in their professional lives as technologists.

I just got the word, I'm going to Drupalcon.

So, now, time to start the discussion and organizing for Birds of a Feather times, dates and topics.

I've been playing around with a couple of different Government based types like:

1. All Government (including contractors and all employees of State, Local and Federal at any country at Drupalcon)
2. US Government (state, local, fed including legislative and judicial branches, NO Contractors, sometimes, there are things we have to discuss and can't with contractors present.)

I'll be flying to DrupalCon from Melbourne to LA via Bangkok - long story. I have a full day stop over in each direction. I'd like to meet some of the local Drupal community.

I'll be in BKK from around 0430 until mid - late afternoon (my flight leaves at 1930) on Friday 4 March 2011. I'm planning to spend some time in the lounge in the morning getting breakfast and catching up on some work, then be in town from early morning.

Hey guys!

What are my chances of seeing any of my fellow Israeli Drupalers at the upcoming DrupalCon in Chicago, this coming March?

I'm interested in getting in touch with people who are going to DrupalCon. Anyone?

Edit: As was suggested in the comments, Theresa set up a page with a PayPal button. Please use that button to make any size donation. However, if you want your name or your organizations name to also appear on the "free buttons" notice, then please let me know by using my contact form.

Those of you who were at our OSCon table or at earlier events run by this group might have seen our awesome pinback buttons that Theresa Pridemore made for our group. You know how we geeks are at conferences, so the buttons have tended to be very popular and get snapped up very quickly. For those of you who would like to see them, you can see them on Skitch (designs include bleed). At OSCon, Dries said the "Don't Hack Core!" button was destined to become a Drupal classic. Even at non-Drupal OSCon we ran out of those "Don't Hack Core!" buttons before the end of day 1.

Theresa and I wanted to order a batch of at least 2 of the designs ("Don't Hack Core" and one of "Developing Harmony") of these buttons from One Inch Round -- a local button-maker that was one of the sponsors for our 2008 DrupalCamp and who make excellent buttons -- and then take them to DrupalCon and give them away to attendees. The idea would be to put them on a freebie table with a sign that reads something like, "Free buttons. Courtesy of the Portland, Oregon User Group." We can even have the group URL printed on the edge of the button (not visible from the front), or just stick with drupal.org.

Why do this? Well, it's fun and adds a fun benefit to the broader community, plus it raises our DUG's profile and it might even help us find new members (I met a number of Portland folks at the SF DrupalCon who had never even heard of our DUG). Plus we'll see those buttons reappear at conferences for years to come, as past experience has shown.

We'd buy 1" inch buttons, which, including shipping, are $65 for 200, $130 for 500 and $225 for 1000. More than 1000 would probably be overkill, even at a conference that likely will have over 3,000 attendees. We'll buy 200 ourselves for sure, but we're looking for others to chip in so that we can take even more with us. So, any takers? Please reply here, or contact me through my contact form.