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By rachel_norfolk on
This month, we spoke with:
- Discover Drupal Initiative, by Angie Sabin
- Drupal Community Working Group, by Mike Anello
- Drupal Swag Shop Working Group, by Will Huggins
- Contribution Mentoring, by Rachel Lawson
- Automated Updates Initiative, by Tim Lehnen
- Local Drupal Associations, by Leslie Glynn
Each of these groups represents ways to contribute to the Drupal project. How can you help?
Discover Drupal Initiative, by Angie Sabin
What have been your priorities in the last three months?
The Discover Drupal classes just started in July. The past three months included getting students onboarded making sure they received the proper equipment and Drupalize.me account. We also set up the Slack channel for students and mentors and onboarded all of the mentors.
And what has been your greatest success in the last three months?
We are thrilled that we have 23 mentors from around the globe! This ensures that no matter the time of day, someone is always available to help our students with any questions they may have.
What has been your greatest challenge in the last three months?
Making sure that all of the equipment was functional and shipped to the right places in time for class. A HUGE thank you to our volunteer, Megh Plunkett at Lullabot for configuring all of the laptops and getting them shipped to the students on time.
Do you have a "call to action" you want to make to the Drupal Community?
We still have room for sponsors for this year! Sponsorship helps cover costs such as paying to bring our students to DrupalCon 2022 and the cost of student training. Our sponsors will have direct access to the students for recruitment toward the end of the program year.
Drupal Community Working Group, by Mike Anello
What have been your priorities in the last three months?
We participated in an episode of Talking Drupal (https://talkingdrupal.com/302), we have started an "Open Source Community Health Discussions" group with other open source communities (having monthly calls), we have been on-boarding a new member of the Conflict Resolution Team.
And what has been your greatest success in the last three months?
(Hoping this is published after August 3) We have been working with the Community Health Team, the Drupal Association, and the Event Organizers Working Group on best practices (including a playbook) for accessibility at Drupal events.
What has been your greatest challenge in the last three months?
The mediation tasks of the conflict resolution team.
Do you have a "call to action" you want to make to the Drupal Community?
Nudges! https://www.drupal.org/node/3193832
Drupal Swag Shop Working Group, by Will Huggins
What have been your priorities in the last three months?
Following a successful DrupalCon North America in April we have been working on reviewing the products that sold best (stickers, T-shirts and Hoodies) so we can prepare for DrupalCon Europe in October.
And what has been your greatest success in the last three months?
Generating over $300 for Drupal Association. It may not be huge but it is totally incremental revenue and also helps to promote Drupal (I often get asked 'so what is Drupal?' when I am wearing my swag).
What has been your greatest challenge in the last three months?
As with all community-run initiatives, finding the time to focus on growing the swag shop is a challenge and we are always on the lookout for more volunteers. With more help, we want to focus on our next biggest challenge, which is the marketing and promotion of the swag shop.
Do you have a "call to action" you want to make to the Drupal Community?
The Drupal Swag Shop is a great way of contributing to Drupal for 'non developers' - the skills we need in the working group are marketing, project management, and design, so if you want to contribute to our brilliant community, but are not sure how... get in touch!
Contribution Mentoring, by Rachel Lawson
What have been your priorities in the last three months?
Preparing for DrupalCon Europe, by creating and organizing the first-ever Drupal Contributor Mentor Summit (https://www.drupal.org/community/events/contribution-mentor-summit-2021-...).
The Mentor Summit will allow us to invite those already contributing to Drupal to learn about how they can pass on their skills to an even wider group of people so we can grow our contribution community and make a better Drupal.
And what has been your greatest success in the last three months?
Getting the Mentor Summit organized and in the calendar before DrupalCon Europe.
What has been your greatest challenge in the last three months?
Lots of people with large workloads because lots of clients want Drupal projects means little time to work on things like the Mentor Summit! While it is good that Drupal skills are in high demand, it’s important to also advocate for and emphasize the need to continue to grow Drupal as the premier CMS and supportive open source community.
Do you have a "call to action" you want to make to the Drupal Community?
If you are a contributor to the Drupal Project, as a developer, designer, documenter, project manager or marketer, please put the 17th September aside in your diary so you can join us virtually at the Contributor Mentor Summit!
Please register/login and "join the group" at https://drupalcontributions.opensocial.site/group/contribution-mentor-summit-2021/about and we will keep you up to date via email as the schedule is announced at the end of August.
Automatic Updates Initiative, Tim Lehnen
What have been your priorities in the last three months?
The PHP implementation of the TUF client - PHPTUF - is essentially complete, or near enough to it. This means that the team is shifting work to the automatic updates contrib module to actual integrate this library into Drupal's Automatic Update system prototype.
Major progress has been made on actually executing the composer-based updates in an automated way as well, with work from @effulgentsia @traviscarden @tedbow and others. More recently we've been trying to complete the test coverage of this critical component of the system.
Finally, the Drupal Association has been reviewing responses to our request for proposals to help implement the server side of the TUF specification, so that Drupal.org can sign and maintain the packages we deliver.
And what has been your greatest success in the last three months?
Effective completion of the PHPTUF library is a huge milestone, and the ability to focus fire on the problem of ensuring that automated composer updating works well and has good test coverage is a crucial next step.
What has been your greatest challenge in the last three months?
We've really had two major challenges:
- Though we are attempting to expand our resources via the Drupal Association RFP for an external vendor to help us build out the TUF server-side signing component - it has been difficult to find a partner - as the whole Drupal ecosystem is extremely busy in this period. (A good thing, in the end!)
- We have to make a decision about whether we are willing to release an Alpha version, even in contrib, without the signing in place, in order to validate the user experience, workflows and do real user testing of the system - rather than block that on the signing being complete.
Do you have a "call to action" you want to make to the Drupal Community?
You can chime in on the issue about releasing an alpha version without package signing here: #3220205: Proposal: As pathway to Drupal core use new 2.x.x branch for Composer Based Updates
Local Drupal Associations, by Leslie Glynn
What have been your priorities in the last three months?
The local associations have been working with the DrupalCon Europe 2021 team over the past few months to identify camps that would be willing to host their camp online in conjunction with DrupalCon Europe 4-7 OCTOBER 2021.
And what has been your greatest success in the last three months?
DrupalCon Europe 2021 announced that it is collaborating with several Drupal Camps to create a unique "Drupal Eurovision" experience. The goal is to create an experience to continue Drupal’s 20th birthday celebration.
The following camps and communities have agreed to have their event at DrupalCon Europe:
- Drupaljam, The Netherlands
- Drupal Mountain Camp Switzerland
- Drupal Germany
- DrupalCamp Kyiv
- DrupalCamp Finland
- Drupalcamp Belgium - Ghent 2021
Camps have an opportunity to have their own virtual space to run their own virtual event as part of DrupalCon Europe 2021.
A Drupal Slack channel was created for discussion at #dceur2021-camps or direct link: https://drupal.slack.com/archives/C02067Z7ESH
What has been your greatest challenge in the last three months?
In general Drupal Camps around the world are being impacted by dwindling participation at virtual events.
The global coronavirus situation continues to make it difficult for Local Associations around the world to plan events for the coming year. While things were looking better for a bit, countries around the globe are once again seeing increasing rates of infection. Global travel also continues to be restricted.
Do you have a "call to action" you want to make to the Drupal Community?
The DrupalCon Europe team and the Local Associations that will be holding their camps during the event have been working hard to create an engaging virtual event. Help them out by purchasing a ticket to the combined event. One ticket gives you access to DrupalCon plus all the local camps being held online during DrupalCon Europe 2021 on 4-7 OCTOBER 2021. Register at https://events.drupal.org/europe2021/registration-information
