I've just got home after my 3rd overseas trip for the year. There's no place like home. But being out and about in the world is a huge amount of fun.
DrupalCon Munich was fantastic. It gave me a variety of experiences. I volunteered! I spoke! I attended meetings and schmoozed with cool people. I saw sessions!
The open source universe is wide and wonderful. It's filled with people passionate about solving problems together. Communities, projects, foundations and associations. The Drupal Association is one organisation in this universe. It's an important part of the Drupalverse. It recently turned 6 years old, and it's about to lose its first tooth.
This year I've been to Denver, Colorado and Portland, Oregon. Next week I'm heading off to Munich, Bavaria to speak at DrupalCon Munich. Later in the year I'll be heading to San Francisco for the final face to face board meeting of the Drupal Association for the year.
That's me, Donna Benjamin, Drupal Association director at Large, international woman of mystery! Ok, perhaps not that mysterious. Perhaps I should explain?
Late last year, the board of the Drupal Association put six things on the agenda for 2012.
One of those was to coordinate Global Training Days to get more people to start learning Drupal and help address the world wide talent famine for skilled drupalistas.
The next one is happening on Friday 22 June. That's this week.
The dates for follow up Global Training Days are 14 September and 14 December.
But how did we get here?
The grievances of those who have got power, the influence of those who have got power commands a great deal of attention; but the wrongs and the grievances of those people who have no power at all are apt to be absolutely ignored. That is the history of humanity right from the beginning.
Emmeline Pankhurst, Freedom or Death a speech delivered in Hartford, Connecticut, USA 13 Nov 1913
B
ack in early February I got myself elected to the Drupal Association (DA) board. Last week, I attended my first board meeting in Denver at DrupalCon. It made me feel a whole lot better about this new role, because until then, I'd not really had a chance to do anything. Other than agree the DA should open a bank account in Europe so we can better deal with European currencies and events.
[Originally published as a guest blog for the Trove forum on International Women's Day 8 March 2012. Photos by Craig Mackenzie courtesy of the National Library of Australia]
"The Dawn" was published monthly in Sydney, Australia from May 1888 until it's final issue in July 1905.
