See Permissions' Machine Names (and much more) with Xray Module for Drupal 7
With Drupal 7's third and final release candidate unleashed on us all this morning, it is long past time to help the #D7CX movement with a seasonal offering of our own.
+1 to Ending comment-to-subscribe on Drupal.org
As starving authors we at Agaric don't have a lot of cash to burn right now, but we've thrown $25 in the project to make it possible to subscribe to drupal.org issues without commenting. (On top of whatever we donated when this request for funding went out a year and a half ago).
Drupal Work Collectives
Agaric proposes the creation of a new kind of workplace, essentially a Drupal commune, but really more like an open source free software idea & brainstorming commune, kind of along the same lines as an artist's or writer's colony.
We're Writing a Book!
Yes it's true, for the past few months we've been hard at work with a lot of other co-authors on The Definitive Guide to Drupal 7.
Agaric Backs Community Coworking Center in NYC
Thinking it would be a great place to work a day or two while in New York City for clients or DrupalCamps, Agaric dropped a few dollars in the Kickstarter fund for New Work City: Community Coworking Center for Independents in NY.
Agaric Sponsors Modulecraft for the Building of Drupal Shared business, Development, and Training Tools
For community shared business, development, and training tools, Agaric throws a little sponsorship at modulecraft.
Agaric Provides Very Minor Assist in Readying Insert Module for Drupal 7
Benjamin Melançon of Agaric helped with a patch for the Drupal 7 version of Insert module.
Agaric?
What the word agaric means and why Agaric took it for our cooperative's name.
Designed to Life
Functionality designed to your life is the Agaric Design signature. Utilizing open source, free software from around the world, Agaric Design websites are impeccably crafted with a modern, sophisticated and understated spirit.
The Story on Agaric
I've always had a passion for good design and healthy coding, even back in the days of owning a web site cart in downtown Natick. Back then, my business partner and I made all natural HTML roll-up web sites and, as an incentive for customers to wait in line, we baked Drupal into different flavored designs.
Agaric proposes the creation of a new kind of workplace, essentially a Drupal commune, but really more like an open source free software idea & brainstorming commune, kind of along the same lines as an artist's or writer's colony.
Imagine a network of state-of-the-art green living spaces spread across the planet in the most beautiful locations that mother nature has to offer. Places filled with the best and the brightest drupalistas living and playing and growing together, and together developing Drupal and the various technologies that help it work. As an open source community, Drupal already possesses many of the cooperative qualities that would make this sort of commune possible. Just think of any Drupal meetup you've attended in the past. Some show up to demo their latest work, others to ask for help, others to give help... What if we had spaces where this sort of thing was constantly happening?
The Drupal commune would be open to whomever wanted to come join in for a period of time and help advance the cause. Every member of the community would provide a special skillset to the team, be it coding, theming, graphic design or documentation. Some people could be permanent residents at such places and others could come and go based on work available and projects being worked on. Of course at first, we think it would have to start as more of a couch-surfing type thing. People who have the space can offer it up, recruit and house a few drupalistas for the duration of a project, like contributed work, or payed client work. From there, teams could assemble all around the world, do the necessary work, and do it better than they could alone, all while being able to enjoy and explore the world. Then disband, these communes or colonies don't have to be permanent, although that is the eventual goal.
- The individual contributor gets a combination code sprint and couch surf experience.
- Drupal gets fantastic functionality or process improvements made in ideal productive circumstances.
- And everyone gets satisfaction of making something awesome and worthwhile, in community, while getting to see and explore planet Earth and do fun stuff.
This idea is nothing new and has recently been advocated by the brilliant physicist and surfer Garret Lisi. In his own words he says these places... "would essentially be large houses in beautiful locations where theorists could live and work." Citing his own experience living in Maui and the mountains of Tahoe and Colorado, Lisi says that for theoretical research it is good to have opportunities for hiking and things to do outside in attractive environments. Describing the idea more formally, Lisi says:
The physical requirements for conducting scholarly research have changed dramatically with the rise of the internet. It is now viable for researchers with laptop computers to work autonomously -- with access to current articles and communication channels on par with the resources available at large universities. These new circumstances motivate the creation of a new kind of research enterprise: a Science Hostel. By providing places to live and work with other researchers, in beautiful locations, a Science Hostel could increase creative productivity and overall quality of life for scholars in the internet age.
We believe the Drupal world currently developing before our eyes is especially well poised to embrace such an idea. We are a growing community of able, intelligent, free thinking, and like minded people. We all think Drupal has a lot to offer people, and we've all been making a living developing with Drupal, and we also all our own personalities and hobbies outside of work. We see a lot of people in this world showing up to "just a day job" or a "9 to 5". We don't like seeing Drupal applied to this model. We believe that satisfying work comes from truly embracing what you do and doing it to it's fullest. So it's not just your day job, but your lifestyle, something that is an essential part of your being. When focused on certain subjects with such passion, originality and creativity can flourish, sparks happen. Our proposition is that we really pursue this idea of combining our work lives with our personal ones, evolving things into a lifestyle of the future.
These communities could also include people who are interested in sustainable living, and/or off-the-grid living and promote these ideas as well. So not just Drupalers, but there could be specialists doing other things like growing food with aquaponics, creating mesh wireless networks, or harnessing solar and wind energy. Proving that people can create and shape their universe when they come together and cooperate.
The way we see it, this thing would be community managed and totally open, the way Drupal has always been, except now we'd really be starting to shape the material world using Drupal, creating a free culture. There are a lot of folks who are tirelessly spending nights and weekends coding masterpieces like CCK and Views and giving us the power to feed and clothe ourselves. We love seeing this happen, we love thinking about it. A person driven to create is a beautiful thing. We want to see more community forming around this stuff. Why should development be done in cooped up cubicle type spaces? Why have we let so many convince us that our time is best spent, and we are most useful and productive in offices and sitting in traffic? Would things evolve more organically, and would Drupal advance exponentially with the future of humanity if places like this existed? They don't even need to be permanent, we could organize and create them for certain collaborative projects and disband after the work is done and has been contributed back to the community.
There is a lot more that can be written about this, and all the details still need to be worked out. But we're confident that the community could organize enough to essentially allow for these "corporate retreats on acid" or "software development communes" to happen. Drupalistas could apply for internship type positions and get voted in, most likely through the Drupal Association or similar organizations. Teams of independent contractors could come together, share projects, split up the work, and live the good life. We could become the renaissance men and women of the future and break free of all the old, tired, hierarchical, institutionalized ways of being productive that have been shoved down our throats in the past. We can create community, developing our ideas, doing the work we love to do, and seeing and shaping the world into something better during our time here.
Sure it's not for everybody, but we have a feeling their might be other Drupal nomads out there...
When you think of training, perhaps you remember an event that you were sent to where you had to learn something boring for your job. The word training does not usually make people smile and jump for joy, that is unless you are talking about Drupal training. These gatherings spread the Drupal knowledge and increase diversity in the community of Drupal developers.
Join us for the next Drupal Global Training Day with our online full day session on getting started with Drupal on November 29th 2017. It will be held online from 9 AM to 4 PM EST.
A link to the live workshop on Zoom will be provided when you sign up!
The Drupal Association coordinates four dates each year as Global Training Days, designed to offer free and low-cost training events to new-to-Drupal developers and to create more Drupal talent around the world. The community is growing exponentially as more people learn how fun and easy it is to get involved and be productive. Volunteer trainers host these global events in person and online. In 2016, a Global Training Days Working Group was established to run this program. There is a Global Training Days group on Drupal.org that lists trainings around the world.
Mauricio Dinarte will be leading the training online on November 29th. As an introduction to Drupal a person needs to learn certain things that are specific to Drupal and some are not that intuitive. It is important to cover the very basics in terminology and process. An introductory class can include many things, but this list is what Mauricio covers during the day long event:
- Drupal installation requirements and process
- Nodes
- Content types
- Fields
- Blocks
- Theme regions
- Views
- User and permissions
- Menus
- Taxonomy
The outcome of the day of training is that everyone walks away understanding the main moving parts of Drupal and a bit about what they do. Of course you will not become a developer overnight, but you will have enough information to build a simple site and then explore more of Drupal on your own.
You can follow up with many online tutorials and by joining the Drupal group in your area and attending the meetings. At meetings you will connect with other people at different levels of skill and you will be helped and helpful at the same time! If there is no Drupal group in your area, I suggest you start one. It can start as easily as posting online that you will be at a specific location doing Drupal at a certain time of day - you will be surprised at who may show up. If no one shows up the first time, try again or try a different location. One of the best things about Drupal is the community and how large and connected we are. If you start a group, people will usually help it grow.
Bringing new people to Drupal is not only good for increasing the size of the member base, it also brings diversity and reaches people that may never have had an opportunity or access to a free training. Drupal trainings are usually held at a university in or near a city which attracts people from different backgrounds and cultures. We can also reach people that are not in a city or near a school by sharing online.
Have you ever thought about volunteering at a Global Training Days event? We have a blog about organizing your own Global Training Days workshop that can get you started. This is a great way to get to know the people in the community better, up your skills and perhaps share something you have learned. I learned much about programming by assisting developers at sprints and trainings. This is where the real fun begins. Learning does not have to be stressful, and in the Drupal community people are friendly and welcoming. No question is stupid and even those with no experience have valuable skills. Developers love people without prior experience because they make the perfect testing candidates for UI and UX. The down side is that Drupal is so captivating that you will probably not remain a newbie for very long, so enjoy it while it lasts.
One of the true highlights of Global Training Days is seeing all the people around the world gain valuable skills and share knowledge. We hope you can join us.
La gente a menudo pregunta por las herramientas de software libre que Agaric utiliza para administrar su negocio cooperativo. En este artículo, compartiremos los recursos que elegimos para las tareas diarias de oficina y administración, así como para las comunicaciones en nuestras operaciones comerciales.
Agaric utiliza software libre siempre que es posible. Por esta razón, creamos sitios web con Drupal, una plataforma de gestión de contenido que destaca por la calidad de su código y por su amplia variedad de funcionalidades. Como miembros de la Comunidad Drupal, buscamos contribuir activamente con los grupos que trabajan en encontrar opciones para su mejora y ampliación.
La necesidad de una tecnología responsable - Parte 1
Quizás podrán preguntarse por qué decimos "Software Libre" y no "Código Abierto", ya que en ambos casos esencialmente es lo mismo. Nosotros preferimos este término porque incluye los principios éticos sobre el respeto a la libertad del usuario. La ética del software libre dice que los usuarios merecen control sobre el código que usan, mientras que el uso del término "Código abierto" se refiere solo a permitir que los usuarios participen en el desarrollo. Nosotros apoyamos la idea de un software que proteja nuestros derechos y nos evite estar vulnerables.
- Define the parameters of your cooperative environment.
It could be in Articles of Organization, ByLaws or a simple contractual agreement between members or even a handshake. A cooperative or collective is defined by the members.
- Find co-workers in your industry that value cooperative principles.
Talk to people in your personal network about your goal.
Let former co-workers know you are forming or seeking to work with a cooperative.
- Go to events where you will meet members of cooperatives and ask them how they are structured internally
There are meetups (meetup.com) or you could start one in your area.
Reach out to mailing lists you are on and ask if people are interested in working collectively.
- Search for cooperatives that are listed in online directories and research their strategies
Food:
Worker coops:
usworker.coop - member-directory
Open Directory search for all types of coops:
and Twitter - https://twitter.com/hashtag/cooperatives
- Join in the Free Software movement so we are building a cooperative society on a free, not proprietary, foundation.
- Invest in other cooperatives.
Encourage pooled funds from successful cooperatives to help bootstrap new proposed cooperatives
- Join a cooperative network or 2 or 3...
- We invite you to join the Show and Tell mailing list
Get involved in conversations, and create conversations. Let others know you are interested in cooperative work experiences and you are seeking information and connections.
There are four principles, freedoms, that define free software, the building blocks of this Digital Commons resource we all rely on.
- Freedom 0 - The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
- Freedom 1 - The freedom to study how the program works, and change it, so it does your computing as you wish.
- Freedom 2 - The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others.
- Freedom 3 - The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
When software is built this way, it protects us as users from malicious backdoors compromising our security, proprietary algorithms obscuring what we see and don't see, and predatory vendors locking us into expensive contracts. It also democratizes our technology - making it free for anyone to install and make use of. Examples of software in the digital commons include the Firefox browser, Linux operating system, and MediaWiki (which powers Wikipedia).
Stewarding the Digital Commons
Using free software doesn't automatically mean that one is fully participating in the Digital Commons. For example, we use Drupal, Django, and WordPress to build websites. It is common for sites to then add on custom code, or configure their site in unique ways - source code that is hidden from the general public.
The diagram above shows an example website that has most of its software within the Digital Commons. However, there is some custom code (code written by someone that hasn't been released back into the commons) and some proprietary software integrating with the site.
Taking a closer look at who is maintaining and contributing to the various projects, we see that the software in the Digital Commons has many more people behind it. When something is free and open, then communities of literally thousands of people can help maintain the software. When something is custom code, only the original creator and their coworkers can maintain it (poor David). And when it comes to proprietary software, we're handing complete control over to the company who owns it.
Maintaining Transparency and Code Quality in an Era of Tech Abuse
Freedom 1, the freedom to study how a program works, ensures that site visitors and users know exactly what a website or app is doing. Even if a website starts out using free software, it's possible to extend it to do all sorts of malicious things. Sharing one's code with the world is a way to communicate transparency. Note that, this is separate from one's data, such as user passwords and personal information - that stays under lock and key.
Keeping all code written out in the open also adds a layer of auditability regarding quality. We follow software development best practices and to back that up, we share that code with the world. Besides, best practices aren't always cut and dried, and there are often opportunities to make good code, great.
Contributing Code Back, Benefits Everyone
When possible, we write and use what is called "contributed code." This is code that has been written in a generalizable way so that others can also benefit from it. Often, a tool already exists to solve a problem. Other times a tool might get a project 90% of the way there. Some might decide to meet their unique case by building something from scratch. We, however, prefer to build upon existing solutions.
For example, when we built the ability for Portside to cross-post their articles to Twitter, we did that by improving the Social Post Twitter module - a tool anyone running a Drupal site can use as well. We could have written that as custom code, only for Portside to use. However, we took the time to contribute this back to the community.
Contributing code to the Digital Commons is not just a kind thing to do; it helps strengthen the software we rely on. As mentioned above, now the Social Post Twitter module is available for others to audit and make improvements to. While custom code is maintained by whoever initially wrote it, contributing code back to the commons opens that software up to maintenance and improvement from a wider community. The more sites using that software, the more attention and care it receives.
Going Slow to Go Farther
It can take more time to contribute code back to the commons than creating a one-off solution. For nonprofits and other organizations on small budgets, it may seem impractical or foolish to take the extra time to contribute code. However, we've found that the stability and future improvements gained by keeping the code in the commons is well worth it. It also ensures your software is maintainable moving forward. We've seen nonprofits get burned time and again by developers who choose to write custom code that is then difficult for others (or even the original authors!) to come in and maintain. By keeping your software in the commons, you protect your projects with the strength of the free software community.
Shifting from Scarcity to Abundance
Funding a solution that will then be shared and available for others to use for free can again sound foolishly selfless. Why should we let other organizations use for free what we had to commit significant resources to? It can feel odd to sponsor work others get for free. However, it's important to keep in mind that no software is built from scratch. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. The functionality free software already provides, was paid for by someone else – either with money or volunteer time. When our clients are generous enough to agree to contribute their solutions back to the commons, we are sure to recognize them for it. This both lets others know the stewardship and leadership they're making in the Digital Commons.
Steps to Stewarding the Digital Commons
Now that you know more of the Digital Commons you are part of, we hope you join us in taking care of and benefiting from it. If you're a freelancer or agency, look for opportunities to change your workflow to deepen your participation in the commons. If you're an organization, audit your existing technology stack. Are there tools you use which are proprietary that you could be using free software for instead? Do you have custom solutions that would be better off contributed to the commons? Is your website or app's source code posted for people to audit and learn from? The next time you budget for a new improvement, discuss how that could be contributed back. Being part of the Digital Commons makes the software we all use stronger.
