Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for all the context and I apologize for "spinning the wheels" with my suggestions (I definitely missed the messages 6 months ago).
I am delighted to be aware of the process that the Board has been following so far and completely understand and agree with the plan to capitalize on these 6-months effort by getting help from a dedicated Drupal-specialized contractor. Sending my $30 (and please feel free to include me in the list of volunteers if anyone there needs a break there). Thanks again, Gilberto On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 3:37 PM, Elizabeth Bacon <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi folks, > Thanks, Gilberto, for thinking about our best interests. Let me give the > group some more background. This project, code-named IxDA Conan, was > launched over six months ago with a call for volunteer contributions. We > also put out a call for support in the groups.drupal.org community. Today, > IxDA Conan is operating with a team of almost 20 IxDA members who are > volunteering their time and energy to make this project happen. I would like > to take this opportunity to thank all of our wonderful team members who have > been so hard at work behind the scenes: > > Alok Nandy > Atul Thanvi > Ben Vaughan > Chad Vavra > Chong Lee Khoo > Chris Blow > Christopher Vestal > Jason Pamental > Jonathan Knoll > Joseph Rich Rogan > Maria Tagarelli De Monte > Matt Nish-Lapidus > Mayur Karnik > Neil Cadsawan > Shivanand Reddy > Tonia M. Bartz > > In addition to myself in the Creative Director role, IxDA Directors Amyris > Fernandez and Nasir Barday are also on the Conan team. We have a couple > Drupal-knowledgable resources on the Conan team, and we already have a > sandbox installation in place as well as a sense of how to approach the > Drupal theme work. Everybody's hard at work on the interaction design > proposals even as I type. However, in numerous ways we have determined that > we are unable to achieve our organization's objectives with volunteer > resources alone. We are a community of designers, not developers. We > urgently need this infrastructure and cannot afford to delay its > implementation in any way. The rough vision for this new community of > practice system has been in the works for at least two years, and you would > not believe the amount of shepherding and project management that it has > taken to get us to this point. Trust me on this. ;) > > As I said, we've asked the community for assistance on this project > numerous times, and I'm sorry if you missed those messages. We've been > apprising the community about our project through the Board Blog and this > discussion list. Soon, in fact, you will see a call for community feedback > on the interaction design proposals for the new system. Nevertheless, it's > time to get serious and enlist true professional resources who can create > the stable, scalable and reliable infrastructure to support IxDA's current > and future growth. We chose Drupal partly because it's so accessible and > well-known, and so we look forward to future member contributions that will > add innovative features and capabilities for our community. But right now, > it's time to get the show on the road!! > > Cheers, > Liz, IxDA Vice-President > > > On Jun 21, 2009, at 3:00 PM, Gilberto Medrano wrote: > > While I am willing to contribute without hesitation, I would like to offer > some thoughts: > > I am an interaction designer for desktop/web applications, but I have > created Drupal sites in versions 5 and 6 (custom themes, CCK, overriding > nodes, Views 2, configuration, etc). I am wondering if there are more > people in this list that have experience in Drupal and would be willing to > help before considering getting contractors to do it for us? > > If we need custom modules then I can try posting about it in the Drupal > community. We may be able to get a volunteer or else we can exchange > design-for-programming for Drupal itself (they are looking for interaction > designers to help with usability issues for Drupal 7). We would benefit > more by partnering with another community that based its approach on people > volunteering their time for the greater good. > > Again, I'm fine with the monetary contribution, just thinking aloud on > other > alternatives to get our Drupal work done. > > Cheers, > > Gilberto > > > On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 10:08 AM, IxDA Board of Directors <[email protected] > >wrote: > > For the price of a cup of coffee you can help IxDA deliver our > > next-generation platform to serve the needs of the interaction design > > community. We can't do it without your help. > > > http://bit.ly/17AJoE > > > Since its inception as a mailing list in 2003, IxDA now supports over > > 10,000 > > discussion list <http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php> subscribers, 80 IxDA > > Local > > Groups <http://www.ixda.org/local.php> from around the world, an annual > > conference (with a regional conference on the way in South America), > > several > > budding community initiatives and over 12,000 people affiliated via > > LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3754>. > > Despite our ambitions, our current technology infrastructure is no longer > > able to support our needs, nor expand to meet our future ones. > > > You have the opportunity to expand IxDA's capability to provide the > > next-generation website that will take us beyond the mailing list of today. > > We aim to develop a solid, extensible platform for our community of > > practice > > to meet and enrich one another and grow the discipline. IxDA has chosen > > Drupal as the technology framework for our new infrastructure. The Drupal > > framework will allow the IxDA community to grow and thrive with improved > > digital communications capabilities, easy sharing and searching of all > > types > > of content, local group sites, and member profiles. However, we can't build > > the new website ourselves. This is where your financial support is crucial. > > > I am IxDA. You are, too. Without the generous contributions, participation > > and support of the interaction design community, IxDA wouldn't be where it > > is today. IxDA is a member-supported organization, not a > > membership-supported organization, so we collect no dues. You are a member > > if you say you are. It's that simple. Beyond the generous contribution of > > volunteer time, financially this means we rely heavily on > > revenue-generating > > events like our annual conference and on fundraising efforts such as this, > > which we haven't held since 2007. > > > Our goal is to collect $30,000 over the next four days, until June 26th. > > Ambitious, I know, but not impossible. Consider this: If 10,000 subscribers > > contributed $3, a fancy cup of coffee in some parts, we'd be done. Or 1,000 > > contributed $30, often less than a good book these days. If you gain > > anything from IxDA, won't you please give a little back? No amount is too > > big or small. As a thank you to all that contribute, we will hold a drawing > > each day and select one name to receive a complimentary registration to > > interaction'10, being held in Savannah, GA next February! (Note: Each day > > starts at 12:01 am GMT. No IxDA Board Members are eligible for the drawing. > > All registrations are transferable but not eligible for cash exchange.) > > > Please contribute now! > > > http://bit.ly/17AJoE > > > Tell the community that you're supporting IxDA! > > > Retweet your support: > > http://bit.ly/V7kdV > > > We would love to hear why you're a part of IxDA. Create your own IxDA > > Support widget for your blog or site while you're at it: > > http://bit.ly/12uHaE > > > How the money will be spent: > > We want to be able to select a highly qualified development partner who can > > help sustain our organizational growth over the long term. The funds > > gathered will be used to build, deploy and maintain the new website. Any > > funds not used in the current round of development will be used for ongoing > > website support and development. You can expect updates throughout the > > build > > process for how things are progressing. Our goal is to have the first phase > > of work done by this Fall. > > > On behalf of the IxDA Board of Directors and all who care about this > > community, I thank you! > > > Janna DeVylder, President, IxDA > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Vice-President, IxDA / www.ixda.org > CDO, Devise / www.devise.com > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
