Development Seed

Tomorrow, Drupal Camp is coming to Central America for the first time. What started as a small get together for developers who knew each other online has grown into a large Camp. As of this morning, 115 people have signed up, which is double the number participating as of just last week and far more than organizers were expecting.

It’s awesome to see Drupal growing like this in Central America. In addition to hosting the Camp, the organizers are doing some other fun things to build up Drupal’s presence in the region – like Drupal graffiti and Central America themed Drupal t-shirts for all participants:

I had the chance to talk with Felix Delattre, a main organizer of the Camp, about the event and the state of Drupal in Central America.

I know this is the first time a Drupal Camp has been run in Central America. What made you decide to organize one?

In recent years, Nicaragua has become a second home for me. When I attended my first Drupalcon in Szeged, I became really excited about the Drupal Community. Naturally, I wanted to bring this spirit to Central America.

You were in DC when you started to organize this, right? I remember you telling me that you got into IRC after a couple of beers and were suddenly helping to organize a Drupal Camp.

Right. One autumn night in Washington, DC after some liquid inspiration, I went to one of the Nicaraguan open-source IRC channels and chatted with some ambitious friends that I knew from the free software mailing list. At the end, it was not a very spectacular decision anymore. We decided to set forth with setting up a small camp at the house of a guy. Suddenly, we received so much positive response and support. Now we have moved everything to a much nicer venue at one of Nicaragua’s biggest universities. 115 people have signed up. It is going to be a really cool DrupalCamp!

Who is using Drupal in Central America? What sort of websites are they building?

Unfortunately, not that many yet. There is no organized community yet. With the DrupalCamp we are hoping to plant the seed. Maybe, I am biased through my background in international development, but I would say, mainly nonprofit projects, NGOs, and universities implement Drupal around here.

Development Seed actually got its start by building Drupal powered websites for small economic development organizations in Latin America, and we continue to work with organizations that have staff based there. Something we’ve noticed is that a lack of training opportunities is a big obstacle for people adopting Drupal. Do you see this too in Nicaragua, and is this a problem that you’re trying to address with the Camp?

There is definitely a lack of training opportunities: very few people providing help, even fewer offering to teach. In addition, the language barrier prevents many to become part of the English speaking Drupal community. With Drupal Camp, my main aim is to get the people here together, and build community infrastructure through personal contacts. Hopefully, this will give impetus and motivation to learn more about Drupal and organize the relevant training.

How will Drupal Camp Central America work? I see on the website that there are some sessions listed but that it will also be done Bar Camp style.

The idea is to start forming a community in Central America. Bar Camp is certainly the best way to get people actively involved. We also listed sessions, because Bar Camp style is relatively unknown here in Central America. We wanted to show that the Camp is really going to rock! At the end, it is a classic Bar Camp, except we have accepted proposals all along, instead of only at the day of the event.

What are you most looking forward to?

That is hard to say. I’m overall excited about next weekend. It is going to be crazy, but a wonderful get together.

Any plans for a documentation sprint in Spanish?

Yes! Addison Berry from the documentation team is coming. We are really excited about this. I think there is ample need for a thorough Spanish documentation. I am confident there will be many willing to contribute to that, particularly, because writing documentation is probably the best way to learn Drupal, and to set foot into the Drupal Community.

Drupal Camp Central America will happen Saturday, April 18, and Felix has promised to take photos.