Droopy Faces Thinking About The Stars!

Ok so its been a little over a month since we were all some how placed in the hands of fate for the good of this cause.

I've been thinking a lot about how we can use technology for the rapidly changing environment of communication that we live within. I recently bought the iPhone and I have submerged myself in the world of apps, feeds, blogs, apps that do some of these, and apps that have digital glow sticks that break on your screen and light up while your dancing at your favorite rave. Basically technology is developing itself to serve many purposes, multipurpose, single-purpose, and some times no purpose.

It's funny how technology even takes on a persona for "itself" as well.

With all the spread of technology, the information right at our fingertips, and the wonderful brains we have been graced with to put it all to good use, I began to take a look at Drupal and how it may benefit us in this very generalized cause.

Arun, early in our discussion, we conversed about the possibility of the PPEHRC website acting as a hub for many websites to feed information to and to develop what we called the "Radical Think Tank!" MUHAHAHA (Thunder crashes), and I got to thinking about Wiki software, and wanting to know more about Drupal...

So I've been getting to know it.

Arun, Warren, others, I don't know if you knew this but Drupal was developed as a sort of tool box holder. It seems from what I've been reading is that it not only provides the tools but it provides different ways to put the tools together. It also provides different ways to physically make the tool to accompany other tools.

Take for instance this quote from their website:

Drupal, on the other hand, with this idea of abstraction embedded in its DNA, is intentionally generalized in its approach to doing things. For instance, instead of creating a fixed “news engine,” Drupal provides systems and tools that allow you to quickly assemble your own custom news engine and tweak it to do exactly what you like. But because these systems and methods are generalized in their approach, they don’t lock you into just news-related things—you can use them to make all sorts of other “engines” and functional widgets. This means that once you learn some of the key tools within the Drupal universe, you will realize that you can endlessly combine them to do all sorts of clever things you (and the Drupal system/plugin creators) may never have imagined before.

Now this would have you thinking that abstraction from reality in that Drupal can simultaneously create an alternate reality for our internet communities is truly unbelievable....

What does this mean?

This means that if planned properly and with some talent, it may be possible to create a completely community based website that allows for multiple inter-connected feeds (i.e. dialogues, discussions, news, events, etc.) that also import and export from one website. Is it possible?

With the language of the Drupal, it seems so. It would seem that Drupal provides the raw minerals, how they work together, we develop the compounds, and the community make the chemical: the website.

What does this mean for three, crazed activist tech guys? What could this become for the movement?

It means we read... It means we need to take a stab at this! Philosophical-STYLE!

Drupal Overview

My suggestions:

1. Try to educate ourselves on Drupal.
2. It seems to be relatively user friendly and if we can at least become familiar with it we are ahead of the game.
3. Lets try to understand how it works, play with it a little, and go from there.
4. SWAA/PPEHRC Tech Meet-Up (time/date?)
5. Philly... you're not far away. I hear the bell!

Over and out!

The Entrepot!