Fri 23 Oct 2009 |
Joomla Community Building - my view
Written by Brad Baker
Of course, everyone has their own opinions on this subject, just like everyone has their own preferences on operating system, web browser etc. So, the following brief thoughts are just an expression of my opinion on this subject. BTW I prefer Mac OS, Firefox/Google Chrome 
What prompted me to write this post?
Having recently (last weekend) attended the Sydney JoomlaDay and now preparing for the Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam JoomlaDay the subject of community is on my mind. Now that is out of the way.. here goes.
Everyone has their own expectations when it comes to their involvement with Joomla. Often, people ask me for my reasons, primarily I tell them "Joomla is a great platform to make a living upon". Perhaps you feel the same way, or not. I know some people are here to 'make a difference to the world' and I also respect their reasons for their involvement in the Joomla Community.
That being said, reflecting on the times when I feel most *among* the Joomla Community, it would have to be when attending a Joomla Event. Again, you may agree, or not. So, as I prepare for my own exciting trip to Vietnam to attend the Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam JoomlaDay I'm reminded that I'm going to once again rub shoulders with the Joomla Community, in the flesh.
If there is any Joomla Community building or grassroots effort to improve things, I'd have to say, at these events such as JoomlaDay's as well as Joomla User Groups (JUGS) meetings is where it will have to begin.
So, in conclusion: Whatever your reason for being here, if you want to share that reason, help make a difference, or just increase your contacts with the Joomla Community, be sure to come along and attend a Joomla Event sometime.
I'd also just like to add, it's always a pleasure to get together with people like Andrew Eddie and Sam Moffatt who also attended the Sydney JoomlaDay along with a large number of others. When it comes to ensuring the Joomla Project codewise is sound, and driving ahead, these are the kinds of people who deserve our support. When was the last time you thanked someone like them?
There are a few more I'd like to mention by name (though I will obviously be forgetting some) who continue to be invaluable members of our community: Louis Landry, Chris Davenport, Elin Waring, Mark Dexter, Hannes (and all the other devs working hard on 1.6) all the JED and JRD Editors, the tireless hardworking forum moderators, as well as the people like Paul and Airton who help to look after this very site. There are scores of humble people who you don't hear much from that do so much, like Wendy Robinson, Dave Huelsmann, Ryan Ozimek and Claire Mandville.. and many more who's names I know I've forgotten.
Lift your eyes just a little, and you see people doing similar things in the Joomla International Communities. When was the last time anyone thanked people like Jean-Marie Simonet (JM) for their efforts? This guy's a trooper who continues to devote himself to Joomla. I think I could go on, but hopefully you get the picture. If you call Andrew Mr Joomla, JM is surely Mr International Joomla (hopefully the Mr Joomla contest doesn't include a swimsuit part).
Ok, and now for the actual final conclusion: See you somewhere out there in the Joomla Community, on our forum etc, or even better at the next Joomla Event I attend, like in Ho Chi Minh City on November 1 2009 at the Vietnam JoomlaDay or next year at Melbourne JoomlaDay 2010.
2009-10-23 13:27:48
2009-10-23 16:50:35
I read your post and couldn't agree more. It is hard, from my point of view, to clearly define what the Joomla Community is. But as you say, people follow the Joomla project because of very diverse (all valid) reasons.
Some see Joomla as a business / enterprise tool. Others might think it is a sort of social / humanitarian effort (i.e. - providea quality tool for non-profit organizations to use for their web presence). There might be another group who follows it for technical reasons; it's built on PHP, uses MySQL, OOP and MVC. But I still question myself, why, why, why?
Or better said, how? How is it possible that such a great tool is available totally for free and I can mess up with it until I get tired (from a technical point of view.)?
It's amazing, clearly amazing. I think we are on the brinks of a significant social movement here. Think about it, other open source projects have a corporaty counterpart backing them up. Wordpress - Autmattic; Drupal - Acquia; Zend Framework - Zend; Symphony - Those guys from France; Ruby on Rails - Those other guys. In the case of Joomla what's backing it is totally the community. I know, Open Source Matters, but that is just a legal instrument to protect the project - they dont make any money out of it. I know (or think I know) those facts and still question myself: why, how, what who? Any answers?
2009-10-23 16:57:19
I have a say that "Joomla is not about the code its about the people behind it - The community ideas and efforts".
2009-10-26 13:07:48
Joomla is a CMS and Framework; It SHOULD be about code, and it would be REALLY sad if it was just about the people behind it.
2009-10-28 07:20:30
And all code get old and useless mostly over time. Its the mindset and skilled people behind the code that make the difference in the world competition. And we need good people continuously for Joomla future - all the time otherwise Joomla will die too as many other "code" focused project have done.
You can go and use Drupal or install Mambo old version but I don't think many uses that now days
Do you Torkil?