Kristof Van Tomme
Thu, 01/03/2008 - 18:07 — kvantomme
What is your motivation for being a member of the Drupal Association?:
I am not a code-ninja and I probably never will be, but I want to contribute to this great community. I am an evangalist and I love visualising unorthodox projects. That is why I have started working on the projects below even before being a permanent member of the association. I hower realise that my efforts will have better results if I can keep an ear on the ground and a direct hotline to the board of the association.
What are the primary goals you would like to work on?:
1.Promoting the use of Drupal in the Life-science industry.
2.Strengthening and expanding the Drupal ecosystem in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
What strategy will you employ in order to accomplish said goals?:
1.I plan to continue evangelising Drupal and it's use on Life-science conferences and networking events and create awareness of Drupal's capabilities amongst the policy makers of the industry.
I am working with the Hungarian Biotech Association on a project that will distribute install profiles adapted to the requirements of specific groups in the Life-science industry.
2.I am working with Havasi Ferenc, a teacher at Szeged University on a Drupal center in Hungary that will organise Drupal trainings and that has an R&D program for Drupal. I plan to initiate further regular Drupal user group meetings in the region.
I want to organise Drupalcon in Hungary (Szeged) at the end of August 2008 with ample opportunity for partnering with companies from the CEE region (yes the application is coming).
From February until May trainees at my company will create a benchmark study of the webdevelopment workflow used in Drupal companies and make a best practice guide and a quality control check list (problem area nr7 in Dries' state of Drupal presentation).
What yearly budget would you need in order to accomplish said goals?:
Most projects are really low budget (e.g. user group meetings) or in synergy with my company's activities and do therefore not need external funding. Some travel budget could be handy though for the regional evangelising.
The obvious exception is of course Drupalcon for which I will submit an application to the board.
What strengths/experience you have to help you accomplish the goals?:
Growing network and experience in both biotech and IT
Experience in a pan-European student organisation
Experience organising not for profit events
How long have you been using Drupal, and how'd you get your start?:
Approximately 2 years ago I made a technology portal for Biopolisz the technology transfer office of Szeged Hungary. When I left Biopolisz I made a couple of sites for small biotech companies as part of my consulting services in Pronovix (www.pronovix.com) a company I started at that time. Now we are working on bigger biotech sites in Drupal and are moving towards a "Drupal only" strategy for our company.
Have you made existing community contributions, and if so, what?:
From September 2007-December 2007 I taught an introductory Drupal course at the University of Szeged.
I organised the first Drupal user group meeting in Szeged Hungary
I helped initiating the first user group meeting in Budapest.
I am the organiser of Bio-Mondays, a networking event for Biotech professionals in Szeged
In 2003 I initiated and co-organised the first Central European Platform meeting for the Erasmus Student Network. The same year I was also a board member of the international board of ESN http://esn.org/
In 2002 I was the project manager of Bloedserieus, a 4 day blood donation event at Ghent University (>1500 donors)
How much time can you invest in your Drupal Association work?:
11-15 hours/month
Apply for Board of Directors membership:
Apply for Permanent Membership only
Statutes:
I have read and understood the Statutes of the Drupal Association. I am prepared to participate by following those statutes.
Comments
minor update
I have removed "And who knows maybe some of my previous board member experience can come in handy." from my reason for participating as this might sound pretentious. I also upgraded the amount of time I'm able to spend a bit.
mismatched goals
your goals are worthwile but not really a good match for a global organization like the Drupal Association. My .02. Perhaps you can better accomplish those goals by nurturing up a Life Sciences group on groups.drupal.org, for example.
life science @ g.d.o
my request for a group has been denied, I believe because industry specific market segments don't fit in the existing categories. It leans the closest to a geographical group, but it is of course not.
Any suggestions
I understood that one of the
I understood that one of the functions of PM's is to be "community ambassadors" working to promote Drupal in different communities. I believe both the life science and the Central and Eastern European communities are of global interest for Drupal.
Several PM candidates have submitted applications that are focussed on a specific geographic regions, so I believe that strengthening Drupal in Central and Eastern Europe is a worthy goal.
I believe there is a lot of growth potential for Drupal in the different industries with less open source exposure, such as the biotech industry. If you look at current high profile Drupal sites, you see a really strong following in a limited number of markets e.g. non profits, music communities, academic institutes. Also in the life science industry however communities are very important, why else would somebody pay 3000 pounds to go to a "partnering" event. But Drupal so far is not on the radar of these companies/individuals. The life science industry is almost by definition global, witness conferences like BIO in North-America where any self respecting biotech company should be present no matter what continent it is located. So I do believe that promotion of Drupal is a worthy, global goal for a PM of the Drupal association.
It's a good idea to start a life science group. If you look you'll find my application waiting for approval at g.d.o ;)