Jacob Rockowitz on Schema.org Blueprints and Drupal Content Models

Ahead of NEDCamp 2022, The DropTimes spoke with Jacob Rockowitz about Schema.org-first content modeling, the Webform ecosystem, Drupal 10, and planning beyond Drupal 7. At the camp, he presented “Schema.org Blueprints for Drupal.”

At the time of the conversation, Rockowitz was consulting for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and serving as president of Big Blue House. His Drupal work included maintaining Webform and developing Schema.org Blueprints, a project built around using Schema.org as a foundation for standardized content models.

This written interview was originally published as part of The DropTimes’ short speaker interview series around NEDCamp 2022.

TDT [1]: Please introduce yourself and your work in Drupal.

Jacob Rockowitz: I want to make people’s lives easier by solving complex problems with simple, well-thought-out solutions.

TDT [2]: The Drupal community often says that people “come for the code but stay for the community.” How were you first introduced to the community?

Jacob Rockowitz: I came to the Drupal community via the classic tale of building and maintaining a custom CMS for a decade and realizing there was a better way to leverage open-source code like Drupal, gradually becoming part of the community.

TDT [3]: What were you presenting at NEDCamp 2022, and who was the session intended for?

Jacob Rockowitz: At NEDCamp, I am presenting a passion project I have been contemplating for a few years. I want to change how we approach building and maintaining our content models by leveraging Schema.org as the foundation for creating standardized entity types and fields in Drupal. Everyone should attend my session.

TDT [4]: At the time of this conversation, Drupal 10 was due for release in December 2022. Which feature were you most excited about?

Jacob Rockowitz: CKEditor 5

TDT [5]: After several extensions, Drupal 7’s end of life was then expected in November 2023, while many websites still used it. What was your advice for people staying on Drupal 7?

Jacob Rockowitz: Evaluate your options and make a move. Drupal is only sometimes the right solution, depending on your requirements and resources.

TDT [6]: As the maintainer of Webform, what upcoming features or developments were you most interested in?

Jacob Rockowitz: Honestly, the Webform module has enough features. The ecosystem of contributed modules extending the Webform module keeps growing and providing new features. For example, I am most excited about Next.js Webform support being built out by Acquia.

TDT [7]: What role did you see Schema.org Blueprints playing in content modeling and the discoverability of structured information?

Jacob Rockowitz: The Schema.org Blueprints module is appropriately named because it recognizes that Schema.org is becoming the de facto approach for structured data on the web. The module explores using Schema.org as a blueprint for universal content models. I hope the Schema.org Blueprints module will make it easier, faster, and simpler for organizations to author, maintain, and share content.