Dear Readers,
There is a philosophy popularised as "Open Education" which is based on the way people produce, share, and build on knowledge. The Open Education Consortium states that,
"sharing is probably the most basic characteristic of education: education is sharing knowledge, insights, and information with others, upon which new knowledge, skills, ideas and understanding can be built."
This ethos of open education aligns closely with open-source software principles, such as those exemplified by Drupal, the most adopted CMS by top-ranking universities. Open education and open-source software converge on the fundamental belief in the power of openness, collaboration, and accessibility. They share a philosophy centered on democratizing knowledge and technology by removing barriers to access, promoting transparency, and fostering community-driven development. In both domains, open or not, individuals should be encouraged to actively participate, contribute, and collaborate in creating educational resources or improving software functionality.
While scrounging through Drupal.org, one can find a statistic stating that 71% of the top hundred universities use Drupal. Put forward by Kevin Reynen (University of Colorado), we at The DropTimes headed by Vimal Joseph embarked on a project to validate and substantiate this claim with proper evidence. The analysis resulted in a strong correlation between Drupal and university rankings. Notably, 80% of the top 100 universities utilize Drupal on at least one of their websites.
Find the list of selected universities for the analysis by The DropTimes here and also Vimal Joseph shares the journey behind this conclusion for the readers to understand and contribute relevant information.
In the previous week, I also had the opportunity to publish an interview featuring Boyan Borisov, VP of Digital Solutions Europe at FFW. In an email correspondence, Boyan Borisov shared his journey of becoming a Drupal enthusiast and probed into transitioning through different roles at FFW. The interview also discusses Boyan's involvement with the Drupal Community, the benefits and challenges of transitioning from individual Drupal sites to a unified multi-brand ecosystem using Drupal Multisite, and most importantly his thoughts on the future of Drupal. For a detailed read refer to, "Drupal's Future Excites and Warrants Consideration: Boyan Borisov."
Michael Richardson emerged as the victor in The Event Organizers Working Group Elections. Richardson shared his gratitude for the opportunity with The DropTimes and remarks, "Two Michaels are better than one," reflecting this recent development's enthusiasm.
Alejandro Madrigal Leiva introduces Gaido, DrupalGPT as the go-to guide for Drupal developers. This unique assistant is designed to navigate the intricacies of the Drupal platform. Elma John provides more insights into the custom GPT, Gaido in her latest article. Additionally, Ron Northcutt discusses Drupal 10's Cache API and how it's setting new standards in web speed.
Adding to the fact that for everything Drupal there is The DropTimes, we are thrilled about our new role as a custom and in-kind sponsor for MidCamp 2024. The Drupal Community is abuzz with the hustles for various camps, conferences, and meetups happening around the globe, readers can get a list of Drupal events for this week.
Interested individuals can become a speaker or sponsor at the DrupalCamp Poland 2024 and join in for a weekend of learning, networking, and celebration! EvolveDrupal, a successful Canadian initiative, is expanding to the United States, kicking off in Atlanta with support from key sponsors, and is set to take place on Friday, April 12, 2024, at the Atlanta Tech Village. In another exciting news, Dries Buytaert is to headline DrupalSouth 2024 as keynote speaker. Finally, The Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2024 has opened its doors to organizational applications, accepting submissions until February 6.
There are more stories available out there. But the compulsion to limit the selection of stories is forcing us to put a hard break on further exploration—happy Drupaling folks.
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Thank you,
Sincerely
Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor, TheDropTimes.
