This blog has been re-posted and edited with permission from Dries Buytaert's blog. The Drupal Association is announcing that Heather Rocker, former CEO of Girls, Inc. and Executive Director of Women in Technology, is joining as its next Executive Director. The Drupal Association announced today that Heather Rocker has been selected as its next executive director. This is exciting news because it concludes a seven-month search since Megan Sanicki left. We looked long and hard for someone who could help us grow the global Drupal community by building on its diversity, working with developers and agency partners, and expanding our work with new audiences such as content creators and marketers. The Drupal Association (including me) believes that Heather can do all of that, and is the best person to lead Drupal into its next phase of growth. Heather earned her engineering degree from Georgia Tech. She has dedicated much of her career to working with women in technology, both as the CEO of Girls, Inc. of Greater Atlanta and the Executive Director of Women in Technology. We were impressed not only with her valuable experience with volunteer organizations, but also her work in the private sector with large customers. Most recently, Heather was part of the management team at Systems Evolution, a team of 250 business consultants, where she specialized in sales operations and managed key client relationships. She is also a robotics fanatic who organizes and judges competitions for children. So, maybe we’ll see some robots roaming around DrupalCon in the future! As you can tell, Heather will bring a lot of great experience to the Drupal community and I look forward to partnering with her. Last but not least, I want to thank Tim Lehnen for serving as our Interim Executive Director. He did a fantastic job leading the Drupal Association through this transition. Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2ZVrKds
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For many of us in the U.S., the GDPR is still a mystery. Although it had been in the works for a long while, it seemed to appear out of nowhere, cause a sudden rush of panic as the deadline to comply arrived, and then disappear without a trace. At first blush, it seems like the kind of thing we could ignore. That’s Europe’s law, and not America’s. But a closer look suggested it would apply to any site doing business with Europeans, even if it was simply receiving site visitors from Europe. Here at Electric Citizen, that seemed to be a fairly small part of our client base, but something we took seriously nevertheless. Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2GSuWh0 The Drupal Association announced today that Heather Rocker has been selected as its next executive director. This is exciting news because it concludes a seven month search since Megan Sanicki left. We looked long and hard for someone who could help us grow the global Drupal community by building on its diversity, working with developers and agency partners, and expanding our work with new audiences such as content creators and marketers. The Drupal Association (including me) believes that Heather can do all of that, and is the best person to lead Drupal into its next phase of growth. Heather earned her engineering degree from Georgia Tech. She has dedicated much of her career to working with women in technology, both as the CEO of Girls, Inc. of Greater Atlanta and the Executive Director of Women in Technology. We were impressed not only with her valuable experience with volunteer organizations, but also her work in the private sector with large customers. Most recently, Heather was part of the management team at Systems Evolution, a team of 250 business consultants, where she specialized in sales operations and managed key client relationships. She is also a robotics fanatic who organizes and judges competitions for children. So, maybe we’ll see some robots roaming around DrupalCon in the future! As you can tell, Heather will bring a lot of great experience to the Drupal community and I look forward to partnering with her. Last but not least, I want to thank Tim Lehnen for serving as our Interim Executive Director. He did a fantastic job leading the Drupal Association through this transition. Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2Wmll93 Heather Rocker will lead the Association in supporting the global Drupal community. Washington DC, April 30, 2019 - The Board of Directors of the Drupal Association has voted unanimously to appoint Heather Rocker as Executive Director to lead the Drupal Association. Adam Goodman, chair of the Drupal Association Board, said, "Drupal is for ambitious digital experiences. Heather’s experience matches this ambition as we seek to increase adoption, diversify and invest in our community, and grow opportunities for builders, agencies, content creators and marketing decision makers. Heather brings seriousness of purpose, character consistent with our values and principles, and lively good humor — just what the Board and I were seeking out for our next leader." The Drupal Association's mission is to unite a global community to build, promote, and secure the open source Drupal software. Since 2008, the organization has supported a global network of open source contributors; a robust business ecosystem; and has hosted events across 4 continents and more than 20 countries. Heather Rocker said, "It’s an incredible honor to serve the Drupal Association in this capacity. This opportunity is not only in alignment with my skills and experience but also with my core belief that outstanding things can be achieved through a dedicated and diverse community of volunteers and partners. I look forward to building on the solid foundation and collaborative spirit that exists today. " Heather will begin her work with the Association at the beginning of June. About Heather Heather Rocker joins the Drupal Association with a strong history of leadership in technology and the nonprofit world. She was the first executive director of the Women in Technology Foundation, as well as the CEO of Girls Incorporated of Greater Atlanta. Most recently she acted as the Managing Principal of Systems Evolution, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. She also serves as Immediate Past-President of the Board of Directors of Georgia FIRST Robotics. Dries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal project, said, "I’m confident that Heather will move the Drupal Association into its next chapter. Her skills and experience at building relationships in both the non-profit and technology spaces will be a tremendous asset. I also believe she’ll be a great partner with me to move forward the Drupal project as a whole." About Drupal Drupal is content management software. It is used to make many of the websites and applications you use every day. Drupal has great standard features, easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. What sets it apart is its flexibility; modularity is one of its core principles. Its tools help you build the versatile, structured content that ambitious web experiences need. About the Drupal Association The Drupal Association is dedicated to fostering and supporting the Drupal project, the community and its growth. The Drupal Association helps the Drupal community with funding, infrastructure, education, promotion, distribution and online collaboration at Drupal.org. ### Media Contact: Rebecca Pilcher Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2J77WOm Heather Rocker will lead the Association in supporting the global Drupal community. Washington DC, April 30, 2019 - The Board of Directors of the Drupal Association has voted unanimously to appoint Heather Rocker as Executive Director to lead the Drupal Association. Adam Goodman, chair of the Drupal Association Board, said, "Drupal is for ambitious digital experiences. Heather’s experience matches this ambition as we seek to increase adoption, diversify and invest in our community, and grow opportunities for builders, agencies, content creators and marketing decision makers. Heather brings seriousness of purpose, character consistent with our values and principles, and lively good humor — just what the Board and I were seeking out for our next leader." The Drupal Association's mission is to unite a global community to build, promote, and secure the open source Drupal software. Since 2008, the organization has supported a global network of open source contributors; a robust business ecosystem; and has hosted events across 4 continents and more than 20 countries. Heather Rocker said, "It’s an incredible honor to serve the Drupal Association in this capacity. This opportunity is not only in alignment with my skills and experience but also with my core belief that outstanding things can be achieved through a dedicated and diverse community of volunteers and partners. I look forward to building on the solid foundation and collaborative spirit that exists today. " Heather will begin her work with the Association at the beginning of June. About Heather Heather Rocker joins the Drupal Association with a strong history of leadership in technology and the nonprofit world. She was the first executive director of the Women in Technology Foundation, as well as the CEO of Girls Incorporated of Greater Atlanta. Most recently she acted as the Managing Principal of Systems Evolution, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. She also serves as Immediate Past-President of the Board of Directors of Georgia FIRST Robotics. Dries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal project, said, "I’m confident that Heather will move the Drupal Association into its next chapter. Her skills and experience at building relationships in both the non-profit and technology spaces will be a tremendous asset. I also believe she’ll be a great partner with me to move forward the Drupal project as a whole." About Drupal Drupal is content management software. It is used to make many of the websites and applications you use every day. Drupal has great standard features, easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. What sets it apart is its flexibility; modularity is one of its core principles. Its tools help you build the versatile, structured content that ambitious web experiences need. About the Drupal Association The Drupal Association is dedicated to fostering and supporting the Drupal project, the community and its growth. The Drupal Association helps the Drupal community with funding, infrastructure, education, promotion, distribution and online collaboration at Drupal.org. ### Media Contact: Rebecca Pilcher Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2Wo8we0
April 28, 2019
From Donald Trump's consistent accusations to lack of ad revenue caused by the shift in media consumption behaviors, the digital disruption that hit the media industry left the majority of media outlets considering their next steps knowing that being left behind in the digital age meant the end for them. Focus shifted from simply reporting the news to delivering the most engaging and comprehensive digital experience possible for their readers.
Al Bawaba News - The Largest Independent News Platform in the Middle East (Built by Vardot)
News and media platforms need to remain vigilant and embrace the tech trends that impact content publishing in the near future. Here are the trends that are expected to impact the digital news and journalism industry:
1. Contextual ExperiencesWe are more likely to be doing more than one thing at the same time and news media outlets should have that in mind when considering how to develop their UX. For example, you are taking a run on the gym treadmill and a relevant news article was just published; would you interrupt your routine to read a long-form article? The most likely answer is no. The desire to read the article would fade as the minutes' pass. Wouldn’t it be great if we could listen to published news articles as we run, work out, cook or even drive? That is now possible thanks to progress made in Natural Language Generation (NLG) technology. Natural language generation (NLG) is a software process that automatically transforms data into written narrative whilst keeping in mind SEO related factors such as keywords and users reading proficiency levels which makes it a powerful tool for news media outlets who seek to create contextual experiences for their readers.
According to the Future Today Institute; various major news media outlets have been utilizing Automated Insights; which mines data for them and is capable of writing more than 2,000 stories per second using natural language generation to produce stories.
As voice search is increasingly becoming the norm, users will begin to ask for general content with specific conditions:
Users are always looking for the most convenient and personalized experience; the news media platform that delivers contextual experiences are sure to gain a lead over their competition. Such a digital experience could grow an audience possibly become a subscription service in the near future.
2. Fact Checking – In Real TimePromoted by a president, championed by biased political views and powered by algorithms; ‘fake news’ is a trend that has become an unfortunate reality.
What is real and what isn’t? People have either become proudly misinformed in the bubble they live in, or fatigued to the point of apathy towards real journalism. This phenomenon is arguably the biggest immediate threat to the profession and what’s worse is that generating ‘fake news’ has become easier than ever. Enhanced algorithms for voice, video, and sound are being generated. Researchers at MIT CSAIL have been studying how children learn new words in order to train computers how to recognize speech. Computers are also being trained to watch videos and predict corresponding sounds in the real world. Whilst this progress will enable AI to provide richer and better user experiences, there have been examples of malpractice too. In 2017, researchers at the University of Washington developed a model that convincingly showed President Barack Obama giving a speech—that he never actually gave in real life.
Algorithms provide you with news based on your likes, online behavior, and interactions. While this does enable news platforms to generate more traffic, but at what cost?
3. BotsMost journalism is simply about reporting the news and bots have done that efficiently so far. Bots have proven to be effective when it comes to receiving instant alerts regarding trade warnings, natural disasters and etc. Bots will continue to be refined and improved to automate news related tasks freeing up time to allow reporters to devote time to more important tasks. The major risk associated with bots is that they are only as reliable as the people who build them. People or groups with nefarious interests can use bots to distribute false information.
Important:
Bots will continue to play a key role in journalism and other fields heavily reliant on content publishing as they utilize a combination of bots and AI to create new content. With elections taking place around the world, misinformation bots will continue to play a big role on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can expect to see more tech-based solutions being proposed to address the issue; your news platform must follow suit to ensure the credibility of your journalism.
4. Digital FrailtyDigital frailty refers to the loss of digital assets such as published content and articles. Typically, a news agency would lose it's content when attempting to upgrade their website. In reality, this issue is easily avoided and usually caused due to poor IT practices and vendor selection. A simple way to protect your archives and preserve digital assets is to build your platform using a CMS that is flexible, structured and features a revision process.
Varbase - Drupal Distribution Revision Comparison - Source: Drupal.org
Drupal is a great CMS for digital news and media businesses as it delivers on the aforementioned and more. Mergers and acquisitions are another reason why specific content goes missing. This is increasingly alarming as the number of media outlet owners are becoming more and more involved in politics. News outlets sometimes are forced to delete content that is not aligned with the new ownership’s politics. A recent example of this scenario that made headlines around the world is when the Trump administration deleted all climate change related content from government websites in favor of the new administration’s agenda. These tech trends and disruptions are but a mere sample of what impacts the digital news media industry. They present challenges but also tons of opportunities to create an engaging digital media experience for readers. From global media titans to independent content publishing platforms; Vardot specializes in developing personalized digital experiences for the news and media industry. Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2vrUsnZ
Drupal is to release its latest version, Drupal 8.7, on the 1st May 2019. Review the entire Drupal product roadmap here. Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2DG4Vkf Dries Buytaert recently published a great post on how to prepare for Drupal 9. He explains how we build Drupal 9 in Drupal 8 using deprecations and the tools to use to detect use of deprecated code. One of the tools I worked heavily on with Zoltán Herczog in the past few weeks is Upgrade Status, and Zoltán just released the alpha2 version. It is definitely worth a try! Here is how it works: Originally from Drupal.org aggregator http://bit.ly/2Wcbv9j
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