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on November 30
Claudina Sarahe
backed a project
The Starlite Project: Starlite (We Came to Sweat) by Kate Kunath and Sasha Wortzel
Starlite is a film about Brooklyn's legendary black-owned non-discriminating and LGBTQ-friendly bar est. in 1959.
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105% funded $26,304 pledged
- 387 backers
- Funded Dec 05, 2011
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on July 12, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #9Thank you!
Post CommentWith 38 minutes to go and just under 7k left, it is a done deal. But we are happy we tried and are excited to do what we can with limited funds.
I'm currently in the Dominican Republic. I arrived early Sunday morning and met the teachers that afternoon. It was great getting to hear about how the programs been going. I confirmed that our computer skill level is going to be pretty decent. The robotics class is doing some interesting programming. I can't wait to have the students share their work up on the Yearbook site. MACILE is doing amazing work!
I've also been tipped on a computer lab across from the school that we might be able to use. I'm following up on this lead tomorrow as well as meeting the students to get an idea of how many want to participate in the Pilot Program.
Keep up with the progress of the program at http://thinkdrop.net/pilotprogram or pilotprogram.cosola.org
This is the last Kickstarter message. Thank you to our backers!!! Your pledge of support meant a lot to us. And we only hope that as the Pilot Program grows, the trust and results will be there to encourage others to support it. But a very special thanks to those of you that believed in it from the beginning!
xo.
Claudina Sarahe
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on July 10, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #8Off and running despite the obvious...
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on July 2, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #7Using Drupal Gardens as Pilot Program tool for teaching Drupal
Post CommentThinkDrop/MACILE Internet Curriculum Pilot Program to use Drupal Gardens to teach kids web development in Itabo, DR
We are pleased to announce an agreement between ThinkDrop Consulting and Acquia regarding using Drupal Gardens as a teaching tool for the ThinkDrop and MACILE after-school Pilot Program on the internet and web development.
Drupal Gardens is a powerful but easy to use website builder making it easy for anyone to launch their own Drupal site. Drupal Gardens simplifies site building with point-and-click theming and content editing interfaces. Additionally, Drupal Gardens is hosted so users don't have to worry about server configurations or updates.
Drupal Gardens is also a powerful teaching tool. We've seen first hand how effective Drupal Gardens is to teach novice computer users the fundamentals of Drupal. In effect, Drupal Gardens is helping to demystify Drupal and removes the technical requirements of getting it up and running. This is a huge consideration for us as we design the Pilot Program.
By using Drupal Gardens as the training tool for the Pilot Program, we will be able to quickly build out websites using Drupal and all of its tools with the students. With a limited initial time schedule, our key focus is on developing interest and awareness and leaving students with basic tools and support to continue exploring. Through the active and experiential learning principles of MACILE model, we plan to build a yearbook site. With Drupal Gardens pre-built features and enhanced AJAX interface, we will be able to experiment quickly and easily as we teach concepts like content, layout, informational architecture, and design.
Drupal Gardens is supporting the Pilot Program by offering beta invite codes for students and teachers, as well as local Drupal developers, providing technical support during the program, and helping to promote the Kickstarter fundraising drive.
A deeper look at the benefits of Drupal Gardens for the Pilot Program
Solid Core: Gardens is Drupal 7
Drupal 7's release date is just around the corner. Drupal 7 might not be the best choice for professional sites until critical bugs are resolved and key modules ported. However, due to its radical improvements to Drupal, it is a good fit for our Pilot Program. Less is definitely more for this summer's implementation. By using D7 we can focus on the basics and building blocks of Drupal and not get caught up in downloading modules. Also, by covering Drupal 7 now, these kids will be prepared when it is released and becomes the dominant version in the industry.
A big component to our project that we wanted from the beginning is Student Profile pages. In D7, everything is a field, configuring and creating user pages is personal again. Drupal 7 also ships with more RDFa support. Although we won't go fully into the under-the-hood details, we will touch upon rich data types and semantics in our early overviews.
Drupal Gardens ThemeBuilder
ThemeBuilder will make it easier to teach the concepts of web development and design. Students will still be able to learn the basics of theming and the key properties. The end result will still be the same: a themed site. We will be able to demonstrate and talk about CSS, but we recognize that given the limited amount of time, Advanced CSS lessons are out of scope. Our curriculum is geared to cover the basics. We want to encourage students to dig deeper, and learn as much as they can on their own. The Advanced CSS feature of the Theme Builder will allow the students to continue to grow their skills over time.
Two weeks is not enough time to get into details. Those of us that are programmers/developers know that it comes from repeat use that we learn and effortlessly churn out mark-up and functions. Spending less time on the complexities of web development allows us to spend more time on the concepts of web development. Our goal with this program is to introduce an understanding of the internet and its value and importance to the world while sparking interest and awareness; those that want to learn more will go deeper, and both Drupal and Drupal Gardens allow for that.
Fully Hosted: No files or server configurations to mess with!
Another one of our goals is to leave behind computers/access points so the students can continue to work with Drupal and also remain in contact with us. The logistics, however, of technical support for students were a nightmare. Also, we want to encourage the students and teachers to create additional sites. With Gardens, our sole requirement is making sure the computers have decent internet connection, a challenge indeed, but not as complex as worrying about databases and installing Drupal locally, or maintaining servers for them over time.
By lowering the technical barriers of entry like server setup and management, and the intellectual barriers of entry like understanding linux, databases, and programming, we can start teaching Drupal focusing initially on the most basic skills instead of the most challenging. Because Drupal Gardens allows you to export the site you have built, learning may continue on to the more advanced topics such as custom development and database management.
Looking Ahead
We are currently exploring returning to the Dominican Republic in January for another 1-2 week course, integrating and expanding upon our findings. Our working goal is to develop a curriculum for 2011 Summer Session. Working with the students throughout the year will allow us to better determine how to tailor the curriculum for different learning and age levels.
Giving Back
ThinkDrop is committed to sharing our results and experiences with community and Drupal Gardens team. Additionally, our multi-lingual curriculum will be available for anyone to implement. Spanish is the fastest growing language in the United States. We are equally as committed to working with Internet and Drupal education in the states as well as less advantaged communities.
Drupal Gardens is in Private Beta. Open release is expected in August 2010.
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on June 28, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #6Update: All donations are now Tax Deductible!
Post CommentWe just recieved confirmation that COSOLA can accept the funds raised through Kickstarter on our behalf. This means that all of your donations are now tax deductible.
Many thanks to our backers who wanted to contribute even without the deduction!
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on June 28, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #5Answering Questions: Why Drupal?
Post Comment
Drupal is not the only Open-Source content management system out there, so why did we settle on it? Choosing technology tools is a balance between skill set and objectives. Drupal is an obvious choice for ThinkDrop's Pilot Program because it is what we specialize in and know front to back. But what else does Drupal bring to the Pilot Program?1. Community
I've talked to many Drupalgangers and the response is unanimous: It's all about the Community. I decided to stick with Drupal when I attended Design4Drupal in Boston in 2009. For the first time in my seven years of web development, I felt part of a large community with a unified sense of purpose and direction.
The need for support and sense of community are part of human nature. This is validated by the surge of social networks and community orientated sites. The rise of internet allows us to easily seek out those connections. The open source movement in all of its forms is all about building communities of people that have a shared interest in making technology better for everyone.
The Drupal community is many things: a support service, a social network, and an unending supply of talent and ideas. The key to learning any technology is not just good documentation and tutorials, but having someone there to talk to until you understand. The moral and technical support that the Drupal community provides is unmatched in the industry. By bringing awareness of the community to kids all over the world, they will understand that they are connected to all of us and we are all willing to help them become web development experts.
Another important facet of the Drupal community are the local groups. All over the world, people use groups.drupal.org to meet other Drupallers in their area, organize meetups and camps, and create business relationships. By continuing this trend, users and businesses in all corners of the world can rest assured that there are others near them working in the same industry.
2. Demand
Drupal expertise is in incredibly high demand and increasing all the time.
ThinkDrop's dedication to training stems from the face that there is not enough Drupal talent to keep up with all the work. Learning and mastering Drupal is valuable skillset and opens the door for many work opportunities all over the world.
Drupal is built on top of the principles of web development and coding. A master of PHP and logical concepts is an asset for anyone, but Drupal is also just one layer in the open source stack. Learning Drupal inspires users to understand the entire stack of technologies like Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Solr, as well as front-end tools like JQuery and CSS. These skills apply to the web industry as a whole and will benefit these students for life.
3. "Learnability"
Drupal was designed to be simple to work with no matter what layer you are working with, or how much previous experience you have. There is always someplace simple to get started, and always somewhere to go from there when you are ready to learn more.
HTML/CSS designers can easily learn the templating and theme system. Hardcore PHP developers can learn module development by learning how Drupal's myriad of hook_alter() functions, eventually learning how to write nice generic modules destined for contribution back to the community. Even total computer novices can be taught how to log in, create, and manage content on a Drupal website. New web services like DrupalGardens are able to give inexperienced users an easy way to build increasingly complex sites with no programming or technical knowledge.
Drupal is more than just software in this respect. It is a model for open source projects that strive to be as inclusive as possible, and systems that enable developers and designers to extend and modify to their hearts content.
4. Flexibility & Power
Drupal has matured significantly in the past few years. Some of the largest organizations and businesses in the world use Drupal for large, complex, and highly trafficked sites. At the same time, Drupal still caters to the smallest websites and users in order to maintain its flexibility and inclusiveness. Drupal would never have grown to its current usage if it were not engineered from the ground up to be completely modular.
Drupal's powerful internationalization features will allow us to initially release our work in Spanish and English. http://localize.drupal.org/
5. Free and Open
Drupal is free. The software needed to make it run is free. DrupalGardens offers Drupal hosting... for free. Learning takes time, but with the desire and initiative to learn, anyone can make a career out of Drupal. If the curriculum to teach kids Drupal is also free, this process can be replicated the world over.Drupal is open. You don't need a license to become a developer. You can grab the code and open up the hood and learn your way around just like the first car mechanics did it. The community is also open. Anyone is welcome to come to drupal.org, submit new modules and themes they created, and make and submit patches to other modules or Drupal core. If your code is up to snuff and you respect the community and the process, anyone can become an active member of the development community. Just ask dmitrig01, a 14 year old developer with almost 700 commits to over 20 projects.
All in all...
Drupal is an incredible example of what happens when large groups come together to work towards a common goal in technology. As it inspired us, we will inspire others. The offical new slogan says it all: "Come for the Software, Stay for the Community" -
on June 28, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #4Engaging the Drupal Community
Post CommentWe have 14 days left to secure funding!
Our post about the Pilot Program was accepted to http://Drupal.org front-page today. We've been working hard to raise awareness within the Drupal Community. This is a great step! We extend our appreciation to Drupal community webmasters for promoting our post.
More exciting news coming on Wednesday...
Happy Monday!
Claudina Sarahe.
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on June 27, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #3Update: For the Special Ones
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on June 23, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #2Project Planning Intranet is now Up!
Post CommentIt has been busy busy busy at ThinkDrop HQ in Brooklyn. We launched our Kickstarter Project while attending D4DBoston and since returning we've been busy with outreach and project planning. Jon and I are looking forward to diving into our curriculum development this week.
But for now, we are happy to announce that the Pilot Program planning site is now up and running!
Registration is open but access is currently limited to the Public Group. Private group access is available to select backer levels until we release the curriculum in August.
The Pilot Program Planning site is powered by Open Atrium. Open Atrium is a great example of Drupal's power and extensibility. We extend our thanks and appreciation to Development Seed, for building such a great tool for communication and collaboration.
Additional Resources
- Development Seed blog posts on Open Atrium: http://developmentseed.org/tags/open-atrium
- Article: Technology Values and Collaboration: Tools Matter
- Open Atrium use cases in Education: The Collaboratory: An Intranet
- claudina sarahe.
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on June 23, 2010
Claudina Sarahe
Posted project update #1Volacci Supports Pilot Program at D4DBoston
Post CommentWe'd like to extend a special thanks to Volacci, Drupal SEO experts, for their support this past weekend at D4DBoston. Volacci was initially selling Drupal 6 Cheat Sheet shirts in support of prostate cancer month but once word got to them about our intentions with the Pilot Program they decided to donate the proceeds from the sales at D4D to the Pilot Program.
Once again, here's a fantastic showing of the support that makes the Drupal community such a force to be reckoned with.
Thank you, Volacci, from Thinkdrop and COSOLA-MACILE!
Claudina Sarahe
New York, NY
Technologist, entrepreneur, open source. Aesthetics, vinyl, urbanism.
