Breaking news:

At Noon Pacific, April 21st, online publisher CNET announced the winners in the 2008 Webware awards and open source content management system Drupal wins the Webware 2008 award in the publishing and photography category.

While we don't get too hung up on awards, for Raincity Studios (and our colleagues formerly known as Bryght) and the Drupal community at large, this is a pleasant validation for the hard work and enthusiasm we dedicate to building this open source content management system.

And this is no light weight trophy! Here's what the organizers say about the process:

Jacob Redding, John Zhu and myself are proposing a session for the upcoming drupalcon in Boston, March 2nd to 6th 2008.

China is beginning to adopt Drupal and since its slated as the next “India” in terms of an outsourcing hub what does this mean for the Drupal world. Join this round table discussion on the state of Drupal in China. Who is using Drupal? What companies are there? How does Drupal fit into the country’s development? Why is Drupal in China important? What are the barriers to entry for a business or a developer?

Marketing and Business but also Community and Core. Drupal in China is as much about building a community as it is about business.

• Things will start off with introductions of some of the Drupal shops in China as well as an overview of the state of Drupal and OSS in China.
• We’ll discuss the current community in China and how developers are connecting with each other to work on projects. The use of drupalchina.org, groups.drupal.org, IRC, etc.
• An overview of the translation work being done to help promote Drupal within China.
• The floor will always be open for questions and comments.

We hope to encourage discussion about the use of Drupal within China and bring to light some of the challenges and rewards when working with the country as many of the challenges faced in China are faced in other countries throughout the world. If you are interested in how China is using Drupal and who the players are and if China is right for you or your business attend and share your thoughts and opinions.

Please take a second and vote for our session

Yahoo! Canada paid a visit to us out here on the west coast last week and held an invite only event at the Opus Hotel in Yaletown. To sum up, the evening was all Panama: Yahoo's upgraded search engine advertising platform, built to improve their search advertising business. It was clear from the beginning that this trip to Vancouver, and their intention at this unveiling of the Panama Project, was concentrated around the sales and advertising. But in having an early peek at things, the interface has a fresh punch, there is some pretty sophisticated geotargeting, wait-time will be cut down to a mere 2 minutes (ish!) for ad approvals, and hey, generating more of a presence on the left coast is a *good* thing - this came up a few times...

Sharing Web 2.0 In Eastern Canada

I have been invited to speak in Halifax and St. John's next week on everything and anything web 2.0, social marketing and social softwares to help filmmakers, producers and directors in showing them how they can better utilize the internet to promote their work.

First I will be heading to Halifax to sit on a panel along side Annette Clarke of the NFB and Pattie LaCroix from Catapult Media. Then it's off to my hometown, St. John's, Newfoundland, where I will be conducting a workshop at the St. John's International Women's Film Festival.