Spreading the word

The 2008 Media Democracy Day event in Vancouver is Oct. 25th 2008 and features a batch of excellent panels and noteworthy speakers headlined by Rex Wyler, co-founder of Greenpeace.

With many critical issues affecting net users and publishers, the Media Democracy event will address copyright in flux, open access to the Internet, and the tension between mainstream and independent and grassroots media.

Raincity Studios' CEO Robert Scales is joining Leslie Shade – Associate Professor Concordia University, Jeff Davis - Vancouver Open Network Initiative Cooperative, Mike Tippet – Co-founder of NowPublic to discuss "The Battle for New Media and Open Communication" at 3:15 ~ 4:30.

Return to the Bay

This weekend is the 2008 iteration of Bay Area Drupal Camp held at U.C. Berkeley, Saturday and Sunday, October 11th and 12th.

Along with the info at Badcamp.net, the schedule is Google-doc'ed and will give you a sense of what's in-store.

Notably, Earl Miles creator of Views, Panels will kick off the learning fest with a keynote on Saturday morning.

My pal Dmitri is presenting on Simple Test (along with Florian Lorétan), CCK and jQuery (along with Amit Asaravala), Tao Starbow will show you how to make your own Wikipedia, Chris Bryant discusses managing site configurations and Keiran speaks about the Acquia buzz.

Alas, the event is full so if you slacked, you are almost out of luck, ...  in true Drupal fashion, some geeks are organizing an overflow event so everyone goes home happy.

BAD Flashback

Last year Francis, Erik and I (DaveO) headed down to enjoy some autumnal California sun and learning.

I recorded a handful of podcasts with some interesting Drupalists {William on accessibility, Dmitri on module making and Colin on innovative projects}. Plus annotated a few presentations from the academic halls of the impressive campus and back to Vancouver.

Drupal Camp Montreal

In the wake of Drupal Camps in Victoria and LA, BarCamp Vancouver and of course DrupalCon in Hungary, the undaunted Raincity Studios crew is now heading east to La Belle Province for Drupal Camp Montreal.

Raincity Studios' CEO, Robert Scales and Production Director, Francis Pilon are both making the trip to their home province of Quebec to collaborate with Drupalists this coming weekend, Oct. 3rd and 4th.

Bryght en Français

With a French version of the Bryght Drupal install profile in the works, I suspect they'll have a chance to share with Francophone Drupalists seeking hosting and configuration in their preferred language.

Drupalists Koumbit are hosting the event and have a great plan in mind. They describe themselves as "a non-profit organisation which promotes the use of free & open source software by community groups in Quebec, Canada ..." Sounds very cool.

Koumbit are working closely with our man in Africa, Adrian, on the development of Ægir - the evolution of Hostmaster - the open source Drupal mass deployment project which is at the heart of Bryght Drupal hosting (see Adrian's presentation at DrupalCon).

Points for Participation?

Into the thick of the Olympic sporting competition, Canada is rolling in a litany of 5th, 6th, 7th places ... but with track and field, rowing finals and trampolining yet to come, the Canucks still have a chance to visit the podium.

As Tod Maffin twitter'ed: "Maybe Beijing will at least give us a courtesy Participaction pin?(Dont understand this? Ask a Canadian over 30.)" (ed note: or view this Participaction toque).

In the social media production department, Scales continues to create video at an epic pace despite losing his co-hort Kris who was repatriated to Vancouver in time for a glorious summer weekend. Scales is staying busy by picking up more tickets for varied events at the incredible new venues including the whitewater kayak run (plus visits to the Danish hospitality house).

I'm heading to the hills with tent and beverages so here's a few highlights to enjoy with your weekend viewing: