Blog

Most of my blog posts dating back to 2002. Some written here, some written elsewhere and aggregated here.
Melbourne Geek night, September 2013

Melbourne Geek night, September 2013

20/09/2013
<p align="left">The speaker line ups and topics keep getting better for the Melbourne geek nights and tonight is no expection.<p align="left"><strong>Ophelie Lechat from Flippa talking about &quot;Tackling the scary content marketing beast&quot;</strong><br />I&#39;ve been doing some of this myself recently, so it was interesting to hear some more in depth on te topic from a commercial perpective, here&rsquo;s what I got out of the session:<ul><li>Content isn&rsquo;t just a blog</li><li>Have editorial calendars</li><li>Content strategy and marketing are best friends as the discipline helps attract seo and web traffic, this in turn reduces demand on customer support and partnerships. good for engagement.</li><li>Assess what content you already have. If it&#39;s not content it may be existing skills or assets.</li><li>Writing for your site can be empowering for team members</li><li>Don&rsquo;t be afraid of ghost and hired writers.</li><li>Decide what will you talk about and don&#39;t just talk to and about yourself. Identify what others don&#39;t do or do badly.</li><li>ebooks of collections of posts are a great marketing idea.</li><li>What to write about - questions that need answering, searches on your site. What conversations are people having elsewhere? If you get stuck, write an outline first.</li><li>Keep your content as short as possible, focus, end with engagement, what do users/readers want?</li></ul>
BitCoin Melbourne meetup Sep 2013

BitCoin Melbourne meetup Sep 2013

15/09/2013
There was a slightly strange feeling to this meet up, in some ways it felt a little insular (I guess those who are actively involved with BitCoin are a small and intriguing community), but it could also just be because it was for once a crowd of folks I didn't recognise. There was an underlying feeling of "Everything old is bad" and "Everything new is good", which isn't always completely true or as black and white as that. I find Bitcoin interesting technically and as a concept, if you think about the history of money, then bitcoin is no different really, it's an agreement to trust that a concept has a mutual value between people. The money we use everyday is no different from BitCoin really, it's just decentralised. This could be an entire post in itself, so take a read of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_money" target="_blank">Wikipedia's History of Money article</a>. Back to tonight, which contained several interesting discussions:<ul><li>BitCoin Point of sale units - These are emerging in a couple of places, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2013/jun/23/britains-first-bitcoin-pub" target="_blank">pubs in the UK</a>, but also soon to arrive here thanks to Mikey Nelson.</li><li>How useful BitCoin could be for foreign travel and exchange</li><li>A Bitcoin association is being founded in Australia</li><li>The BitCoin ATM, a <a href="https://lamassu.is/" target="_blank">Lamasu</a></li><li>If you want BitCoins to be accepted in certain stores, then ask for it, if more ask, the more chance it will happen.</li><li>Apparently Elsternwick high st may be attempting a street wide acceptance of BitCoin.</li></ul> Interested in knowing more, then join the Melbourne BitCoin meet up - <a href="https://www.meetup.com/BitcoinMelbourne" target="_blank">meetup.com/BitcoinMelbourne</a>
Drupal Melbourne meetup, Sep 2013

Drupal Melbourne meetup, Sep 2013

11/09/2013
<b>Drupal 8 won't kill your kittens - Lee Rowland</b><br />There have been a lot of discussions around changes in the Drupal core team and that many old names are leaving for a variety of reasons, however there have been many new people coming on board and any community should be able to move on from it's originators. I'm currently going through the same process myself right now with Green Renters and it can be a difficult but worthwhile process. This was a  great oversight of what is new in D8, watch presentation<br />Remember Lee's final words… _"We will accept any help"_<br /><a href="https://previousnext.com.au/blog/drupal-8-wont-kill-your-kittens" target="_blank">See the presentation here</a>
Mobile Mondays Melbourne Sept 2013

Mobile Mondays Melbourne Sept 2013

11/09/2013
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MobileMondayMelbourne" target="_blank">Mobile Mondays Melbourne</a> has been running for 8 years, which in the tech event space makes it something of an elderly character and with the plethora of new events happening around town all the time, I have had the increasing feeling that some of these older events are wondering how to keep themselves relevant.
What do you know Sep 2013

What do you know Sep 2013

05/09/2013
The Web Directions - <a href="https://wdyk-melb-sept13.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">What do you know events</a> are always a fun night and tonight was no exception with many running 'jokes' about some of the appalling policy decisions just announced by the coalition that will affect our industry, one which has been a boom area for Australia, but largely unrecognised on the larger national scale. Anyway, enough of Politics, what were the talks? Bear in mind there were 10, so this will be very brief...
NetSquared meetup Aug 2013

NetSquared meetup Aug 2013

29/08/2013
One of the things that frustrates me the most in the non profit sector is the lack of collaboration between organisations and the duplication that often occurs instead.
TedxUniMelb 28th Aug 2013

TedxUniMelb 28th Aug 2013

28/08/2013
The <a href="https://www.ted.com/tedx" target="_blank">tedx</a> model is a slightly strange one, fraught with as many positives as negatives for organisers, however it does create a fascinating ecosystem around the world. Tonight had a packed room, but was unfortunately fraught with technical issues and joins several other local tedx events around Melbourne.
Security and design thinking

Security and design thinking

27/08/2013
Tuesday was a productive day capped by two intriguing events. A stupendously early breakfast session with <a href="https://www.graniteconsulting.com.au/" target="_blank">Granite consulting</a> at their networking breakfasts, with Dan Weis of <a href="https://kiandra.com.au/" target="_blank">Kiandra IT</a> covering 'Security and Real World Threats' and the <a href="https://uxmelbourne.org/category/movie-nights/" target="_blank">UX Melbourne movie night</a> covering 'Lean UX' with Jeff Gothelf.
DrupalGov and Canberra 2013

DrupalGov and Canberra 2013

25/08/2013
An event that can be as specific as an event for the use of Drupal within government demonstrates a growing interest in Drupal (and maybe openness generally) within government and its great that such an event can attract nearly 150 people.
Silicon Beach drinks, 15th August

Silicon Beach drinks, 15th August

15/08/2013
One of the challenges of my new attempt to blog about all the events I attend is that some events are hard to write about there and then on the spot. Networking events being one of them, you can't keep whipping out a notebook/tablet to jot down conversations and, well, you may not find anything you want to write about.
Angelcube pitch night, Aug 12th 2013

Angelcube pitch night, Aug 12th 2013

13/08/2013
I love pitch events, I love hearing ideas good and bad and watching people's passion in what they do… This will be the first I attempt to summarise and my first attempt at live blogging, of sorts.
Avoiding problems with your Drupal project

Avoiding problems with your Drupal project

03/08/2013
Over the past year I've been slowly building a list of gotchas, mistaken assumptions and potential slip ups that have hit projects I've been involved with several times, or seemed so blindingly obvious after the moment that they just had to be documented. This is one of the many articles I have that may grow over time as I discover more useful tidbits.
Power your mobile presence with Drupal

Power your mobile presence with Drupal

12/07/2013
<p class="p1">Drupal has a plethora of ways to power your mobile apps and websites, including:<ol class="ol1"><li class="li1">Responsive design</li><li class="li1">Offline storage</li><li class="li1">Integration with frameworks such as PhoneGap and Titanium Appcelerator</li><li class="li1">Utilising services to feed apps data</li><li class="li1">And much more</li></ol><p class="p1">This session will touch upon these various options, looking at when they are relevant, their complexity, their advantages and disadvantages, arming you with a toolbox for the next time a client asks for a mobile site or app.
The lean and agile non profit

The lean and agile non profit

04/07/2013
I&#39;m working on a book/presentation/series of workshops/who knows what covering integrating lean and agile practices into a non-profit or social enterprise. As a sub set of that will also be &quot;What the non-profit world can learn from the tech world and vice versa&quot;.
clarity, context and how to understand each other better

clarity, context and how to understand each other better

02/07/2013
Developer says to designer &quot;blah blah blah&quot;</div>Client says to developer &quot;blah blah blah&quot;</div>Project manager says to developer and designer &quot;blah blah blah&quot;</div>&nbsp;</div>And so it goes.</div>&nbsp;</div>A lot of the time we don&#39;t understand each other in our projects due to a lack of clarity, explanations, context and assumptions on all sides that go continually unchecked.</div>&nbsp;</div>How can we all understand each other much better, reducing heart ache, money wasted, time spent, mental and physical violence?</div>&nbsp;</div>Let&#39;s figure it out and end the session much happier.</div>
The lean and agile non profit

The lean and agile non profit

13/05/2013
&nbsp;<p class="p1">What can the non-profit sector learn from from the tech sector and vice versa?<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Two sectors that are traditionally diametrically diverse, one moves slowly and is resistant to change, the other moves quickly, keeping up with trends and developments, constantly evolving to meet new needs and requirements.<ul><li class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">However in the changing global landscape, both need to be more efficient, different, offer extra value and change their ways of working.</li><li class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">What can each sector learn from the other? What are some work practices that could benefit each?</li><li class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">We look at some practical examples of each sector to lead a valuable discussion.</li></ul>
Featurefull vs Usable

Featurefull vs Usable

04/05/2013
I've been having some thoughts recently on the paths that many open source projects seem to follow and who they are really designed for, the developer or the users?
My New housemate

My New housemate

04/05/2013
He must works nights as I rarely see him, we've never spent a night together, just watching TV or anything like that, but he must have a set in his room, and a penchant for cheesy old horror films, because sometimes in the middle of the night I hear odd muffled shrieks and yells coming from his room.
Price on Application with Ubercart 3 and Views

Price on Application with Ubercart 3 and Views

04/05/2013
A few weeks back I needed to create an ability for certain products in Ubercart to be available for 'price on application', there were a few modules floating around that pertained to do this, but none seemed to work in Drupal 7, so I racked my brain on how to accomplish this as simply as possible and came up with something quite tidy...
Nexus 4 – The Android iPhone and that's ok

Nexus 4 – The Android iPhone and that's ok

28/04/2013
I decided to upgrade my Samsung S2 to a Nexus 4, there were several reasons for this...<ul><li>I dropped the S2 on a rock and it had a large hairline crack in the screen, not that bad but noticeable.</li><li>I rooted the phone and installed Cyanogen Mod, it ran really well until recently, and a stable version of 4.2 looks like it was never gong to happen.</li><li>I came into some money and thought I'd treat myself</li></ul>
Talking at Web Directions Code

Talking at Web Directions Code

19/04/2013
I am honoured, happy and excited to have been asked to speak at a Web Directions event, <a href="https://code13melb.webdirections.org/" target="_blank">Web Directions Code</a>, here in Melbourne on the 2nd and 3rd of May.
Take your drupal sites offline

Take your drupal sites offline

12/03/2013
Take your Drupal sites offline with HTML 5 AppCache and turn it into a webapp, perhaps with something like PhoneGap.
How long did that website really take to make?

How long did that website really take to make?

21/01/2013
That snazzy website your looking at took a while to make didn't it? What do you reckon? Maybe it took the developers a few months to make. Perhaps its taken them a few years of iterative development to create and perfect something more complex.
Talking CiviCRM at Joomla!Day Melbourne, 20th Jan

Talking CiviCRM at Joomla!Day Melbourne, 20th Jan

13/01/2013
Completing the tricefta of talking about <a href="https://civicrm.org" target="_blank">CiviCRM</a> at every user group for every platform it&#39;s available on in Melbourne, I&#39;m talking about CiviCRM and <a href="https://joomla.org" target="_blank">Joomla!</a> at this weekend&#39;s <a href="https://melbourne.joomladay.org.au/" target="_blank">Joomla!Day</a>.
InSync

InSync

13/01/2013
Someone recently put me on to <a href="https://www.insynchq.com/" target="_blank">insync</a>, a new way to use <a href="https://drive.google.com" target="_blank">Google drive</a>. I've had two main issues with Google's drive application:<ol><li>That it will only work with one Google account (with three active ones, that's not very helpful).</li><li>That when you open a file in finder/explorer it opens up a browser, which seems a rather pointless user of a desktop application.</li></ol>