Currently browsing php-community
Sat, 24 May 2008 2:08 UTC
So, my first conference of this year’s conference “season” has come to a close, and as a wrap-up post for the conference, I’d like to do something a bit different. I’m not going to discuss the sessions I attended or talk about the keynotes. Instead, I’d like to approach this post from the community aspect.
As a speaker at conferences, what often interests me most is in meeting with people, making new friends, and catching up with those I only get to see a few times a year (if that many) at conferences. I’m fortunate to have played a small role in helping to start and keeping alive the PHP Community project through the #phpc IRC channel on Freenode, and it is the members of the Community that I’m so proud to see attending conferences, taking initiative in organizing impromptu extra-curricular events at conferences, and even welcoming in new faces and new ideas. The Community ranges from end-users of PHP to core developers who take part in making decisions regarding the future of our beloved language.
At this year’s php|tek, I saw the Community come together in an exciting way, and, really, I think they provided a lot of the energy and enthusiasm that took us through the whole week, getting even the other attendees excited about the things going on at the conference and in the greater PHP community. From Christian Flickinger’s homemade buttons to Damien Seguy’s new batch of PHP and Oracle elePHPants to the #phptek channel on Freenode to tons and tons of Twitter updates to nightly trips to Shoeless Joe’s (and even the conference meme of changing the name of the bar on each new tweet), the Community played a large part in providing the conference with a fun and exciting atmosphere, and I commend Marco, Sean, Paul, and Arbi at php|architect for allowing and even encouraging the Community to involve themselves in this way. You guys truly rock!
The Community members who attend are really the unsung heroes of the conference, in my opinion. They aren’t necessarily speakers (though some are). They aren’t the PHP thought leaders (again, some are). Their companies don’t often pay their way to conferences. They make do however they can by organizing road trips, sharing rooms, etc. so that they can attend the conferences. I think this creates even more camaraderie and a closer bond between Community members. Without their presence, the conference dynamic would be terribly lacking.
So, while I’m now back home with my family, who I dearly missed while away, I raise my glass to the PHP Community members and to the organizers of php|tek. You know who you are. You all made this conference truly memorable for me.
Thank you, and I hope to see you again soon at another conference. 
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Tags: php-community, phpc, phpcommunity, phptek, tek08
Thu, 12 Oct 2006 14:09 UTC
Since there will be a substantial number (something like 9 or 10) of #phpc frequenters in attendance at the Zend/PHP Conference and Expo, we decided it would be cool to print up some t-shirts for fun and wear them at the conference. So, quickly, Aaron Wormus came up with a t-shirt design, and we’re ready to start printing them. Tuesday, October 31 will be the official #phpc wear-your-t-shirt day for conference goers.
If you want a t-shirt, please send an e-mail to tshirts [at] benramsey.com and include your size. This is how I’ll get a head count for the initial printing. I need a count soon, so don’t delay! The cost of the shirt will be about $13. I’ll bring them to the conference to hand out. If you can’t make it to the conference, and you still want a shirt, I’ll arrange for shipping after the conference (but go ahead and let me know you want one now).
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Tags: conferences, php, php-community, phpc, tshirts, zend
Mon, 9 Oct 2006 2:59 UTC
If you’re keeping count, you’ll know that there are seven women listed in my blogroll. These seven women are PHP programmers, and I’ve made it a point to include them in my blogroll because women are underrepresented in PHP and these women provide a much-needed voice for all female PHP developers. However, it still seems that there are very few PHP developers who are women, or perhaps, they’re just not very active in the community, which is my hunch (seeing as how there are at least four women who frequent the Atlanta PHP meetings).
Tonight, during a conversation on IRC, my good friends Ligaya Turmelle and Elizabeth Naramore resolved to change this by announcing a call for the creation of a women’s group for PHP programmers. Now, I’m not a woman, but I’m blogging about this because I think this is an important opportunity for the PHP community to reach out to the female programmers of the world and make them feel included in what has largely been a man’s industry.
So, if you’re a woman and you’re a PHP programmer or you’re just interested in the group, drop by Ligaya’s or Elizabeth’s blogs and let them know. You can also find them both in #phpc on Freenode IRC.
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Tags: php, php-community, women
Thu, 7 Oct 2004 19:55 UTC
I just stumbled across this today when doing a search on “Atlanta PHP.” Apparently, there’s a Meetup group in Atlanta for PHP, and they had a meeting tonight.
Anyone know who heads this up? I find it odd that, in the all these months of dealing with people in the “worldwide” PHP community, no one from this other Atlanta-based group has once contacted me. This proves just how disjointed the PHP community is and why there is a need for things like PHPCommunity.org and “PHP Mongers.”
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Tags: atlphp, meetup, php, php-community, php-mongers
Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:12 UTC
In this month’s issue of PHP Magazine (which I have yet to receive, but I suppose it’s on its way), Chris Shiflett features PHPCommunity.org. The article talks a lot about how the project started and its current progress. However, it’s titled “PHP Community: Part I” so I’m looking forward to the next installment to see what he has to say, though I feel that part two may come as we grow nearer to the site launch.
Right now, there is progress on the site, though the end seems far from sight. Still, as Shiflett mentions, PHPCommunity.org is already a success in that it is already building a community.
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Tags: php, php-community
Thu, 18 Mar 2004 9:24 UTC
Chris Shiflett announced the new PHPCommunity.org logo on his blog yesterday. Peter Jovanovic and Richard Davey are the winning artists.
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Tags: php, php-community
Mon, 1 Mar 2004 19:25 UTC
Since the news of PHPCommunity.org reached me and I was connected to the New York PHP Web site through Chris Shiflett’s site, I have been toying with the idea of starting a PHP group in Atlanta (Georgia). It strikes me as odd that there isn’t already one.
I’ve done some Google searching and haven’t found any such group. I would think that the Technology Association of Georgia would have some sort of SIG for PHP, but their direction and goals seem to have changed recently from a networking group that helps technology developers to a networking group that serves to inform businesses on technology. Still, they do not offer any information on open-source technologies. The closest they come is a Web Services working group.
So, today, while looking at nyphp.org, I decided to check on atlphp.org and see whether it is registered. In fact, it is. I did a WHOIS on it and saw that it was registered on February 27, a mere three days ago. I called the contact listed on the registration and left a message. At this point, I still wasn’t sure whether the site was meant as a PHP user group for Atlanta or something entirely unrelated (as domain names can often be—my friend registered XXXSexyLebians.com as a pointer to JoeyKratz.com—we thought it was so funny; I wonder how many people that ticks off!).
A few hours later, Matt Kern, the registrant for atlphp.org, called me back. Calming my fears, he told me that he and a few others registered the domain name as a precursor to forming the local user group for Atlanta. So, I volunteered to help in their efforts. Now I don’t have to go out and register something like atlantaphp.org, and I already know that there is an interest in this area. After speaking with Matt, I talked to Chris, who offered to put us in touch with Hans Zaunere, the founder and president of NYPHP. Hans, he said, could help offer advice on starting the group and inform us on problems and issues they faced in New York.
So, following on the heels of the excitement that the PHPCommunity.org announcement brought me is the soon-to-be-announced creation of a PHP user group in Atlanta. It is my hope that those in Atlanta will become involved in PHPCommunity.org, thus further uniting PHP developers around the world. And I intend to see to it that just that happens.
I hope Matt doesn’t get mad at me for announcing this on here. Announcements made in the PHP community seem to spread far and wide rather quickly and draw much attention (take the announcement of PHPCommunity.org on PHP.net, for example). 
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Tags: atlphp, nyphp, php, php-community
Sun, 22 Feb 2004 6:00 UTC
Back in December 2003, Chris Shiflett announced on his Web site (an announcement that was carried over to PHP.net) his intention to launch a site for the PHP community by the PHP community. He filtered through mass amounts of e-mail in response to the announcment and set up a wiki at PHPCommunity.org. Since then, the site following has grown by leaps and bounds, though the site lauch may not be for quite some time. This is an exciting opportunity for the PHP community, and I’m excited to be involved. The advent of this community site has inspired me to finally put this Web site together and start doing what I enjoy most: writing.
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Tags: php, php-community
