Due to a large overlap in our communities and in our funding sources, H4WM and NERD are joining forces for the new year. We are looking for 4-8 people to join the central organizing team which coordinates the event held in May or June each year. This is a fantastic way to develop your leadership skills with an experienced team, to learn more about tech needs and resources in the Valley, and to give back to your community. Your commitment level can be as large or as small as you want it to be. Come to find out more!

Learn more about this annual, local event that connects civic-minded tech professionals with nonprofits in need of elegant web and mobile solutions. How does Hack for Western Mass work? Who is involved? Who did we help? And what is the plan for next year. Learn the answers to all this, and how you can get involved.

Can it? Humanity is certainly at a crossroads. There is something universal about Open Source communities that unleashes human creativity, that drives people to late nights tearing down the barriers to their dreams and creating powerful change. What are the visions that Open Source people want for the world, and how does the Drupal framework bring that vision to reality?

20-min Presentation - Power + Parallels among Open Source Communities

Every developer has at least one or two ideas in their head about something they want to offer to the world.

Good software development has a codified process with specific steps. Skip a step at your own peril.

Software Business Creation is exactly the same. It has a codified process with specific steps. Skip a step at your own peril.

There are tens of thousands of blogs and websites with generic information on how to start a business. The problem is not a lack of information. The problem is too much information geared at a generic crowd without context.

We'll talk about the fundamentals of participating in Free Software projects and communities, which is why this is in the Fundamentals track, but we'll also talk about how we as individuals and as groups can shape what our powerful software is built to do— and how we build power through coördination in the context of extreme power inequalities that we, mere web developers and other information technology workers, are well-positioned to change, which is why this could be in the Revolution track, if there was one.

How Do You Make a Difference?