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Chapter 2: The external context for our strategic planning
Core to the statement of purpose is an awareness that the University operates as part of a complex higher education sector in both Australia and the wider world. Of course a comprehensive consideration of the changing external context in which we operate is outside the scope of this Green Paper, but two need particular emphasis. These are an increasing international competition for the most able staff and students, and an increasing range of public policy aspirations for the university sector in Australia. The key to meeting both these contextual challenges may well be founded in an affirmation of the values embedded in the strategic purpose outlined in Chapter 1.
1. International competition for staff and students
In recent decades both academic staff and students have become more internationally mobile. Thus, although it is a categorisation with which many are uncomfortable, education is now one of Australia's largest 'export industries' (hovering around third or fourth largest). Higher education is an integral part of this industry. Indeed international students now constitute around a fifth of the entire student population of Australian universities, although there are some universities where the proportion is much higher. Significant inflows of international students have enhanced the cultural diversity of the university student population and thereby enriched the student experience.
Australia, however, is only one participant, and by no means the largest, in an international market for good staff and promising students. Competition for the best students and staff is dramatically increasing and the University must be able to respond to these pressures.
Increasing competition for international students
Greater international competition for students is likely to affect our ability to achieve our strategic purpose. By some estimates the flows of students (fee paying, exchange and study abroad) around the international higher education system is of the order of three million a year, and while the United States still commands the highest share of this market, with around 21 percent of international students, Australia has emerged as a major player in this market, moving from around a 4 percent share in 2001 to above 7 percent by 2008. In total there are almost 189,000 international students enrolled onshore in Australian universities (representing around 20 percent of all enrolments). The University of Sydney was slow to enter this market but has made substantial gains over the last five years (see Appendix 5). There are now around 10,500 international students here, constituting around 22 percent of our total enrolments.
The arrival of these international students has brought many advantages to Australian universities, not least our own. It has enriched our campus life. It has given us an impressive network of alumni and friends throughout the world. It has also, given that the fees international students pay are not capped at a level that fails to reflect the real cost of their education, been of great financial benefit to the Australian university system and masked shortfalls in public funding. These benefits have led many Australian universities to pursue a policy of almost unconsidered expansion of international student numbers.
This rapid increase in international student numbers has not, however, been without its challenges. Two merit particular attention. First, international student enrolments in Australian courses have been remarkably uneven. This places a real planning pressure on universities by encouraging growth in a handful of fields that are particularly attractive to international students, whether or not a given university would otherwise choose to grow those fields on academic grounds. The greatest demand has been in the area of commerce and business degrees where in many universities, including ours, international students constitute half, sometimes more, of the student population. Engineering has also been popular, as have been degrees in design, architecture, veterinary science, and law. Other areas have been less popular and this has undermined the funding base for key science, humanities and social science disciplines that are less likely to attract international students. Thus some have argued that international enrolments have a distorting effect on the internal disciplinary economy of Australian universities.
Second, an increased reliance on international student fee income has arguably left the Australian university sector excessively vulnerable to the increasing competition for high-quality international students. It is true that the international student market has been remarkably resilient in the face of the global financial crisis. The market continues to grow despite the fragile nature of the international economy. Australia's reputation for high quality, value for money education and a safe and secure environment is serving the national sector well. That our language of instruction is English is a further factor in our favour. Australian universities, however, cannot afford to be complacent. There are a number of potential risks. A worsening of the global financial situation may have long-term effects on the international student mobility market. Reports, fair or unfair, of prejudice against or violence towards international students could undermine Australia's reputation as a safe haven for foreign students. Perhaps the most significant long-term threat is increasing competition in this market, where Australia, if it were to fall behind its competitors in the provision of outstanding research training, excellent teaching, good support services or accommodation, might face a decline in its market share.
The signs of increasing competition are everywhere. The United States, with a high proportion of the world's leading universities remains the strongest player in this system. Over the last decade, however, leading UK universities, especially those in the Russell group, have begun to operate very effectively in the international market: they have been particularly successful in Asia, currently the greatest source of international students for Australia. There is also growing competition within Asia itself. Hong Kong and Singapore have both been investing heavily in higher education, to enhance research performance, teaching quality and reputation, with a view to establishing their universities as major regional hubs for students from around Asia. The serious decline in the Japanese birth rate over the last two decades is imperilling the sustainability of Japanese universities. As a result many of the leading Japanese universities are establishing special faculties where the language of instruction is in English to attract Chinese and Korean students to study in Japan rather than in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand. Some of these universities, for example Nagoya, have enrolments of over 1000 in these faculties. Another factor complicating the international market is a gradual erosion of the distinction between source and supply countries. China has traditionally been a major source of international students and this trend is likely to continue for at least the next decade. But a number of the most prestigious Chinese universities, particularly the members of the so-called 'China 9' such as Peking and Tsinghua, are now accepting significant numbers of international students (around 2000 each per year). The international student market is now much more complex and competitive than it was 10 years ago, raising serious issues for the future viability of the Australian share of this market.
In light of this increased competition, the University has been working hard to ensure that it is an attractive destination for international students. In contrast to the mass market approach that some Australian universities are adopting, we are keen to position ourselves as a high-quality destination for the most able students from the region and the world. We have been looking at ways in which we can deliver on this promise in the support that we offer them. We have recently undertaken a review of the academic and other support services that we provide for international students, and are working on issues concerning their accommodation needs. We have significantly increased the numbers of international student scholarships that we offer and are looking to do so further. We are capping international student enrolments in some faculties, and working to increase international student participation in others. We are also seeking to diversify the countries of origin of our international student cohort. It is implausible that our overall numbers of international students should grow. The focus of the next period of the University's life must be on developing the quality, rather than the size, of this cohort. Only in that way can we hope to meet the increased competition for international students in a way that is both sustainable and consistent with our strategic purpose. This approach is undoubtedly more costly in the short term, but we believe that the mass market approach is ultimately unsustainable.
Increasing international competition for staff
Current projections of staffing needs, the age profile of the academic workforce, and the pipeline of PhD students being produced, point to a major staffing crisis in the next decade. Large numbers of academic staff will retire in the next decade, and the number of PhD students being produced is at present inadequate to replace them. This is an international phenomenon. At precisely the moment when there are fewer academic staff available, both Australian and overseas universities will be searching to fill large numbers of vacancies. Thus international competition for talent is likely to be very intense in the next 10 to 20 years unless we can significantly increase the number of PhD students graduating. The federal government has established a research labour force advisory group to explore policy options in precisely this area. The result of these labour market pressures is likely to be higher salaries for the best staff (creating significant upward pressure on university salary bills), and a demand from such staff for better research infrastructure and lower teaching loads.
Again we have a range of projects devoted to improving our ability to attract high-quality overseas staff. In particular, some parts of the University are experimenting with joint appointments with overseas institutions, particularly taking advantage of the seasonal differences between northern and southern hemisphere calendars. A current Work Slate project is developing guidelines to facilitate such appointments.
More generally, however, our best approach to flourishing in an increasingly competitive global market for staff and students is to position ourselves as a truly 'international' university. There is no other way effectively to serve the needs of both our domestic and international staff and students. This has several components. First, we need to consolidate our reputation as an important partner in international higher education and research, particularly in our region. Our list of research and teaching collaborations with overseas universities is already very impressive (see Appendix 6), but we will have to build on this record of achievement over the next decade. To ensure that the partnerships that we have are deep and long-term, we must encourage, and perhaps invest in, exchanges of staff and research students (for periods of a month to a year). We must provide short-term accommodation for international staff and research students coming to the University under these collaboration arrangements. Similarly, we need to send far more students overseas on exchange at all stages of their education to broaden their horizons than we currently do. While we have over 10,000 international students coming to campus each year, at present we only send about 400 a year overseas on exchange. This is high by Australian standards but small by comparison with international benchmarks (particularly with leading US universities) and we have a Work Slate project on ways to increase participation in exchanges. A critical issue will be inculcating an international ethos among local Australian students and encouraging them to undertake a semester or year abroad as an integral part of their educational experience. This will involve further investment in financial support to encourage student participation in exchange partnerships.
Second, we need to become an attractive environment for high calibre international researchers in the ways outlined in Chapter 6; not least by the strategies described there for expanding the range of areas in which we can claim to be operating at the highest level internationally.
Third, we need to consolidate our reputation as an employer of choice. Workforce diversity and full inclusiveness in terms of gender, age, disability, economic status, and culture will need to continue and expand. For example, we have Work Slate projects around issues such as gender equity and creating family friendly work policies, the recommendations of which will be implemented during the planning period. But we need to work creatively, and on an ongoing basis, to ensure that the University is an environment in which staff are appropriately supported in both their work and professional development.
In short, we will only survive the increasing competition for international staff and students if we are able to achieve our strategic purpose; that is, if we are able to develop our reputation as a place committed to academic excellence and to making a contribution, not only in Australia but overseas, and keen to work with the most able people, whatever their social or cultural backgrounds. This picture of increased international competition makes the achievement of our strategic purpose even more essential.
2. Responding to the public policy context
Political attitudes to universities have historically been, unsurprisingly, complex and contradictory. On the one hand there has been widespread recognition in Canberra and Macquarie Street of the crucial importance of universities in training the future workforce, undertaking research of significant national benefit and latterly of the contribution of higher education to economic growth. On the other hand there has been widespread impatience with the supposed 'esoteric' and non-commercial aspects of university research, a sense that academics are not working hard enough, a belief that universities need to operate more as businesses and be more responsive to the market, and yet a suspicion that if they become too business-like, public priorities might be ignored. Thus universities have occupied an uneasy space, enjoined to embrace the market and yet constrained from capitalising on market opportunities through elaborate sets of rules governing fee setting, enrolment targets, disciplinary mix, teaching quality and research performance. These attitudes in part reflect a broader cultural ambivalence about higher education and the strong tradition of utilitarianism in Australian political culture.
We believe that the answer to the challenges presented by this historic ambivalence may again lie in the affirmation and achievement of our strategic purpose outlined in Chapter 1. That statement offers a helpful response to uncertainty about the value of higher education. On the one hand, it affirms the Sydney tradition, beginning with Woolley, of a commitment to academic excellence, especially in the core disciplines, and to a broad understanding of the value of an education in critical thinking and generic skills. On the other hand, it affirms the Sydney tradition of bringing academic excellence to the task of social transformation, of seeing ideas make a difference in Australia and the wider world. This is not merely to reflect the ambivalences of the Australian tradition. It is to affirm that precisely the greatest social utility of our work flows from a commitment to pursuing our core activities and to pursuing them well. It is on the basis of a confidence in the specific mission of a quality research university, and the contribution that it makes to the broader community, that we must approach public policy discussions about the future of higher education.
The federal context
At the federal level, the higher education sector is undergoing significant shifts in current policy parameters. The federal Labor government has instituted a number of comprehensive inquiries into higher education (Report of the Review of Australian Higher Education, known as the 'Bradley Report'), research and innovation (Report of the Review of the National Innovation System, the 'Cutler Report') and international students (Report of the Review of Education Services for Overseas Students, the 'Baird Report') and has working parties exploring other aspects of higher education, such as research training. The policy landscape is shifting and the University of Sydney needs to respond to these changes. It is impossible to do full justice to the range and variety of public policy changes envisaged or currently in train but a brief analysis of some trends is necessary. In particular, five aspects of the approach to higher education adopted by the current, and any likely future government, need emphasis as a context for our planning.
First, the public funding of universities is unlikely to increase significantly in the short to medium term. It is true that the current government is committed to an 'education revolution', and has recently devoted considerable new funding to higher education in a difficult financial period, particularly in the areas of infrastructure and research. This is an extremely welcome development from which the University has done well. Nevertheless, public investment in higher education is set between 0.5 and 1 percent of GDP, middling to low in the OECD range, and well below the levels of public investment in the United Kingdom, mainland Europe, the United States, and New Zealand. These figures also compare poorly with the levels of public investment among our regional neighbours such as Singapore, Japan, Korea and China. This relatively low level of public investment is sustainable in part because of Australia's success in raising alternative sources of revenue for higher education through international student fees. But as we have outlined in the preceding section, this source of funding is itself far from unproblematic. While the government has committed to reviewing base funding levels during 2010, the current pressures on the federal budget are such that we cannot assume a significant increase in base funding in the short to medium term and we must accept that as a planning constraint.
Second, our planning must take into account the impact of new policies on research quality, primarily the Excellence in Research for Australia exercise. Given our strategic purpose it is imperative that the University perform well in this process. Disciplines and areas that perform poorly will be under significant pressure to improve in future rounds. How we mange this process will be explored in Chapter 4. One question that will confront the University, given our statement of strategic purpose, is whether we should be prepared to support areas that are not research intensive. This raises again the extent to which our current breadth of activity is sustainable for a University that aims at the highest quality of activity.
Third, the current federal government has committed to cultivating greater diversity in the higher education sector through a 'compacts' process. In other words, universities will be encouraged to negotiate distinctive missions with the government. This should provide a better context for the University of Sydney to engage in a productive conversation with the government about our statement of purpose, and its place in the wider higher education system. It will also provide the context for us to discuss with other Australian universities the opportunity to collaborate in relation to areas of activity that potentially fall at the margins of our strategic purpose.
Fourth, the Australian government, like all modern governments, is increasingly looking to the universities to focus their research and, to some extent teaching, in areas of national concern. While we ought never to see the university as a 'think tank' responding to the crisis of the moment, we must take seriously an engagement with issues vital to the prosperity of our nation and our region. This coincides with a need, in order to stay at the cutting edge of research, to focus our efforts in a defined number of large-scale cross-disciplinary research activities. These issues are explored in detail in Chapter 6.
Finally, and most significantly, the current government has announced that improved participation in higher education will be a key plank in its overall higher education reform agenda. Participation reform encompasses two key elements. First, the government has set a target of increasing the attainment of bachelor-level qualifications by 25 to 34 year old Australians from 32 percent, at present, to 40 percent by 2025. Second, the government has also announced a social inclusion strategy, setting a target to increase the proportion of students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds in higher education from the current rate of around 15 percent to 20 percent by 2020. Both these policies sit within a long Labor tradition of seeking to increase equity and access opportunities for young Australians. They also fit with our own purpose of attracting students of promise whatever their social or cultural background and our history of meritocratic entry. Given our constraints on growth, and our strategic purpose, it is implausible that we can contribute significantly to the achievement of the government's target of 40 percent participation. We can and should, however, work with the government on the issue of participation by students from low SES backgrounds. This is not a small challenge for the University, as participation here by students from these backgrounds has fallen over recent years to around 7 percent. The question of attracting and working with students of promise whatever their social or cultural background is canvassed more fully in Chapter 5. It is important to note, however, that given our emphasis on cultivating the most promising students it is unlikely that the University will itself achieve a target of 20 percent from low SES backgrounds. The government has acknowledged that not all universities will be able to meet this objective. We will need to increase our proportion of low SES students, by at least 50 percent we suggest, while demonstrating a further contribution to the government's agenda through maintaining our high progression and retention rates for such students (yet another means of fulfilling our statement of purpose).
The state context
The University's relationship with the New South Wales (NSW) government is also an important context for achieving our aims. Australian higher education is marked by a peculiar division of responsibilities between federal and state governments. While the federal government controls funding and policy for higher education, most universities are established by state legislation and university governance regulations are largely instituted through state government provisions. In addition universities have a variety of relationships with state governments, especially with respect to research and teaching in such fields as health, education, mining and agriculture. Universities also contribute much to local economies, through financing infrastructure projects, commercialising research, and increasing the flow of population to regional and metropolitan centres, thereby growing revenue for states. Moreover universities, through such mechanisms as payroll taxes, are significant contributors to state government revenues. Thus thriving universities are a very positive contributor to state government budgets.
The area of teaching and research in the health disciplines offers an example of the often symbiotic relationship between universities and state governments. On the one hand, state governments provide significant infrastructure, resources and staffing for the training of doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and other health professions. Universities would often be unable to replicate such resources. On the other hand, universities provide education and training for the health workforce of the future and have to tailor their intake of students and the education they receive to the specific workforce needs required by state governments. This can be a source of tension, particularly during periods when state health systems and hospitals are under funding pressures, forcing them to reconsider the provision of adequate infrastructure or seek a greater contribution from universities to maintain this infrastructure. Universities often maintain certain fields in health, because of the requirements to produce health workforce professionals, despite the financial penalties this entails. Some health disciplines are expensive to sustain, and can often be in deficit, but universities support them because of their commitment to the public good. Sustaining a viable relationship between universities and state governments requires recognition, on both sides, of the pressures this relationship engenders and a commitment to equitable partnership (and sacrifice) on both sides to maintain the relationship.
With respect to the specific context of NSW, universities here face a particular challenge. While other state governments, notably Queensland and Victoria, have invested in building partnerships with universities to drive innovation, and economic and social development, New South Wales has in general not engaged strategically with the university sector. Other state governments have invested significantly in teaching and research infrastructure in universities, for example the creative industries precinct at the Queensland University of Technology, the biomolecular research facilities at the University of Queensland and the Synchrotron at Monash University. This enhances the research capacity of universities in those states (bringing them additional staff, students and commercial partnerships), giving them a real advantage over universities in NSW.
If the University of Sydney is to achieve its goals, it needs to engage the NSW government more effectively in an ongoing conversation about the benefits of more strategic partnerships in knowledge and innovation. One partnership in which we are keen to engage with neighbouring educational institutions, the local community and the NSW government is the development of an 'ideas precinct' from the Australian Technology Park to Broadway. This would require, among other things, appropriate cooperation between the University and our neighbours in educational mission, in the infrastructure to support it (including information and communications technology infrastructure), and in coordinated contributions to the life of our local community. Another is in the appropriate training of teams of healthcare professionals to provide the NSW healthcare system with professionals already accustomed to working in a multiskilled environment. This type of active engagement with the state government and its priorities is something into which we have been putting considerable effort in recent times.
In short, the challenge from both the federal and the state context consists in our need to articulate what we do clearly, and to show why we add value to the public weal. In both contexts, we need to retain confidence in our particular mission as a quality research institution, and to demonstrate that we take seriously our tradition of engaged research and teaching, of seeing the ideas developed in the University make a significant difference in the life of the community that supports its work, even if the benefits of the University's work are not always realised in the short term. We must avoid the equal dangers of altogether ignoring, and of being slave to, short-term assessments of the utility of our work.


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What happened in Iola has a lot people who live in Grimes county talking.
Grimes County residents say the theft allegations at Iola's Volunteer Fire Department hit them where it hurts because these are people from their own community and people they know.
Long time resident, Kathy Prescott, said, "It's very devastating, for the whole community, for the whole county."
Tax-payers like Prescott are in shock and disbelief over the Iola Volunteer Fire Department embezzlement scandal.
She's lives and works hard, every day in Grimes County, at her store, The 4 Queens.
"I have seen some of them before, and I know who they are, and you're like, wow, did this really happen," Prescott said.
A routine audit revealed some of the department's funds were used to buy $40,000 worth of personal items.
Now, the former fire chief, accountant and department secretary have been arrested for theft.
Prescott added, "I heard one of them was in a café or something, I was like, well, no one pays for all of our lunches, except for us."
Grimes County fire chiefs, like Jason Katkoski, hope residents continue donating money to their local fire departments, despite this betrayal of trust.
"Without some of those funds some of these fire departments out here are going to struggle to survive," Katkoski said.
Most of Grimes County's fire departments continue to operate based on people's donations.
Katkoski said, "Anything from putting gas in the trucks so they can come to your home when you need them, to the new equipment to keep them safe."
At a time when fire departments are struggling, they just hope residents snuff out any fears of donating in the future.
"I hope they get their money back so they can do good with it," Prescott said.
Residents say they want procedures to change before they consider donating again.
The Plantersville-Stoneham Volunteer Fire Department chief says he doesn't think the Iola case will affect the donations they receive in the future because it's an isolated problem.
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subset: commoncrawl


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- 1
- person in the U.S. has this name View Kelly Dirstine on Whitepages
Meaning & Origins
Originally an Anglicized form of the ancient Irish male name Ceallach. It is now very widely used in the English-speaking world, mainly as a girl's name. This is a transferred use of the surname Ó Ceallaigh 'descendant of Ceallach'.
|68th in the U.S.
The meaning of this name is unavailable
|218,380th in the U.S.
Nicknames & variations
Kelli, Kelley, Kellie, Kellye, Kellee, Kelle, Kell, Kella, Kellea, Kelll
Derstine, Dyrsten, Dorsten, Durston, Durstin, Dirst, Dirscherl, Dirsa, Dirschell, Durstine


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Lady Hawks Soccer Team Falls To Buff St.
- Release Date:
- September 2, 2003
- Contact:
- The Office of Sports Information
- (716) 649-7900 ext. 333
The Hilbert College women's soccer team opened the 2003 season with a 5-1 loss at Buffalo State on Saturday afternoon.
The Hawks' Jeanmarie Brady (Lakeshore/Derby, NY) scored a goal and Roseanne Gawronski (W. Seneca West/West Seneca, NY) recorded an assist to lead the offense.
The Hawks struggled to contain the Bengals' Gina Monaco, who scored four goals to lead the Buffalo State attack.
The Lady Hawks (0-1) will play their first home game of the season today at 3:00 against Lake Erie College (OH).
Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college's engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college's first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.
Upcoming Events
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 14, 2015
- Summer Session A2 Ends
- Aug 21, 2015
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 28, 2015


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"For 35 years I've been a book crusher. This is my love story..."− Hanta
"This book is written by perhaps the most graceful, comic writer in Central Europe. Hrabal manages to write novels as if they were poems and as if you had to tell the story during an evening in a bar, to people who want to get happier as the evening goes on, even though the story grows sadder."− Michael Silverblatt
"One of the twenty books that has shaped literature in the twentieth century."− Susan Sontag


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Fit in S.A.
Jessica Belasco on the latest on local fitness news, upcoming races, gym openings and how San Antonio residents are getting in shape.
Monthly Archive for October, 2009
Flu shots, flu shots, everywhere (UPDATED)
I got my annual flu shot this afternoon. Express-News employees received them for free. I guess they don't want us vomiting all over the office. I also noticed a hand sanitizer dispenser installed outside the elevator. We get the hint. If you need a seasonal flu shot, here are some places to find them: Walgreens […] [Read More]
Keeping your breasts healthy
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, here are some tips on reducing your risk of breast cancer, courtesy of Women's Health magazine: Limit alcohol consumption: Two drinks a day can up your risk of developing breast cancer. Eat fresh grapes instead. They contain resveratrol, which may help reduce estrogen levels, possibly reducing your risk. […] [Read More]
Get fit with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Today, the first three DVDs in the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Power Squad Bod! series hit stores nationwide, retailing for $16.99 each. I'm betting these are going to be popular. They appeal both to women who want to look like America's Sweethearts and to those fans who just like to watch America's Sweethearts dance in skimpy […] [Read More]
Fitness classes for parents and kids
Personal trainer Manuel "Manny" Davila is introducing a new program for parents to work out with their kids ages 5 and older. Mommy & Me — Fit Together (which does welcome fathers too) includes a fitness analysis, nutrition information and "the support you need to reach your family fitness goals," according to a flyer. Sessions […] [Read More]
My aching feet
Here are some tips on keeping your feet healthy and happy from New York podiatrist and cosmetic foot surgeon Oliver Zong: [Read More]
Show More


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Many people are looking for specific Springfield 1911 models - and it seems that Springfield cannot keep up - that is what I am hearing on the 1911 forums.
I'd keep checking Gunbroker and Guns America if U really want one.
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City : Hotel Panama City
Country : Hotel USA
Star rating : 3 star hotel
The hotel Hilton Garden Inn Panama City At the Hilton Garden Inn Panama City Hotel we are dedicated to making sure you have the most comfortable and rejuvenating hotel stay possible. We were voted *2008 Hotel of the Year* for Hilton Garden Inns Worldwide and want to prove to you that we deserve this recognition above other Panama City FL Hotels. We are also the winner of the 2009 Pride Merit Award. In addition to the comfortable and convenient overnight accommodations our full-service Panama City Florida hotel offers superior customer service easy to use business center and 1 748 square feet of flexible meeting space to host your perfect event. Our hotel is conveniently located off major Route 231 and in the heart of the business district of Panama City near Panama City Mall Panama City Beaches *The World*s Most Beautiful Beaches* Movie Theatres Tyndall Air Force Base Bay Medical Center Gulf Coast Medical Center Golf courses Downtown Panama City and beautiful Panama City Marina The Emerald Coast. Our meeting space is ideal for your business meeting event or wedding. Plan your event with us and our full service food - beverage catering team will exceed your expectations every time. With an ideal easy to find location the hotel also offers close proximity to many major area businesses including Berg Pipe Arizona Chemical Sallie Mae Trane Jensen Stone Container Oceaneering. This hotel offers more than just 111 spacious guest rooms suites and fabulous spa rooms. We offer a hotel team that sincerely cares about your needs and all the amenities you would need to make you feel at home. Guest rooms offer in-room voicemail iron and ironing board hair dryer microwave refrigerator and coffee maker. Our Pavilion Pantry offers snacks beverages /alcoholic and nonalcoholic/ and toiletries 24 hours a day where you can pick up that one tiny item you forgot to pack without even leaving the hotel. If you like to stay active during your time away from home dive into our pool or burn off some steam in our fitness center. Yo (source: Hotel.info)


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We have real estate agents on call in Waterfront 7 days a week to show properties from 8am - 6pm. Our Downtown Boston call center is open until 11pm.
This website is linked to a database where all of the largest real estate agencies in the Downtown Boston area post listings to. Many of the listings are bank owned properties and are in foreclosure status. The listing will most likely say "Subject to Bank Approval" which means it is bank owned.
Click the "Search Sales" link below to search properties in Waterfront and email us or call us at 617-247-1933 if you see any foreclosed properties you have questions or would like to view.


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Botanical Line Drawings
Aquatic, Wetland and Invasive Plants
Plant Recognition Tools
Invasive and Non-native Plants
Plant Photo Murals
Set of four posters
State Park Brochures
F.A.Q. Videos
Publications and outreach materials about aquatic plant management are produced by almost every agency—county, city, state, regional, federal—to inform all stakeholders about their programs. Publications come in many formats: brochures, pamphlets, fact sheets, weed alerts, Extension circulars, manuals, field guides, reports and books. Many of these publications are available on websites but can be easily printed for distribution at meetings, workshops and other public and professional events. Some publications are already printed and multiple copies are available upon request at University of Florida-IFAS Extension Offices and Research and Education Centers. Some are available from other agencies, organizations or institutions. Older but still valuable publications may not be on a website but still available from other sources such as libraries. If you know of a publication but are unable to locate it, please contact us for assistance.
Last updated: 08 August 2012


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The accident rate in the oil and gas industries is seven to eight times higher than the average rates of all industries in the United States. In the past year, approximately 138 people lost their lives working in oilfields in the United States. This is an increase over previous years and is completely unacceptable. We make it our business to maintain a constant safety presence to keep safe working practices at the top of the agenda of every oil worker on your site, from roughnecks to executives.
There are few, if any, places or tasks in the oilfield that do not have inherent safety risks. Many accidents can be prevented by continually monitoring the hundreds of conditions that can get out of hand. Obtaining a full picture of the status of your company's plant, practices, and safety indicators is essential toward maintaining a safe and healthy environment for your workforce. Among the parameters we monitor are: Hydrogen sulfide levels, Oilfield pressure lines and safety hazards.
Safety engineering is an applied science closely related to industrial engineering, systems engineering, and system safety engineering. Safety engineering ensures that life-critical systems perform as necessary, even when one of its components fails. Our experienced safety engineers offer comprehensive, innovative, and cost-effective solutions to customers in oilfield drilling and production. Our mission is to maximize up time and keep your rig drilling faster, longer, and with maximum safety.


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Abstract Bokeh Business Cards
This double-sided business card template features abstract Bokeh effects and is available in 10 different colors. The included PSD files have bleed lines and are well organized and layered for easy editing - you can even combine different elements to create different color schemes or recolor the elements to create your own!
The font used is Rockwell which is available here.


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Below is the poem entitled A Heart Unchained which was written by poet
Matthew. Please feel free to comment on this poem. However, please remember, PoetrySoup is a place of encouragement and growth.
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Rhys Matthew
A heart there is, whose love your heart contained
A time there was, and in that time I changed
Oh glorious day! When ears first heard your name,
a song of brilliant iridescent flame.
A day there was, and for that day I praise
the sight of your sweet graceful gentle ways:
a butterfly's descent in summer's light,
its lovely wings afloat in airy flight.
A life there was; my life's no longer mine,
one passion, one desire--both entwined
I live, I breathe--imagining how much
this treasure is, each moment with your touch.
A soul there is, whose love my soul proclaimed
A love there is, whose heart your love unchained.
Rhys Matthew Farren
June 13, 2011
for Francine Roberts' "Sonnets, Sonnets, Everywhere!"


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Posted at: 03/13/2013 10:56 AM
Updated at: 03/13/2013 10:57 AM
Stuart "Guru Stu" Gorelick of Sandia Computers talks about latest reviews for Windows 8 and how to make the operating system more user friendly.
Sandia Computers
3625 Wyoming Boulevard Northeast
Albuquerque, NM
(505) 332-7777
This Good Day New Mexico segment may include paid advertising content. It is not affiliated with KOB-TV's News Department.


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Master of Science in Nursing
The purpose of the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program is to prepare graduates for advanced practice nursing in a variety of practice settings, particularly in rural and/or underserved communities. The program also prepares nurses for leadership roles in the administration of clinical services in a variety of community-based or acute care provider agencies. The MSN program offers five (5) areas of emphasis: the Family Nurse Practioner (FNP) area of emphais, Nursing Administration (NA) area of emphasis, Nursing Education (NE) area of emphasis, and in cooperation with Shenandoah University In Winchester, Virginia the Nurse Midwifery and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practioner areas of emphasis.
Program Outcomes
- Provide a foundation for doctoral study
- Provide knowledge base for high performance on certifying exams
- Maintain high completion rates of students
- Provide graduates to meet employer needs
- Provide graduates to meet areas of specialization and other fields
- Maintain high employment of graduates
The Master of Science in Nursing program provides the students with an opportunity to:
- Apply knowledge from the sciences and the humanities to support advanced nursing practice, nursing administration, and role development
- Expand knowledge of theories used by nurses as a basis for advanced practice nursing or in the administration of clinical services
- Develop expertise in a specialized area of clinical nursing practice or in the administration of clinical services
- Acquire the knowledge and skills related to a specific functional role in nursing
- Acquire initial competence in conducting research
- Acquire the knowledge and skills to influence change in the health care system and in the practice and delivery of health care
- Further develop and implement leadership strategies for betterment of health care
- Actively engage in collaborative relationships with others for the purpose of improving health care
- Find employment in area of specialization and/or related field
- Acquire a foundation for doctoral study
Course work in the FNP area of emphasis incorporates the classroom, online, laboratory, and clinical modes of instruction. All nursing students have experiences with rural and/or underserved populations as part of the State initiatives for primary health care. The FNP area of emphais requires the completion of a minimum of 41 hours of credit. Upon successful completion of the MSN-FNP area of emphais graduates are eligible to take the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)Certification Examination for Adult and Family Nurse Practitioners and/or the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC) Certification Examinations for Family Nurse Practitioners.
Graduates of the MSN-Nursing Administration area of emphasis complete 36 hours of credit and are eligible to take the ANCC Certification Examination for Nursing Administration or Nursing Administration, Advanced depending on their experience and stage of professional development.
The curriculum for the MSN-Nursing Education area of emphaishas complete 36 hours of credit. Graduates of the program are prepared to assume the educator role in a variety of educational contexts including curriculum development, clinical teaching, classroom teaching and distance learning. Graduates are eligible to take the NLN Certification Nurse Educator Exam.
The Nurse Midwifery graduates are eligible to take the American Midwifery Certification Board Exam, while graduates of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program are eligible to take the ANCC Certification Examanation for Psychiatric Mental Health Practitioners.
The program purpose is achieved through three program components. The core curriculum (12 credits) focuses on knowledge and skills related to nursing and related theories, leadership, advanced nursing research, and issues. The family nurse practitioner area of emphasis (29 credits) provides an opportunity to develop competency as a family nurse practitioner. The nursing administration component (18 credits) provides an opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to administer/manage rural/underserved primary care agencies,home health care, and other health care agencies or units. The nursing education component (18 credits) provides an opportunity to apply advanced nursing knowledge to nursing education and to develop competency in the areas of educator, scholar and collaborator. The elective component (6 credits) allows students to choose one of four options: 1) thesis, 2) role development courses in teaching, or 3) elective courses related to the student's area of interest, or 4) organizational dynamics or financial strategies in administration.


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Softball Wins Third Game of Season
- Release Date:
- March 13, 2012
- Contact:
- The Office of Sports Information
- (716) 649-7900 ext. 333
MYRTLE BEACH, SC – With their 12-2 victory over the College of New Rochelle, the Hilbert College softball team earned their third win of the season while down in the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic. Earlier in the day, the Hawks dropped a close 6-4 loss to Ursuline College (OH).
Scoring double-figure runs for the third time this season, the Hawks were led by seniors Jill Martucci and Allison Hall with support from freshmen Rachel Collier and Kateland Ball. All four players were credited with two hits apiece in the 12-2 win. Junior Emily Ripley secured her second win after she struck out four batters through her two innings pitched. Allison Hall went in as relief and finished with five strike outs on her watch.
Earlier in the morning, Ursuline outdistanced the Hawks for the 6-4 Hilbert loss. Martucci and Collier each ended with two hits and Ripley made a spectacular defensive diving double play.
Hilbert (3-5) finishes their spring trip with an 11:30 am contest against Bay Path College (MA) March 14 before they head home to Western New York. The Hawks open their northern season with two AMCC contests on the road (Mount Aloysius March 24 and Behrend March 28) before they host their first home game March 31 against Altoona.
Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college's engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college's first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.
Upcoming Events
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 14, 2015
- Summer Session A2 Ends
- Aug 21, 2015
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 28, 2015


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Bargain Bin: Goldeneye 007 Reoloaded
By billyhoush 1 Comments
I just released the second episode of my new show Bargain Bin and would like to get a few things off my chest in this production blog. This episode was shot the same day as the first episode Bargain Bin: Turning Point Fall of Liberty but as you may be able to tell we were both half in the bag.
Overall, I think the end result came out great but it took a lot of heavy editing as for each gaming session we record 1 hour of footage. It takes me a full night of watching through the raw footage with synced audio commentary to log bits I find amusing or worthwhile for the final edit. I edit using Final Cut Pro X (Apple lol) opposed to Premiere which I started to love earlier this year. I use FCPX over Premiere because it is much faster at handling H.264 files through some sort of voodoo magic.
Issue I have with this episode is that despite the fact we deem the game as a bargain, I haven't been able to find the Goldeneye Reloaded at a cheap price since it is still priced high by Activision. I was going to omit the episode due to this reason but choose to just roll with it as eventually the price will come down and I already spent 6 hours editing it. I hope people don't mind as we didn't know. Cam got the game as a birthday present a year or two ago.
Next time I shoot I'll make sure to take a photo of the actual game recording setup we prepare in Cam's living room each week so people have an idea what it looks like when we film these. I think you will be surprised by the audio recording setup. We always try to record two games per session so I already have two games in the can that I need to start editing. This is great because I'm usually a last minute post production guy. It's super refreshing being ahead of schedule despite the fact I still leave editing to the last minute. Sometimes you just need that extra pressure to get things done. I'm sure some students know what I am talking about when it comes to writing academic papers.
Anywho, hope you enjoy this week's episode of Bargain Bin. Feel free to leave comments, questions or suggestions and I will gladly answer them. And yes, I seriously thought Daniel Craig was a frenchman.


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What does the sound guy do.
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Melbourne, Australia.
Posts: 10,327
Re: What does the sound guy do.
Originally Posted by
I really do not see it necessary to mic the drums because I have a good kick and snare sound and my cymbals, to me sound good.
For the most part, it's not about individual elements, it's about a decent mix of the entire band. An 80 seater may seem a little small, but at the end of the day they know their own venue and they know from past experience with other bands what's required.
What does the typical sound man do?
His main aim is the front of house mix. Sure you'll probably get stage monitoring et al, but ensuring the punters can hear a good sound out the front is his primary objective. Depending on how he thinks this is best achieved, you may not be mic'd at all....or you might be fully mic'd. it's really his call.
Would he cut a hole in my bass drum even if I do not have a hole in the front head?
Very much doubt it. I've never seen it done. I'm sure I've had one or two grumble over the years due to me having an unported head. But no, they won't start hacking away at your kit.
Does the sound of the cymbals sound different through the PA system then what I hear from behind the kit? Would my snare sound different?
EQ-ing and other processing generally does change the way drums and cymbals naturally sound. However, it's really nothing to worry about. Besides, you're sitting right on top of them. unless you're using in-ears etc, your drums will still sound like your drums.
Play your gig, enjoy yourself and let them worry about the sound mate.
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As Heart of Darkness comes to a close, we find Kurtz and Marlow heading back to "civilization" in England from the Congo. Kurtz, already in unstable physical and mental shape, is slowly falling to his death on the boat. When he finally realized he was going to die, Kurtz's last words were "The horror! The horror!" Upon my first time reading this, I was disappointed that these were the only words offered up by Kurtz. The whole book was about meeting Kurtz, and even after we met him, he barely talked. But as I began to think more about his last words, I came to a conclusion that these words hold a lot more meaning.
"The horror" that Kurtz is referring to is all of the things he had done and witnessed throughout his life in the Congo. It pretty much sums up the experience that we have seen through Marlow's eyes. Kurtz's ultimate downfall was a product of his actions throughout his years working for the Company. In the end, it wasn't even worth it because he died and left all his fortune in the Congo, and there was no one left to continue his legacy. Kurtz's reflections on the way he lived his life are basically flashing right before his eyes in this moment and leaves us to think about what "the horror" really means.
I find it interesting that Kurtz's reputations in both Brussels and the Congo are so different. England believes that Kurtz is still a good man, whereas he is infamous in the Congo for being so ruthless.


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This vibrant night scape is mostly painted with acrylic and many many layers of glazings. It reflects my love for the northern sky and the amazing norhtern lights, the thousands wishing stars and the infinity.
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Posted at: 10/25/2012 8:55 PM
Updated at: 10/25/2012 9:05 PM
By: Mark Barger, NBCNC
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer played pitchman Thursday as he touted the company's new eye catching, touch friendly operating system, Windows 8.
Adding sizzle to the slumping PC market is one goal for Windows 8, but the system also works on smartphones and tablets, a burgeoning market Microsoft is trying to enter.
Tablets from several companies using the Windows 8 system got a showcase at the Microsoft roll out.
Microsoft also has its own Windows 8 tablet offering, Surface. Ballmer touted its merits Thursday on CNBC.
"Not Apple, not Google, not Amazon. Nobody has a product that you can really work or use that lets you work and play, that can be your tablet and your PC," he pointed out.
Challenges for Microsoft include developing a Windows 8 app inventory that rivals the numbers for Android and Apple.
There's also the Windows 8 learning curve for consumers.
"There are a lot of basic navigation things that are not intuitive right out of the box," notes CNET.com senior editor Dan Ackerman.
Most new personal computers and laptops sold after Friday's launch will come with the new Windows 8 pre-loaded, but expectations are its predecessor, Windows 7, will be available on a limited number of new computers or as a separate purchase option for at least another year or two.


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Last updated: July 26, 2015
Alhena is a responsive clean and corporate WordPress Theme. The theme support all modern browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 and uses the most modern technologies like HTML5 and CSS3.
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House hunting for David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff in Gloucestershire
Posted: September 26, 2012|
KITT could soon be parked in a driveway in the Cotswolds.
Actor David Hasselhoff has revealed he's "fallen in love" with the Cotswolds and plans to put down roots.
The star, famous for his role as lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in Baywatch and Michael Knight with crime-busting super car Kitt in Knight Rider, is reportedly setting up house in Broadway. It is understood The Hoff has put in an offer on a home in the village.
Speculation is rife – but his new country estate could need a few basics to keep him in the style to which he's grown accustomed. A courtyard pool in which he could brush up on life-saving skills could be calling him to Glebe Farm at nearby Saintbury, with offers at more than £2.5 million welcome.
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Charlie Comber, at Hayman Joyce estate agents, said: "There's a lovely outdoor pool for a length or two in the morning and a real sun trap."
Or he might fancy the more modest Long View, in Broadway, a snip at £850,000 and described by Hayman Joyce as a "substantial family home".
Alternatively, the lure of a private airstrip could swing it for Upper Harford House.
The collection of four former farm dwellings and barns is on the market for £1.8 million. But there is also the "rare opportunity" to acquire a private 700-yard airstrip and hanger.
"The Hoff wouldn't be able to fly his Learjet in but could land in smaller planes and a helicopter," said Matthew Harvey from estate agents Tayler and Fletcher. "I think it's fantastic he's is coming here as he's a legend. If he could get hold of Kitt, perhaps he could display it at the Cotswold Motoring Museum at Bourton."
Broadway residents and businesses welcomed the news.
Tracey Sone, of Tisanes Tea Rooms, said: "A lot of young girls work here. I'm sure they would swoon over The Hoff."
Broadway parish clerk Kevin Beasley said: "He'd probably like to stroll down our beautiful High Street and find its whole persona charming.
"We'd want him to feel at home here and to feel like an ordinary resident not just a celebrity."
Long-term local Dotti Friedli said: "Most of the famous who come here like what Broadway has to offer."
Resident and county councillor Liz Eyre added: "We've had many connections over the years with famous people, from Cromwell to the artists of the Broadway Colony – we take everything in our stride."
Mr Hasselhoff and Welsh girlfriend Hayley Roberts divide their time between LA and the UK but want to cross the pond full time. He told The Mirror: "We recently went to the Cotswolds for her birthday and fell in love with the place. We looked at a couple of houses there and have found a place in a little village called Broadway, which we've put an offer in for.
"The Cotswolds won't know what has hit them. I'm hoping the locals take to us though and I'm already naming it Hoffway. I love your country and almost feel like an honorary Brit."


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text: Acadian Ambulance KPEL photo [ 3 Year Old Dead Of Apparent Drowning In Carenrco By Ken Romero June 17, 2013 | 96.5 KPEL Apparently the child went outdoors alone and fell into the pool. Read More Category: Acadiana News, Lafayette News, Sad News Tags: carencro, chidlren Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


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TIP OF THE WEEKIf you're trying to follow through on your plan to eat healthier this year, Super Bowl Sunday might be one of the first times you're tempted to throw up your hands and grab a slice of pizza, a plate of buffalo wings or handful after handful of tortilla chips (and, of course, eight-layer dip).
LITTLE FALLS, N.Y. � The Little Falls Mounties kept their record perfect in Division I of the Center State Conference by beating Cooperstown Thursday and Holland Patent Friday. In doing so, the Mounties clinched a second consecutive league...
LITTLE FALLS, N.Y. — The Little Falls Mounties swept three games and total pins Thursday and defeated Cooperstown 5-0 at R.D.'s Gorge View Lanes for their first win of the season.
TEAM STANDINGSGalletta's Contracting 16-4Don's Pro Shop 13-7R&R Contracting 13-7Team Welpe 12-8JK Builders 12-8Crazy Otto's Empire Diner 11-9Rocky's Ringers 11-9J&J Custom Work 7-13White Rose Bakery 5-15
TEAM STANDINGSPianas 51-29Allstate 50-30Cindy's Classic Cuts 46 1/2-33 1/2R.D.'s Gorge View Lanes 45 1/2-34 1/2Chapman-Moser 37 1/2-42 1/2Ghost 9 1/2-70 1/2JANUARY 22 RESULTSHIGH SERIESCindy Urdang 696 (249, 255, 192)
TEAM STANDINGSNight Out 30-14U. S. W. 27-17Winkler Repair 24-20R.D.'s Gorge View Lanes 23-21Obreza Trucking 22-22Augars 21-23True Blue 20-24JANUARY 24 RESULTSWOMEN'S HIGH SERIESJudy Obreza 508 (183, 178)
Our New Year's Resolution? Getting you organized�starting with your cookbooks.
The waterworks keep on coming from The Bachelor's
Ryan Murphy has the Hollywood cred to assemble just about any cast he wants, so it makes sense that for his upcoming Fox series Scream Queens, he'd pick someone who was very familiar with the shrieks of women.The latest big name to join...
Penny Dreadful is ramping up the horror in Season 2.Showtime's gothic drama returns on...
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Drupal 2010 retrospective and 2011 predictions
This is my first blog post in 2011, so first things first: happy New Year to all of you!
As I do each year, I want to stop for a moment and reflect on the past, before jumping head-first into the new year.
Last year was another year of growth for Drupal: the number of active committers grew; the number of visitors to drupal.org grew; the number of Drupal sites grew; and the number of Drupal events and meet-ups grew. Drupal grew by almost every discernible metric.
Overall, we became a better and more well-rounded team in 2010. We've always had many kick-ass engineers in the Drupal community. However, 2010 was the year in which we achieved noticeably better usability, design, accessibility and marketing. These are important developments, as these new skills will help prepare us for even more success in the long run.
On a personal level, 2010 was a very busy Drupal year for me. I committed 1,683 patches -- that's up from 1,567 patches in 2009 and 1,031 patches in 2008. I accepted many more speaking engagements to evangelize our work. While in 2009 I flew about 100,000 km (62,000 miles), in 2010 I flew over 300,000 km (190,000 miles). That's a lot of evangelizing. I was more 'outward facing' in 2010 than ever before, which seems to be a trend. Although I enjoy meeting Drupal users, I'm glad to stay closely involved with the day to day development of Drupal core. Being able to combine these two essential elements is both important and healthy. I hope and predict that 2011 will bring more of the same.
My two personal Drupal highlights for 2010 include DrupalCon San Francisco with more than 3,000 attendees (and $72,000 USD alone spent on coffee), as well as the launch of the drupal.org redesign.
My personal low for Drupal in 2010 is the fact that we didn't release Drupal 7. It is a consolation, however, it has been delayed for good reasons and we didn't compromise on quality. One thing is a given though: 2011 will be the year of Drupal 7. It will be a nicer-looking, more powerful, and more scalable Drupal that will be easier to use. If you've overlooked Drupal previously in favor of some other system, it's time to revisit it again.
My biggest wish for 2011 is that our community remains strong. We are our biggest asset. We make Drupal both vibrant and innovative. It has been an honor to be a part of the Drupal project, and it remains so today. I have no reason to believe that that will change in 2011.
After working on Drupal 7 for three years, I'm looking forward to start working on Drupal 8. One of the things that I like most is figuring out the future, and leading the community in the right direction.
I'm utterly convinced that user experience remains the single most important thing that is holding back Drupal adoption. I want to spend time listening and talking to each of Drupal's users and learn more about their experiences. That includes content creators, site builders, developers, designers, system administrators, owners of small Drupal sites, owners of large Drupal sites and more. I also want to learn more about other systems and learn from them. There is only so much we can do in one release, especially if we want shorter release schedules. So I want to have a very clear picture of how we can improve the user experience of each of Drupal's target audiences.
Based on the 300,000 km of listening I did last year, I predict that the following three items will make it in the top five new features of Drupal 8: general usability improvements for content creators and site builders; performance improvements for single machine installations; life cycle and release management (e.g., development-staging-production, configuration management, testability).
It's clear that the mobile web will become mainstream in a big way in 2011. On top of that, the iPad is changing our world. We should think long and hard about how we can make Drupal the go-to-platform for building web applications in a world of tablets and mobile handheld devices. One of my objectives is to write a small iPhone or Android application that connects with Drupal. I want to learn more about it so I'm going to try and make it one of my weekend projects.
I also predict that in 2011, we'll see the first Drupal website that serves a billion page views per month, and that Drupal.org will be upgraded to Drupal 7 before the end of 2011.
I've spent a lot of time time thinking about Drupal distributions in 2010. While we made a lot of progress in making distributions feasible from a technical point of view, we have yet to figure out the business model around Drupal distributions. Unless we make it commercially interesting or at least commercially viable for organizations to build and maintain high quality distributions, distributions might not be as popular as we'd like. I think 2011 might be the year where many of us test how important Drupal distributions are really going to be for us.
Looking back at 2010, I'm happy with the way the Drupal Association evolved. We did some unusual things this year. We hired two full-time employees; Megan Sanicki (sponsor wrangler) and Neil Kent (events manager), and paid for the drupal.org redesign to be completed. We're also paying for the migration from CVS to Git. It isn't always easy to mix paid staff into a volunteer-driven open source project, but without that, two of my 2010 highlights would not have happened.
Relative to the bigger market, 2010 was also the year where I felt core development of Joomla! slowed down a bit. As part of that, I noticed that the Joomla community started to expand to Drupal. WordPress, on the other hand, seems to be accelerating. Slowly but certainly, it's growing from a blogging platform into a content management system. Kudos to Matt Mullenweg and Automattic for their progress. While WordPress has a long way to go to compete with Drupal on the high-end, I expect that we will see it compete more and more in the low-end of the market. I won't let them take the low-end of the market -- it has been too important for Drupal's growth and adoption. I'm very passionate about making small sites successful, and I wish they were better represented in the Drupal.org issue queues. It is going to be interesting to see how these things play out. Either way, the real competition is not other Open Source projects, but proprietary software vendors and the many static HTML websites. There is so much room for growth that we shouldn't worry too much about Open Source competition.
2011 is also the year that Drupal turns 10 years old. We're starting off the year with our biggest release ever, followed by our biggest party ever. We'll have lots of things to talk about, lots of planning to do, and lots of initiatives to kick off. Expect 2011 to get very busy.
No blog post of this type would be complete if I didn't end with a sincere, heart-felt "Thank you!" to the many members of our community. Without your contributions, Drupal wouldn't exist, and my past years and future years to come would be devoid of something I love dearly. So, from me to you, for making Drupal what it is today, and for working with me to make it better day by day, let me say, simply, thank you.
"While we made a lot of progress in making distributions feasible from a technical point of view, we have yet to figure out the business model around Drupal distributions. Unless we make it commercially interesting or at least commercially viable for organizations to build and maintain high quality distributions, distributions might not be as popular as we'd like."
An excellent point. I have a strong suspicion that a combination of paid customization, SaaS hosting, and unsupported "roll your own" is the most likely path forward for distros in the Drupal world. I don't think that the technical and the economic aspects can be separated, though. Having built distros in Drupal 5, 6, and now 7, I can say that the investment needed to build and maintain a distribution is directly related to the technical hurdles that lie between a good idea and the finished implementation.
As we make the creation and deployment of Drupal distros less daunting technically, more paths to monetization become realistic.
I'm definitely looking forward to 2011, it promises to be a fascinating year!
On the Distro's topic, a couple of other things need worked out relative to how distro's are handled on drupal.org. There are several elements to this:
- Drupal.org can't build distros that include 3rd-party libraries. This has been a "we're going to enable this" item for a while; but it's not done. And as distros start to be more than "just a website," they will be increasingly likely to include non-Drupal components - which need to be "bundled" in the distribution in order to be simple to install & try. We have this problem (as you know) with Drupal Commons; so we must build at acquia.com and provide the download from there. Until d.o can build distro's with 3rd-party libraries, there will be confusion on how distros are to be handled.
- Where and how are they marketed? Though in the above item I imply that the distro needs to be built on & downloadable from drupal.org, if a company is going to have a business model around a distribution, it must be easy for organizations (or people) providing product & services related to the distro to get needed visibility on drupal.org to drive inbound sales inquiries. The marketing current situation on drupal.org is sub-optimal for an organization that is considering the non-trivial investment of building, expanding-on, and maintaining a distro.
For people other than Dries, Jeff's comments above on the model are what Acquia is doing with Drupal Commons. But though that model looks correct, it's by no means easy to get right. There's still much detail to figure out on how to get this model to work.
You said:
"I predict that the following three items will make it in the top five new features of Drupal 8: general usability improvements for content creators and site builders; performance improvements for single machine installations; life cycle and release management."
"We should think long and hard about how we can make Drupal the go-to-platform for building web applications in a world of tablets and mobile handheld devices."
Then it sounds to me like getting HTML5 application framework support into Drupal 8 should be one of the other top five features.
i second this emotion - it may be the shortest path to cross-platform deployment on mobile interfaces, instead of just worrying about ipad! i love apple, but not everybody uses apple product...
"It's clear that the mobile web will become mainstream in a big way in 2011. On top of that, the iPad is changing our world. We should think long and hard about how we can make Drupal the go-to-platform for building web applications in a world of tablets and mobile handheld devices. One of my objectives is to write a small iPhone or Android application that connects with Drupal. I want to learn more about it so I'm going to try and make it one of my weekend projects."
This is great to hear! We have been using Drupal for our server-side platform, particularly for serving mobile web content this year, and we're pleased-but-looking-forward-to-doing-more. We've been able to leverage all sorts of Drupal awesome sauce to make things go for our customers, but we still have quite a ways to go.
I hope that, in addition to the things you mentioned, 2011 is the year in which module management is really brought under control. We need clearer workflows, documentation, and training for new module developers on everything from collaboration (not reinventing the wheel) to licensing. We also need a better handle on dealing with module abandonment.
I'd like to see this a big effort this year towards fostering new module maintainers, helping contributed module maintainers also become core contributors, and helping currently overburdened module maintainers ease their load. Basically, I think we have to take an approach of treating most module maintainers like student assistants. They arrive fresh and eager but untrained. A few months in you know if they will make it through for the next couple of years. But, you always know in the back of your mind, that they will eventually be moving on, and someone will be needed to fill in and take their place. A better process for this will help maintain the long-term viability of the development community side of Drupal.
January 4, 2011
"I won't let them take the low-end of the market -- it has been too important for Drupal's growth and adoption."
The big challenge will be to find a way to address the low segment, without alienating the mid and higher end of the market, segments that are seemingly well served by Drupal. Out of curiosity, how is the 'low-end of the market' defined within the community? It's not a homogeneous market and getting the segmentation right is crucial. Are we talking about people that set up a personal site with the help of a one-click installer, about the small business owner that wants a brochureware site, beginning freelancers, etc? How 'low' do we go?
Personally I'm encouraged by the amount of people I know that started using Wordpress and Joomla, were not able to overcome some of the limitations and switched to Drupal and stayed around. You also mentioned this in an article linked above. Yes, the learning curve is steep, but the possibilities so much greater.
Exciting times ahead!
I agree wholeheartedly that user experience is the single most important Drupal issue right now. I would like to take that a step further and say that, I believe user experience with regard to media (images, video, slideshows, etc) is one of the most important Drupal issue right now.
Nearly every mobile phone has a 5 megapixel, or greater, video /still camera on board, not to mention the bazillion dollar dedicated digital camera (SLR) market. We live in a imagery rich, visual world and that's only going to get more and more prevalent. I believe that media storage, manipulation, and display demands will continue to grow and drive "low-end" to "medium" web projects. Nearly all of the most memorable web projects our team has worked on over the last many years were driven by imagery and media. As bandwidth and worldwide access to the web continues to increase I think Drupal's media capabilities must become a primary focus.
Sadly Drupal has a pretty bad rap when it comes to dealing with media "out of the box". Core integration of media streams as well as the media module have been a huge step forward and I look forward to contributing and seeing the magic that comes out of that project. However, I think that handling media both from the administrative side and from the theming side still needs to be, and can be, much better. More clients than I can count have compared other CMS tools to Drupal (ex. joomla & wordpress media library) I believe Drupal would quickly take the competitive edge if jquery slideshows, video players, and advanced image handling was better built into core. Integrating the media module and media library into core seems like a "no brainer" going forward to me, and from my opinion, critical to targeting the low end to medium market.
Dries, thanks for all your hard work. You have made a huge difference to how we work and I look forward to the year of drupal 2011.
Agreed, media content management is a must for low to medium end adoption. From my experience users ask the following questions in this order:
How do I add text? (Drupal 1)
How do I add images? (Drupal 7)
How do I add a movie? (Drupal 8?)
How do I add audio? (Drupal 8?)
Even as a developer who has been working with Drupal for 3+ years I'm still banging my head against the desk to implement a solid way of handling the display of media. Open Standards Media (OSM) Player in the Mediafront module is promising and I'm interested to see what's happening in the Media module. Mediafront still has a ways to go and I hear that the Media module still has a lot of big hurdles to overcome.
Unfortunately I also know content editors who don't consider Drupal a CMS because it doesn't have a WYSIWYG in core... This appears to me to be a barrier to entry (if not a superficial barrier to entry) for low to medium end adoption.
I won't let them take the low-end of the market -- it has been too important for Drupal's growth and adoption.
Bless you sir!
Reclaiming the low end will take a multi-pronged approach. Improved usability is one part of it. Improved performance is another, which at this point will require considerable architectural changes, most of which we need anyway.
Media handling is probably the biggest missing "feature tickbox" in that area. Core's file and media handling is about three times as good in Drupal 7 as it was in Drupal 6... which is still a far far cry from where it needs to be. Media module seemed like it would be a solution but that has basically stalled out and is not progressing in a useful direction. Distributions can deal with WYSIWG, but media handling has to be a core architectural concern.
I agree, both things which I've been passionate about in D7 (update manager and media) are really important ideas to the every(wo)man which are not getting enough oxygen at the moment.
That being said, today's neglected hackfest is tomorrow's killer module, so there is still time to turn that around. Acquia has been working on several large D7 modules (Media, Webform+form builder, Views, etc) for DrupalGardens, and I think in the coming months we'll see even more investment in contrib. There are two reasons for this: 1. Drupal Core is now released and we can relax a bit around massive API changes breaking stuff (I hope). 2. When we take DrupalGardens to market, and people start paying money for it, well, we need the code to be rock solid.
In addition, I'm hoping there will be more interest in Media (and investment) from the large shops since unlike update manager, this is an improvement for all sites, not just the low-end market.
Great blog post.
One of the key things for me for Drupal 8 will be the
life cycle and release management (e.g., development-staging-production, configuration management, testability).
This is the one thing which causes me pain every time I need to deploy and manage a new drupal site. If we could nail that with a smooth workflow then there should be no holding back!
Congratulations Drupal, community and Dries on a fantastic 2010! I'm really excited to see Drupal 7 released and all the other fantastic developments in 2011!
I wonder if there is a better way to frame the competition. It seems a little strange to call out us other open source projects Joomla! and WordPress making a judgement towards both , but then say we should all be singing Kumbaya together and that the real competition are some unnamed proprietary competitors.
Again, keep up the awesome!
Thanks for elaborating! It's a minefield, or mind field ;-)
I think the solution to the low-end site lies in another item you mentioned: distros. We need a "blog" distro that provides a turn-key blog with lots of powerful but basic functionality enabled out of the box, including a solid WYSIWYG editor (inc picking a 3rd party editor to be bundled), and improved media handling. This then in turn depends on two other items: the 3rd party includes that Jay Batson mentioned, and the media handling that Justin Winter mentioned. Of course the concern is avoiding overloading the installation so that it can still run on shared hosts, where many other apps inc Wordpress have a stronger hold on the market.
Dries, would you (or someone else at Acquia) be interested in a brief interview about "Drupal [distributions] as a product" and how distros will affect enterprise adoption? I'm writing a blog post on that topic for Mediacurrent as a follow-up to my post on Installation Profiles vs. Distributions vs. Features (which you tweeted about -- thanks!).
Personally, I think that the best thing we can do in the short-term to improve the prospects of distributions is to make the documentation on creating them much, much better.
I'm very passionate about making small sites successful, and I wish they were better represented in the Drupal.org issue queues.
As a builder of small Drupal sites mostly on shared hosting I wish the same thing.
What Drupal badly needs in this segment is better performance (out of the box!). Where WordPress is fast and "zippy" on even the cheapest shared hosting Drupal (with some common modules) is not. This is my biggest concern right now.
This is not about handling enormous amounts of traffic and visitors. These are small sites with low traffic, but the visitors and users should still have a pleasant experience and speed is a big part of that.
Sometimes managed shared hosting is the only option for small sites, which shouldn't be a problem for Drupal (and it is not a problem for WordPress).
"While we made a lot of progress in making distributions feasible from a technical point of view, we have yet to figure out the business model around Drupal distributions. Unless we make it commercially interesting or at least commercially viable for organizations to build and maintain high quality distributions, distributions might not be as popular as we'd like."
Looking at the distributions that are available, they are quite big ones. Maybe another approach is to start with more simple ones that are especially targeted at small sites.
One such common need is a blog. A distribution that focuses on providing the needs of bloggers, using the 80/20 rule, I am quite sure of would turn out to be popular. Another distribution could target the needs of a small business that needs a website where they can promote themselves as well as socialise with their customers.
Themes will be needed to fully support these distros as well.
Another thing that will be needed for distributions to take if is better awareness of them on d.o. People coming there wanting to download and test drupal ends up on the Drupal core project page, download it, leaves and go on to install it.
There is a tab called "Installation profiles" at the top, but that's not very telling for someone new to Drupal. It is also the only hint on that page about some alternative.
D.o needs a page that better lists available distributions, what they do and preferable with a link to a demo site and sites already using it.
At the top of the Drupal core project page there needs to be a box with a short clear explanation about the difference between Drupal core and distribution. Using Views slideshow to flip through screenshots of, and linking to, available distros as well as a link to the above mentioned distribution overview page.
We within the community knows about distributions, but we keep them a secret. New users needs to be clearly shown they exists and the benefits of them.
I am into Drupal recently. Hope there is lot in store for me!
Wow Drupal's turning 10?!
Like Olaf and Larry, I am also glad to hear that Drupal's roots are not forgotten. I am also glad to hear that "general usability improvements for content creators and site builders and performance improvements for single machine installations" will be focused on again. Those are all areas that first attracted me to Drupal more than seven years ago.
For some time now, I have been wondering if Drupal is heading in a direction that will not include me. I understand that in order for Drupal to survive long term, it has to be able to address the needs of the corporate world and an enterprise installation. However, it has felt like that has been the focus of much of the activity to the exclusion of all other. Everyone wants that lottery of a big business paying mucho dinero for a big website, but there are other needs out there.
I prefer to focus on the smaller businesses and individuals. They need websites, too. They need to be able to have the same ability to get noticed (SEO) as everyone else (whether they use it or not is another story). The owner(s) needs to be able to operate it themselves, w/o having to constantly call in someone for minor operations. Finally, the websites need to be affordable for a smaller business or individual.
The ability to be able to provide those things is the reason I originally started using Drupal. With the focus lately of many of the people and many of the changes on drupal.org & in Drupal itself, I have wondered over the past year if my days with Drupal were numbered. I hope not.
I am a recent convert to Drupal and am very encouraged by the enthusiasm for improving the system. As a designer of a few small/medium sites, previously (and still in some cases) using Dreamweaver, I would like to make a plea for two areas that I see as needs.
Firstly, I think that Panels are of great value in creating interesting page layouts and breaking away from what has become almost a standard CMS look. I look forward to using Panels when ready in Drupal 7 - and perhaps they should be in core in Drupal 8?
Secondly, I have often with Dreamweaver made use of dynamic pages using PHP/MySQL datatables and have found this easy to do. But, so far, have found use of Views etc much more complex. Perhaps it has to be complex because of the undoubted power of the Drupal system?
To summarise, I hope that some consideration will be given to ease of use by designers of small websites who want a bit extra but are put off by too much complexity.
Thank you all for providing Drupal! Keep up the good work - I will try and help once I have climbed a bit higher on the steep learning curve.
You'd probably be interested in the Butler project, which is not quite Panels In Core but is conceptually similar: http://groups.drupal.org/butcler
It's currently paused for a bit while we get D7 out and I have 12 other things I try to work through, but rest assured this will play a major role in Drupal 8.
Dries - As usual, great recap, post, and comments!
However, there is one important item I think you failed to mention and that's the role marketing will play in 2011. In order to "compete" with Wordpress or better yet proprietary vendors, the Drupal community must do a better job at trumpeting Drupal's benefits. Mobile app development, usability improvements, advancing distributions, performance upgrades, etc. is all for not if we cannot effectively position and market Drupal.
This is where evangelizing needs to take hold – more case studies, white papers, analyst coverage, webinars, certification programs, open-houses, seminars, media reports, public training, etc. must take place. This all leads to better credibility and general recognition. Information technology decision makers need validation and precedence that their idea to implement Drupal is not some trendy selection, but one cemented with well-grounded justification.
Believe me, I'm not trying to stir the religious debate around what department (marketing or IT) is more critical, but I would assert that Drupal's recent growth had a lot to do with Acquia having capital to generate solid collateral and hire a dedicated sales team (there was never a 10+ sales/marketing force at a Drupal shop before). This needs to continue and be a concerted effort. It certainly is not Acquia's sole responsibility.
There are strides being made (i.e. Business Summits, CXO event in Europe, more non-techie sessions at Camps/Con, etc.), but its just the tip of the iceberg to what the closed-source vendors are doing (and spending).
The metaphorical reference would be the Presidential election - no matter what political party you belong to, I would argue that Obama lost because he did a lousy job of communicating and getting his message out - let's not let that happen in Drupal.
Happy New Year Dries!
Many good points in this post. I have to say that Drupal Gardens may be the best thing you've done to reclaim/maintain the low end of the market. I am very pleased with the packaging and have already built a number of small sites with it. The reception from my clients has been fantastic. I'm looking forward to a partner program and continued module releases like the event calendar.
Our firm has built many sites with Joomla and WordPress over the years and we are convinced that Drupal 7 jumps past them both in ease of use and as always with Drupal, features.
I think 2011 is the year to bring Drupal up to speed with Accessibility.
One of the major demographics to be targeting is government. During increasingly poor economic conditions, government still has money to spend, and is keeping Drupal Developers in business. To build a site for government organisations here in Australia, you need two major components.
1) Advanced Metadata. (The metatags module seems promising on this front)
2) AA-Level Accessibility.
This is something that MUST be handled in Drupal Core. We should focus first on achieving accessibility for website visitors (Drupal 8?) and then achieving accessibility for website editors (Drupal 9?).
Solid accessibility in core is a MAJOR selling point for any CMS, and will bring developers flocking from proprietary systems.
I also love the idea of better mobile support and HTML5/. :)
Here's to the second Drupal Decade!
I second and third this motion. 2010 was the year of usability. 2011 must be the year of ACCESSIBILITY ... in CORE. Usability and accessibility are two sides of the same coin. Usability and accessibility are a big part of the user experience, and the biggest users and promoters of Drupal are governments of the world.
The Dutch, Canadian, Australian, American and other governments have mandated conformance with WCAG level AA for all websites.
HTML5 is one of the technologies that will help enable accessibility. Another vote for HTML5 and mobility too.
Looking forward to Drupal 8!
My personal experience is that people who have a bad experience with Drupal have them because of the advanced features that Drupal is able to do. let me explain.
Compared to existing CMSs, Drupal offers far much more than most of them and this puts strains on server requirements, bandwidth, skills etc. I am convinced that it is not usually a drupal issue but rather a server issue brought about by the same requirements that necessitate the use of Drupal. Like if a developer needs to configure his server to do some custom stuff based on his site's needs and has problems with it - he blames the whole experience on Drupal - while the problem is most probably his server configuration or implementation of the drupal solution
more training materials are needed


text:
While the DC3 Baseball team is preparing for the Plains District tournament this weekend, the Jayhawk West All Conference team was announced. Cody Voelker was a unanimous 1st team selection at 3rd base, while Anthony Pena received Honorable Mention Designated Hitter. Voelker led DC in almost every offensive category throughout the year, hitting .387 with 10 HR's and 71 RBI's. Voelker now holds the school record for RBI's in a career at DC3. Pena played multiple positions for the Conqs while hitting .304 with 5 HR's and 28 RBI's, he was also the team leader in OBP at .481. The Conqs will host the NJCAA Plains District Tournament at Cavalier Field this weekend, with the winner advancing to Enid, OK for the NJCAA DII World Series. The tournament schedule is on the Conq Baseball Schedule page.
Jayhawk All-Conference Teams