Closing Plenary & Remarks

Close out DrupalCon Seattle 2019 with two more inspiring plenary presentations and closing remarks from the Drupal Association's Executive Director, Tim Lehnen.

Marcy Sutton, Head of Learning, Gatsby.js will speak on Javascript and Civil Rights:

As designers and developers of software, we act as gatekeepers in people’s lives more than we realize. Now more than ever, it is our duty to create digital experiences that honor our users’ rights to inclusion–no matter where they live, or how they access the Web. This applies to both authors and contributors, as well as end-users and consumers; we must do more to protect everyone’s rights to access, safety, security, and privacy.  

When done right, our software could be the difference between someone with a disability living an independent, productive life, or needing outside help to complete a task, including at their job. If systems like Drupal and Wordpress aren’t designed and developed for accessibility from the ground up, an update to a new JavaScript-heavy user interface can severely impact someone’s education or job performance. Similarly, issues with privacy and security can have dangerous consequences when deployed into the world. In this talk, we’ll discuss some of the ways we can have a big impact on our users’ civil rights. You can use your JavaScript skills for the good of the people, and I’ll show you how.

Nithya Ruff, Head of Open Source Practice, Comcast will speak on Building Inclusive Communities:

Nithya first glimpsed the power of open source while at SGI in the ‘90s and has been building bridges between hardware developers and the open source community ever since. She is a mentor, leader and renowned speaker sharing her passion for open source.

Many open source projects start with a problem to solve. But the growth and adoption come from the way the project is setup for positive governance, community growth and sustainability. A project’s inclusive practices create a safe environment for people to engage, thrive and do their best work. Nithya will talk about the elements needed to set up a community for growth and opening doors to new contributors.