Drupal 8 is bigger and better than any earlier release. But does the same hold for the community behind it? It's time to let numbers speak. By applying data mining techniques to drupal.org and code repositories we can now measure the impact Drupal 8 had on the Drupal community, gather insights on the new generation of Drupalers and make recommendations for improvement.
We've personally seen tremendous change in the Drupal community over the years, having to cater to an ever-changing audience at our presentations and trainings at virtually all European Drupal events since DrupalCon Barcelona 2007. Pioneers became professionals, enthusiasts became leaders. But what further insights can we gain?
A data-driven approach, applying data mining techniques to facts available from drupal.org user profiles and Git repositories, gives us plenty of suggestions. By factoring in our decade-long community experience we extract relevant information and give a meaningful interpretation of data in the Drupal context.
The analysis includes and discusses:
- Community numbers. What's the rate and trend of new registrations?
- Clustering of the Drupal community members. What types of users (personas) does drupal.org have, and what's the share of each type? Are we taking advantage of the diversity of skills?
- Contributed modules. What collaboration patterns emerge from an automated analysis of modules?
- Mentor acknowledgement. Who are the recognized leaders of the Drupal community?
- Quality. Who are the new Drupalers? Has the Drupal community grown or shrunk with the Drupal 8 release? Has it become more professional?
All numbers and interpretations will be accompanied by "business recommendations" on what could be improved and how.
