On the last weekend of February, I made the trip to Salford for DrupalCamp England 2026. It is only its second year, but already an event I have found myself looking forward to returning to. I came away with a notebook full of ideas, some genuine food for thought about the direction of AI, and a renewed appreciation for what these community gatherings actually provide.

My talk: Same Image, Different Story

I co-presented “Same Image, Different Story: Why Drupal Needs Contextual Architecture” with Tony Barker. The talk grew out of an investigation into AI-assisted alt text generation in Drupal. It evolved, specifically, from the discovery that properly accessible shared images aren’t straightforward to provide. Without sufficient contextual information, AI-generated alt text tends to be descriptive rather than meaningful. A technically correct description of an image is rarely the same thing as an accessible one. The talk illustrates this with a deceptively simple example: the same image can represent entirely different things depending on context, and the alt text should reflect that choice rather than just the image itself. The same photo of Shaun Ryder, for instance, could have been used because he’s the frontman of the Happy Mondays, because he’s from Salford, or because he was at the Brit Awards, happening just down the road that same day. Three very different reasons that each require a different alt text. The talk unpacks how an architectural gap in Drupal affects accessibility compliance, editorial workflows, storage efficiency, and media management across complex platforms. The discussions it sparked afterwards were well worth the journey south, with plenty of conversation around how AI could potentially be part of the solution.

The Keynote: Augmented, Not Artificial

Dr. Phininder Balaghan delivered the keynote, “The Augmented Future: Winning with AI,” and it set the tone for much of the day’s conversation. The central argument was a reframing: stop thinking about Artificial Intelligence and start thinking about Augmented Intelligence. The distinction matters. The companies genuinely winning with AI aren’t the ones that replaced their engineers with it. Klarna, being perhaps the most cited example, had replaced 700 employees with AI before quality declined, customers revolted, and they found themselves hiring engineers again. The productivity gains are real, but they flow to skilled people, not instead of them. Tools amplify human expertise; they don’t substitute for it. As someone building AI-assisted workflows here at the University, this framing resonated strongly. Though it’s worth noting that the human cost for those caught in the middle of these experiments is often more complicated than the optimistic retelling suggests, which made Antje Lorch’s session later in the day feel like a necessary and timely counterpoint.

With three tracks running in parallel in places, there were some tough choices to make throughout the day, and I’ll admit that on at least one occasion I found myself in a talk I hadn’t actually intended to go to, a hazard of being so engrossed in a conversation that I simply followed the crowd through the nearest door. But that’s arguably the point. Some of the most valuable thinking at events like this doesn’t happen in the lecture theatre at all; it happens in the corridors, over coffee, and in those animated discussions between sessions where ideas get challenged, refined, and sometimes born entirely. The fact that there were videos recorded and released later is something I am so glad about, not least to catch the sessions I missed, planned or otherwise. Antje’s talk was one of the casualties of that scheduling conflict, however.

We Need to Talk About AI (The One I Missed)

As I said, unfortunately I didn’t manage to catch “We Need to Talk About AI” in person, but after the questions the keynote left rattling around in my head, it’s firmly on my watch list when the video appears. From the description alone it covers ground I think is really important: the environmental and energy costs of AI, the effect on global chip markets, and the implications for people in vulnerable situations who depend on services increasingly shaped by these tools. In an open source community that prides itself on values, this is exactly the kind of session that belongs at a DrupalCamp, and as someone actively building AI-assisted tools at the University, I think it’s worth sitting with those questions rather than just pressing ahead with enthusiasm. More to say on this once I’ve watched it, but it also makes me genuinely glad of the hard work going on to provide ELM.

Other Highlights

A few other sessions worth calling out. James Abrahams showcased the Flowdrop UI for Agents module, a no-code visual AI agent builder for Drupal CMS that allows anyone to build AI agents, using an AI agent, which feels like a glimpse of where things are genuinely heading. If you’ve ever seen Jamie speak, you’ll know that his talks are as much an experience as a session, his passion for the projects he champions is infectious, and it’s genuinely hard not to get swept up in the enthusiasm. Whether the technology delivers everything he promises is a question for another day, but you’ll leave the room believing it will.

Maria Young’s session on keyboard traps, focus failures, and ARIA fixes was a practical deep-dive into the accessibility edge cases that catch even experienced developers off guard.

It was also great to spend some time with University colleagues during the day, Emma Horrell gave an update on Drupal CMS covering what’s shipped, what’s coming, and the UX research driving it, while Aaron McHale presented “Growing a Team to Transform a University Website” alongside James South from manifesto, covering their multi-year collaboration to deliver a new student-centred web presence for the University of Edinburgh, and one well worth sharing with a wider audience.

People and Community

Beyond the sessions, it’s the people who make these events worth attending. Catching up with old colleagues, reconnecting with former clients from my agency days, and meeting new people who share the same passion for open source and the web. The conversations that carry on over a drink at the BrewDog social in the evening, for example, are often where the most honest and unguarded thinking happens. These are the moments that remind you why the Drupal community is something worth being part of.

Drupal in a Day (Sunday)

Sunday for me was given over to the Drupal in a Day training session, which I helped facilitate. It is a structured, hands-on introduction to Drupal for newcomers, and a genuinely excellent format, and I’m already hoping to bring it to Edinburgh. The logistics of how to run it here are in progress, and the next step is making the case properly. I hope to be able to demonstrate its value and articulate the benefits for a local audience. Beyond onboarding our existing interns, I can see real potential in opening it up to prospective interns too, by giving candidates a meaningful taste of the platform before they ever apply. Those who engage well self-select, arrive already sold on Drupal, and hit the ground running from day one. It becomes less of a training day and more of a pipeline: attracting the right people and filtering out those who aren’t the right fit, before either side has made a significant commitment. And with DrupalCamp Scotland on our doorstep, there’s an obvious opportunity to run it there too, reaching an even broader pool of prospective talent while giving something back to the local community. Who knows, maybe some other staff members will want to get involved, too. Watch this space.

The Bigger Picture

What started as a single day in Cambridge last year has grown into a full two-day programme, and the community energy that filled the venue was a reminder of why these events matter. If you’re a Drupal developer in the UK, or want to visit the UK, and you haven’t been to one yet, put DCE 2027 in your list of things to look out for next year.