According to a new post to their blog, the PHPWomen group has announced a partnership program for projects that want to put out a message of encouraging diversity in contributors:

As quoted from the information page about the partnerships:

PHPWomen has launched a partnership program for open source projects that are committed to embracing diversity and providing a welcoming and friendly atmosphere for contributors. We work closely with project leaders to identify specific areas of need, and will actively encourage our members to participate by promoting those needs through various channels. In return, the project leaders will ensure that newcomers to their projects will be welcomed and their contributions appreciated. This includes fostering an open and friendly environment for all newcomers, not just females.

The goal of the project is to encourage inviting environments for open source projects where developers feel like they're given a chance to contribute equally and to provide something more specific than "here's a project that needs help - go for it".

There's already several projects that are on the list including Spaz and the PHP Documentation team. You can find out more specifics on what they're looking for in contributions on the Opportunities page.

The PHPWomen have officially announced that they will have a presence at this year's PHP UK Conference (2010) and will have a stand in the exhibition hall for those interested in the group or just want to stop off and say hello to attending members.

The PHP UK Conference is now in its fifth year and is bigger and better than ever. Friday's event has 16 different hour-long talks covering a plethora of topics from some of the world's best PHP speakers. [...] PHPWomen is a community partner of the event and will have a stand in the exhibition hall amongst a variety of other exhibitors.

Two members will be speaking at the event - Juliette Folmer and Lorna Mitchell - and there's a special offer for PHPWomen members that still haven't purchased their tickets. If you register through this link, you can get an automatic £20 discount off the normal ticket price (now going for £120). You can get more information about the conference from the main PHP UK Conference website.

Elizabeth Naramore, one of the founding members of the PHPWomen group, has posted a new to her blog today. The post is a list of things that've been happening in the group recently but might not be the most public.

Some of the happenings she mentions are the inclusion of a new member, Remi Woler, into their core advisory group, the over 600 members in their forums, ideas for raising money to contribute towards charities and an effort to create and maintain a calendar of events happening in the PHP community.

If you're interested in helping out, drop Elizabeth an email (elizabeth .at. naramore .dot. net) or you can contact any of the other members of the group via their forums or their blogs.

Just in time for the holidays the PHP Women have released a calendar for the new year (2010) featuring photos of several of the founders and leaders in the group (as taken at php|tek 2009).

The rumours have been flying around for a while, and we even dropped some hints; since its December it is time for us to confirm that there is a PHPWomen Calendar available for 2010, and it is now on sale. It features our charter members dressed as the beautiful women they are, with a guest appearance by our booth babes.

You can check out the calendar over on Zazzle and pick up a copy of your own for prices between $24 and $30 USD (depending on the size ordered). Ten percent of each purchase goes directly back to the PHP Women organization where it will be used for their many programs (like mentoring and other programs to help out women in the PHP community).

The PHPWomen group has announced an new channel on the Freenode IRC network to compliment their already existing #phpwomen channel - and this one's just for the ladies.

Our existing channel #phpwomen remains open to all but we're adding a little space for the women to get together without the men if they want to. This channel has a password - pop in to #phpwomen on freenode, introduce yourself and request access details if you want to join in!

If you've never gotten in on IRC but want to find out more about it (and connecting to the Freenode network) check out the About section on the Freenode website. Come join in the discussion on both this new channel and on the current everyone's-invited #phpwomen channel!

You've seen them at conferences and on various members of the PHP community, but now you can order one of your own - PHPWomen t-shirts are for sale from the Spreadshirt website.

We're happy to announce that we are making variations of our PHPWomen t-shirts for sale! Now those of you who couldn't make it to the conferences can get a PHPW shirt for every day of the week.

You can order one of seven different shirts in both men's and women's sizes (including the optional white on eggplant color in the men's sizes and a eggplant on lavender women's shirt). Pricing starts at around $20 USD and ranges up to $24 USD. For US and Canada orders use this site, for European orders use this site.

Been hearing about the PHPWomen group but not sure exactly what they're about? Brian Gorbett took the opportunity of having several of the members of the group in one place at this year's php|tek conference and shot a video interview with three (then joined by one more) of them.

I sit down with 4 women (3 at first, then lig joins us) in chicago at php|tek that are helping women get involved in programming and technology. Learn how they got started and what they are doing today.

If you're interested in the group, male or female, you can find out more about them on their website or in their About page.

The PHP Women are trying to put together a different sort of "cookbook" than most of the community might be used to. It combines two meanings of the word and gives both PHP "recipes" and actual ones once the book is flipped.

Hi, there has been the idea/concept of a PHPWomen Cookbook being produced. Being Silly thing that I am, I [BinaryKitten] volunteered to collate and produce it. You read the book 1 way and it will all be PHP Recipes. Flip the book over and it will all be culinary recipes.

They're still in the panning stages, so they need feedback from the community as to whether the idea can get off the ground, who might want to contribute to the recipes and what it would take to get it into print and distributed. Have some ideas? let them know! (and no, you don't have to be female to participate)

If you're headed to the Florida Linux Show and are hoping to find a bit of PHP there, you're in luck! Members of the PHP Women group will be attending!

If you happen to be in Jacksonville, Florida on March 9th be sure to drop in and see us at the Florida Linux Show. We should have a small booth set up to sit and chat about whatever you wish.

The Florida Linux Show is a yearly event that focuses on business and Open Source software (and finding the right match for both). This year's Jacksonville event will be held at the UNF University Center on March 9th, 2009. You can find out more about the event on their website.

The PHP Women have started up a new contest today - their "I am" competition:

PHPWomen is delighted to announce the arrival of a new competition here at phpwomen.org. To win, all you have to do is complete this sentence: "I am a phpwomen member because..." and tell us how you got to where you are today and what brings you to the site. You should put your entry into the forum thread before the end of February.

There's no limits on who can enter ("women, men, aliens and pets") but posts that aren't in the general spirit of the competition woul dbe in danger of being deleted. The prize for the winner (besides the glory, of course) is a $50 USD gift certificate from the fine folks at php|architect.

Not a member yet? Find our more about it here!