Tag: wordcamp

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic

I spent Saturday at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic in Baltimore. It was my first WordCamp, the one in Boston having taken place just after I moved down to Maryland.

I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to make it to the event, was on the waitlist, but managed to leapfrog the list by responding to a call for volunteers. I spent some time at reception (but most of the checking-in was done by others), directed people to sources of coffee, listened to complaints about the directions, etc., but was mainly free to roam.

Most of the online discussion of the event is to be found at Twitter (#wcma), rather than on WordPress blogs. A micro-sign of the times, perhaps.

It won’t be my last WordCamp. I hope to be at (and have offered to help with) WCMA next year.

WordCamp Boston 2010

James of Boston WordPress Meetup is organizing a WordCamp, to be held in Boston early next year. WordPress is the software behind this and millions of other blogs; a WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress.

Next year is the first year for decades that I won’t be based in Massachusetts, so I’ll probably miss WordCamp Boston. In past times, I might have muttered that I’d have to miss it because of my bad luck. But it’s just as true to say that I’ll miss WordCamp Boston because I didn’t organize one earlier, despite knowing that Boston is an excellent city for a WordCamp.

Perhaps I should try to get to Boston BLOGtoberfest, the 2009 edition of which is but a few weeks away.

Those interested in WordCamp Boston might want to take the poll on when it should happen. I was hoping for Sunday February 7, the day after Unity Games XVI, but: I note that something else is happening that day; and only Saturdays are on the poll.

Thanks to Patrick Havens for the photo of WordPress schwag. Patrick took the photo at WordCamp San Francisco 2008. He made it available under Creative Commons, which seems like a WordPressian thing to do. By the way: San Francisco is the most WordCamp’d city, with a score of 4; Chicago hosted a WordCamp earlier this year, without the support of Barack Obama; Brazil also hosted one earlier this year.

Not at WordCamp

I’m not at WordCamp in San Francisco, but Andrew Mager is, and he’s liveblogging the one-day event like there’s no tomorrow. Henry Work concentrates on Matt’s State of the Word address. To summarize 2008 so far: impressive growth.

To summarize 2009: easier upgrades are the focus. I’m glad to hear that. Being easy to install in the first place is all very well, but upgrades are often trickier than installations.

So I was in Boston today (and lunch was dim sum rather than bbq). I look forward to a day when I can be in Boston and at a WordCamp.

WordPress 2.5 and…

After WordPress 2.5, what next? Matt Mullenweg gave a talk at the recent WordCamp in Dallas about 2.5 and beyond. There’s video of the talk at the WordPress Podcast. The “beyond” part of the talk, which starts at around the 50 minute mark, doesn’t include anything earth-shattering.

The more immediate sequel to the launch of 2.5 was the 2.5-ification of WordPress.com. That just happened, to considerable outcry in the support forums. Some of the outcry might have been pre-empted by an announcement that the dashboard was about to change, and here’s how. On the other hand, some people just plain don’t like the new dash, and are lobbying for the return of the old look, or at least for the option of keeping the old look. Personally, I’m not part of the outcry, which I expect to die down soon.