Development by Davis: “Optimizing your OSCON experience” plus 1 more

Posted: 13 Jul 2012 04:00 AM PDT

It's that time of year, again—the annual family reunion for many folks in the open source community, O'Reilly's Open Source Conference (OSCON). More than 3,000 people will gather at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland to discuss a wide variety of topics from over 300 speakers on July 16-20, 2012. OSCON has 18 tracks this year, and I'm particularly looking forward to a number of sessions on community, geek lifestyle, healthcare, and open education.

For those of you who are heading to OSCON for the first time, I have a few tips to help you get the most out of this year's conference:

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Event Organizers Unite!

Posted: 13 Jul 2012 01:18 AM PDT

I'm happy to announce the formation of a new official contributor group within the WordPress project for the organizers of in-person events that promote WordPress. Though there are hundreds of people around the globe organizing WordCamps, WordPress meetups, hackathons, free classes and the like, since their "projects" were all happening locally there was never a central hub of activity for these folks. Despite the many informal connections between community organizers, we weren't taking advantage of the huge existing knowledge base as new organizers stepped up to the plate.

With the creation of this new contributor group, we finally have a way to organize and recognize these kinds of contributions, a clear avenue for feedback and input when it comes to policies around official events, and the opportunity to create even more connections between community organizers through mentorship programs and group projects. I'm especially excited about the creation of this group because until now the role of community organizer, while one of the most important, has not gotten the same recognition as higher-profile contribution methods such as forum support or core code contribution. That is something I hope this group will change, and the local organizers can be recognized for the community leaders they are.*

If you are the organizer of a local WordCamp, WordPress meetup, etc., head over to http://make.wordpress.org/events/ and introduce yourself so we can include you in the fun!

Speaking of meetups, an update on my last post about meetups is long overdue. With around 500 meetup organizers (and/or potential organizers) responding to my last survey, it took much longer than anticipated to review all the responses. We're working now with meetup.com to issue invitations to join a centralized WordPress Meetup account, so if you filled out the form earlier this year, you should be hearing from them soon. The first wave of existing meetup account transfers (for those who opted in) should happen in the next two weeks, with additional waves every 3 months thereafter (and new groups will be able to be created along the way).

The contributor summit that is being planned for the end of October also generated hundreds of responses/nominations, so that review process is still happening, but we should be announcing some basic plans and issuing invitations soon.

And finally, it would be impossible to talk about in-person WordPress events without mentioning the upcoming annual WordCamp in San Francisco. As the event that represents the worldwide project as a whole, it's the perfect time to evaluate where we stand as a project and as a community, to help determine where we go next. If you're a WordPress user, developer, or in any way a part of our vast and interconnected ecosystem, please take a moment to fill in the 2nd annual WordPress survey. It's just a couple of questions, and your input would be greatly appreciated. The results of the survey will be announced at WSCF, and a report issued shortly thereafter.

Thanks!

* I am also of the firm belief that academic and arts activities should earn varsity letters just like sports teams do — go mathletes!

Development by Davis