WordCamp started at 9:30 on a beautiful Sunday morning in New York. Did anybody show up?
O, ye of little faith! About 100 of us spent more than 8 hours in a conference room at Sun Microsystems in midtown. Well before the day ended, some of the bloggers announced that they had found a bar where people could continue their education in the finer points of WordPress after hours. Those of us who had to catch buses back to New Jersey never found out how many were sober when their training was complete. Clearly WordCamp was a success.

A hundred people on a Sunday morning? Was WordCamp, like, free?
It cost $30. But that got you bagels and Danish for breakfast and a sack lunch: a sandwich, salad, fruit, and an oversized chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookie. And we got some nice stretchy orange-and-brown WordPress T-shirts that, so they would fit you even if you ate a lot of the mini cherry pastries at breakfast.

Why do you think so many people showed up for WordCamp?
I’ll quote Matt Mullenweg ma.tt/about/, founding developer of WordPress, who dealt with that question during his keynote address: “I believe WordPress users are smarter and more attractive than the general population.”

Was that Matt’s best joke?
No. Matt’s best joke was his entertaining imitation of how the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper almost got blown away while reporting on a recent hurricane. “They should get, like, a heavier person to cover hurricanes,” Matt said, leaning to one side. [Note: My notes say that Matt actually said: “They should put, like, a heavier person to cover hurricanes," but my version sounds better, don't you think?]

So Matt’s jokes were the best part of WordCamp?
The best part of WordCamp was that the program had something for everybody. At least a third of the participants said that they considered themselves Web developers or designers. Most of the rest were rank-and-file bloggers like me. A few said, in effect, that they didn't have blogs yet but had come realize that this was a tragic mistake that they planned to undo.

What did you learn about WordPress from WordCamp?
WordPress is one of the largest open-source projects on the Web along with Firefox and a few others. It has about 4 million blogs, and version 2.7 will come out in November. The most popular page among bloggers on WordPress is the stats page. The most popular plug-in is Akismet spam protection.

WordPress also offers a lot of colorful, free themes, which combine display and plug-in features and help to determine the look of your site. Unfortunately, some con artists on the Web falsely claim to offer legal alternatives to these. If you download their fake themes, they put evil codes on your site that load it with spam or worse. So if you don’t like the free WordPress themes, you should buy a Premium theme from WordPress or have somebody you trust design one for you.

Another piece of bad news was that in China censors have sometimes removed as many as 80 percent of WordPress posts.

Did anybody mention that rumor that the CIA uses WordPress?
Isn’t that fascinating? It’s true, apparently. Matt said in his speech that the U.S. government agencies that have WordPress blogs include the following: the Air Force, the Army, the CIA, the Coast Guard, the FBI, the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security. And he wasn't joking the way he was about Anderson Cooper and the hurricane. That so many government agencies use WordPress shows you how secure it is compared with some other blogging platforms. Will the Oval Office be next?

You'll find more WordCamp New York wordcamp.info/2008/10/05/october-2008-upcoming-wordcamps/ and on the New York WordPress Meetup wordpress.meetup.com/169/calendar/8858860/.

© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
www.janiceharayda.com

© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

Si quieres saber quien es Steve Ballmer, Mitchell Baker, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Jeff Clavier, Paul Graham, Arianna Huffington, Joi Ito, Steve Jobs, Jonathan Kaplan, Loic Le Meur, Jack Ma, Matt Mullenweg, Rupert Murdoch, Craig Newmark, Gabe Rivera, Kevin Rose, Sheryl Sandberg, Jon Stewart, Peter Thiel, Maria Thomas, Anssi Vanjoki, Jimmy Wales, Evan Williams o Jerry Yang, y que han hecho para merecer estar en este ranking, echa un vistazo a la presentación de diapositivas para descubrir por qué todos ellos tienen el mayor impacto en la web durante estos días. 

Matt Mulleweg, criador do Wordpress e fundador da Automattic virá ao Brasil daqui mais ou menos um mês. Além de conhecer um de nossos cartões postais (As Cataratas do Iguaçú) e fazer umas compras do outro lado da ponte da amizade (essa parte é brincanagem!), será palestrante no LV Latinoware - V Conferência Latino-Americana de Software Livre, em Foz do Iguaçú, no sábado 1º de novembro, às 18h00.

Há tempos quero fazer 3 coisas: ir a esta conferência, conhecer Foz e tomar uma breja com o Matt.  Portanto, estou tentando montar um grupo para ir até lá e baixar custos de transporte, hospedagem e cerveja - além de ter com quem conversar sobre nerdices relativas a software livre, comunidades, inteligência coletiva e o Wordpress na ida e na volta.

Se estiver interessado, entre em contato com o tio Celso Bessa mandando mensagem para celsobessapostits[[arroba]]gmail.com . Mas precisa ser ponta firme.

Abaixo reproduzo o post sobre o assunto no blog da comunidade Wordpress-BR, onde aliás, podem encontrar diversas informações valiosas.

Matt Mullenweg no Brasil

p>Uma ótima notícia para a nossa comunidade é a vinda de Matt Mullenweg, o desenvolvedor fundador do WordPress, para o Brasil. Ele virá para participar da Latinoware - V Conferência Latino-Americana de Software Livre que vai acontecer em Foz do Iguaçu entre os dias 30 de outubro e 1º de novembro. O Matt dará uma palestra no dia 1º, sábado, no COLA-PHP (Conferência Latino Americana de PHP), mini-evento que ocorre dentro da Latinoware.

Os interessados em participar e assistir sua palestra deverão se dirigir ao site do evento para fazer as inscrições. Até amanhã, dia 1º de outubro, o valor é de R$45,00. Depois os valores vão subindo:

• de 02/10/2008 a 15/10/2008: R$ 65,00.
• de 16/10/2008 a 29/10/2008: R$ 85,00.
• no dia do evento: R$ 100,00.

Portanto, corra para não perder a oportunidade. Há caravanas organizadas pelo evento saindo de vários locais do Brasil, cobrando apenas R$10,00 pelo transporte.

PS: Aliás, parabéns ao trabalho voluntário de tradução e adaptação do wordpress feito pela Wordpress - BR, Comunidade Brasileira de Wordpress.

(se você não foi esperto o suficiente: troque o [[arroba]] acima por @)

Video Source, » How WordPress Has Changed My Life

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The WordPress Staff conducted a laser test a few months back they invited a few selected WordPress.COM & WordPress.ORG members to per take in on the laser test were there eyes were tracked by a laser to see with the current dashboard how there eyes would relate to the dashboard setup then after the study was complete they studied there data and started designing the prototype dashboard Code name "GrazyHorse" which is a totally revamped dashboard with more flexibility as well as better navigation setup...

Update I created a screen cast While I was checking out the "CrazyHorse" Demo Site.
'CrazyHorse' should be release in November!
Update There is now a Survey you can take to help improve "CrazyHorse"

Here is a video of the revamped dashboard in action'

Video courtesy » Social TNT
[blip.tv ?posts_id=1184631&dest=-1]

Check out more articles By: Teck

Related articles
WordCamp NYC: Matt Mullenweg on the State of Wordpress (video)
Matt Mullenweg Demo of Wordpress 2.7

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credits to: inquirer.net

too bad, the video wouldn't load. anyway, i wasn't able to come because i was ill then. i was able to have my tamarythtis then so i haven't be with those guys present there.

just that..hahaha.

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Our speakers for September are Matt Mullenweg & Toni Schneider. They are respectively President and CEO of Automattic, which runs blogging software platform and web service Wordpress.com (used to publish this blog), as well as several other  cool products & solutions. Matt & Toni will talk about open source communities and business models.

For more on open source, try these on for size:

• The Cathedral & The Bazaar (Eric Raymond)
• What Business Can Learn from Open Source & Hackers & Painters (Paul Graham)
• Open Sources (DiBona / Ockman / Stone)

Matt Mullenweg blogs at http://ma.tt. He is best known as the founding developer of WordPress, the blogging software he guided from a handful of users to the most widely used open source blog tool. In late 2005 he left CNET to found Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Akismet.com, and Gravatar. In his spare time he enjoys taking photographs and playing jazz.

Toni Schneider is the CEO of Automattic, makers of the highly popular WordPress blogging software. Prior jobs include a VP position at Yahoo where he started the Yahoo Developer Network, and CEO of Oddpost, an AJAX/webmail pioneer that was acquired by Yahoo in 2004. Toni began his career developing 3D audio software for NASA. He blogs at toni.org, is a venture partner at True Ventures, grew up in Switzerland, studied computer science at Stanford University, and was named startup CEO of the year 2007 by TechCrunch.

They were the ones there who arrived shortly after 6 am, on September 6, 2008 to make sure your badges were in order, the barcode readers were working, the kits and shirts complete, the sponsors, speakers and VIP taken care of, and the campers happy and content.

If I could only hire these people for my company, or to work with, I really, really would. I have no complaints whatsoever. They did their jobs, without complaining. Well, some of them did. They complained they didn't have enough tasks. LOL!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH to the following people who made WordCamp Philippines a big success and an enjoyable experience!!!

First off, the bloggers who helped us coordinate and supervise the young ones:

• Arbet Bernardo
• Sharline Cruz
• Rein Langit
• Jehzeel Laurente
• Arpee Lazaro
• ChiQ Montes who flew in from Cagayan de Oro City
• Gwen Nava
• Fritz Tentativa
• Jonel Uy
• Paul Villacorta from Cotabato City
• Fitz Villafuerte
• Melo Villareal

And to the wonderful, hardworking, and energetic volunteers from CSB Computer Business Association and the Association of Information Management led by Angelique De Leon and Luigi Dollosa who were both very, very helpful and hardworking. The other CSB volunteers were:

• Caseylyn Pantaleon
• Bernadette Buhat
• Louie Lam
• Junette Villahermosa
• Stephanie Tiu
• Evita Gatpandan
• Melissa Moulic
• Sheena Payabyab
• Christie Garte
• Ruther Evasco
• Vince Morales
• Miguel Cueto
• Theo Collantes
• Tasha Reyes
• Aldrich Dorado
• Angelie Alcoriza
• Shelyn Chua
• Marylyn Lim

Most of these students knew very little about WordPress or blogging, but they still worked hard and persevered even if some of them didn't have shirts or badges. They were there when they were needed, and didn't ask for anything in return. If any of you need a character reference for employment or other purposes, I shall help you out. :)

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!

Photos courtesy of PhotoDrew.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="top (left): badge; (center) bloggers; (right) our official photographer ;P bottom (left): lunch from chowking; (right) joy with matt mullenweg"][/caption]

During the Wordcamp event held at the College of Saint Benilde, bloggers, developers, and Wordpress enthusiasts were given a peek at Wordpress 2.7,  also known as Crazyhorse.  This version of Wordpress will be released this coming November.  Here are several revisions and changes made with version 2.7:

1. The dashboard is no longer there
2. Left navigation has become dynamic
3. The drag and drop feature is now applicable to both sides
4. Comments can now be rearranged
5. Passwords are encrypted

Now i'm sure you'll find these changes exciting!  Just like some of the bloggers who attended the event.  They were so happy about the latest developments that they couldn't help but spread the word via plurk.

Look who's Plurkin!

I have to give it to the guys at Wordpress. This heads up came from Plurk friend Startupmeme.com today on WordPress' new milestone: surpassing the four-million mark for Wordpress.com hosted blogs as soon as September entered the 2008 calendar.

The news was drawn from Joseph Scott's blog posted on Sept. 3, 2006, or three days before WordCamp Philippines in which he proposes that if the sign up trend continues, WordPress.com "will hit 5 million in less than 4 months [or possibly] (end of December?)".

Wordpress.com, on which this blog is hosted, is the free blogging platform of Wordpress.

During the recently-concluded WordCamp Philippines 2008, Matt Mullenweg showed a slide from his presentation of an increase of 1 million in WordPress blogs between his talk in Manila and WordCamp San Francisco in August — in just within three weeks.

Matt also said at WordCamp Philippines 2008 that there have been, thus far:

• 4 million beta-testers
• 11 million downloads so far
• a total of 5 default plug-ins use in WordPress blogs on the average
• between 1-2.3 million new blogs

This milestone proves that the principle behind WordPress' dedication towards user satisfaction and a continuous effort towards achieving a robust and secure platform is on the right track.

Because of Matt's personal appearance and targeted presentation last Saturday, it is comforting to know that there are companies, developers, programmers and designers who are inclined to listen to users and strive to offer good service. I wish all the guys over at Wordpress all the best.

There were several talks during the morning session where the bloggers can choose their desired topics. I decided to roam around the area first. I enjoyed the Video Blogging session by Kring Elenzano. She's so funny. Haha...

Our lunch was care of Chow King. Thank you sponsor!

The afternoon sessions' topics were also interesting but I can't help to close my eyes because I was really sleepy. I hoped to win in any of the raffles (especially the Google shirts). Unfortunately, I did not.

But the main highlight of the event is Mr. Wordpress - Mr. Matt Mullenweg. It is really a great pleasure for us bloggers to have him in the event. I did not lose my chance to be able to tell him that I am a very happy Wordpress.com user. I also had a picture with him... unfortunately, it is blurred. Gosh! I hope I took another one. Anyway, here is our picture...

I have also uploaded some pictures in my Multiply site.

I also saw some fellow bloggers there like Menthol Guy (a.k.a. UtakGago) and Coy Caballes.

From GMANews.tv:
WordPress enthusiasts meet for WordCamp Philippines

I missed the morning sessions and I feel deprived of knowing about some important issues regarding blog services in general, and the state of WordPress in the Philippines, in particular (courtesy of Chuckie Dreyfus).

However, I made sure to stay the rest of the day and be at the highlight of the event which I believe was WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg's talk and the premiere with live demo of version WP 2.7. But that is getting ahead of myself.

MANILA

There is something about the City of Manila, the once proud and bustling city — it still is, although in a different way — that makes me psychologically prepare more for a trip there more than any other, especially further to the south by the Baclaran-Pasay City boundary area near where the DLSU-St. Benilde is located.

Perhaps it is that living in a northern suburban part of the Metro for the last 20 years has made me more at ease with my environ, more in control of my bearings and lesser on my guard most of the time. Manila, the City, is not an alien territory having lived in the beautiful Malate district in the 70s. It means I can navigate through most of the City if I ever get stuck in traffic, but a trip to the eastern side of Taft Avenue is something I do with caution and attentiveness because I rarely ventured there as a child.

Needless to say, because I was not fully prepared to tackle the trip to the Camp especially if I had taken the connecting train trips as I had originally planned — meaning, to have to tread through the crowd alighting at the last MRT stop and navigate the corner of EDSA and Taft Avenue as brisk and as vigilant as possible — I made the mistake of taking the cab through the backdoor.

Manila is never without surprises, both pleasant and unkind, and on that Saturday of WordCamp, it was even more unpleasant than usual when traffic ate most of my travel time just a few blocks away from the venue coming in via Singalong. It did not help that it felt like the most humid day of the year and lugging a total of around 3kg-plus of accessoria, including an extra jacket, power cables, personal ephemera and such, was no mean feat for a small person like myself.

ORGANIZERS

Thank God for the efficiency of the organizers who gave fair warning days ahead of the schedule (take note, everything at the participants' end of this event was done electronically: the announcement, pre-qualification, approval and instructions, without me ever making of a phone call or SMS) and having breezed past the school guards with their bar code scanners and push-button entrances, getting into the event venue itself was easy. On a side note, the organizers arranged the IDs alphabetically, alright, not by surname but by first name. How nice.

Unfortunately, the breakaway sessions had started and were almost ending, in fact. I was advised to wait out or take an early lunch down at the 4th level where a roomful of styro-packed, fast-food lunch was lined, courtesy of a sponsor. I did manage to get into a room about CME/CMS I believe it was, just to see how these were conducted. The projected examples on the screen was too washed out and blurry to be read from the back row, but the room size (a class room) was small enough to make any soft-spoken facilitator audible. Meanwhile, the organizers had gathered all media personnel in another room by the theater for a press con with Matt.

I was surprised at the number of unclaimed IDs at the house. This meant there were as many registered participants not attending as those who were at the WordCamp. Some volunteers I asked about the unclaimed IDs did not have any idea what may have caused that many a qualified bloggers not attending. I think that's sad, for whatever reason each had for being unable to go, a courtesy of a call or notification should have been made.

WELL-DESERVED LUNCH

Lunch was served in a very orderly manner. The WCampers who lined up seemed like hungry for physical nourishment by that time, after getting their doses of blog-related food for thought in the breakaway sessions in the morning.

Lunch break was followed by a call to rescan all IDs to be eligible for give-aways. This part was fun, especially to the winners who were cited for significant accomplishments as early registration, early arrivals, naming of sponsors and such. Prizes were given throughout the afternoon sessions, with some ID numbers called out without claimants, which meant many more had gone home or took a break.

THE MEAT OF WORDCAMP 2008: INSIGHTS AND A WORLD PREMIERE

This is the meat of the action, so to speak. Not only because it was a forecast but because the forecast, barring glitches, came from the acknowledged founder himself, Matt Mullenweg, on behalf of the creators. But what is so significant about WordPress and why should there even be an event in Manila just for and about this?

One of the interesting things Matt mentioned was looking at Philippine or Filipino WordPress blogs as he was preparing to come over, and having a difficult time finding an accurate hit. What he did offer, however, was a data entry drawn from Alexa ranking the Philippines at #24 (the category escapes me) following that with a WordPress Alexa stat at...no. 24! How auspicious! Matt did note that the data he saw from Southeast Asia reveals Bahasa to be at the top among languages, which, to me drives home two points: many blogs by Filipinos for Filipinos, from or about the Philippines, are written in English and these are not frequently tagged as Philippines, Filipinos or Tagalog.

Matt echoed much of what many internet specialists are saying the internet is about in our current generation, which, in essence, is that "the world is becoming more social...[and with the continuous development of WordPress] will have a way to establish ways to put everything together and add social aspects to one's site", especially with the forthcoming release of the more powerful WP upgrade come November 2008.

WORDPRESS V 2.7

Without further ado, 2.7 was first publicly demo'd at WordCamp Philippines with very positive and, I believe, very effective interface geared towards giving the users the power to modify one's site — like it hasn't already yet with its open-source platform — and perfecting many buggy features that came with past upgrades. Four of these features stand out for me: [1] almost seamless drag-and-drop capabilities, [2] a more intuitive dashboard by rearranging tabs and features, [3] stricter security and [4] a robust platform.

For the first two points, Matt revealed that they spent a large amount of time utilizing eye-tracking technology and a battery of tests on many users and perfecting it across many browsers to get to the point where the forthcoming WP platform vis-à-vis intuitive user experience will be flawless without the actual programming getting in the way, "automagically happening in the background", he says.

The third important point he stressed was dealing with security issues. WordPress is even more becoming the platform of choice of many important news blogs such as The New York Times and CNN (as of this post on Matt's page is a testimonial by Martha Stewart on why she just moved from TypePad to WordPress). They overhauled the database code and redid cookie cacheing and password encryption, among others. I believe the army of developers at WordPress cannot afford to risk its platforms's reputation and the public's trust if it slacks on security. 

Then there is the added feature of taking advantage of the current Web2.0 functions and turning on multi-modal blogging via the BuddyPress, like a "Facebook-in-a-box and SNS integrated within one's post". However, this will only be available on self-hosted sites under wordpress.org.

Lastly, he assured us, attendees, and all the WordPress users, that their biggest effort is geared towards making WordPress a robust platform. Part of this effort is being all ears and listening to what the users want and need, as well as being present in fora such as the WordCamp to listen to feedbacks and opinions they could consider implementing.

THOUGHTS: MINE

The reason I am all the more attracted to WordPress (like I am to Plurk, for instance) is because there are real people behind the GUIs and platforms who actually listen, inform and make their presence felt. From my experience, WordPress was not easy to handle at the beginning, and I preferred other platforms like Blogspot for ease of use.

What I do find powerful is that I can edit posts for my own security as well as of other user comments, such as the ability to delete their email addresses (once confirmed) to avoid phishing by malicious sites or bots. I also find the add-ons useful (although they were initially limited), plus, javascript codes for other nice-looking plug-ins are not supported on the free site yet. Matt said they do not intend to turn this feature on at all, at least to Wordpress.com sites.

Matt says that he values user feedbacks and finds time to read blogs of other WordPress users; is in fact familiar with the earlier Wordpress.org sites and is delighted at meeting the people behind these sites as he did on his trip here.

He reiterated that by listening to users, he and the people behind the development of WordPress allows them to add features "ahead of anybody else", and by sticking with open-source allows many designers and coders the freedom to innovate and personalize each site as they please, as well as open up the opportunity for more designers and users to come together for a compleat web experience.

DEEPER THOUGHTS: MATT'S

WordCamp ended the day with a pow-wow, a Q&A session with Matt answering the following, among others (from my notes, not complete):

• built-in cacheing and back-cacheing will be enabled for all blogs and across all blogs;
• they are looking into implementing threaded comments;
• he still actively writes core codes for WordPress but is more involved towards the final stages like clean-up and QAT's and such;
• that, among others, they are looking into creating downloadable "how-to" PDFs and screencasts for WordPress users, particularly for the new bloggers;
• that he is with WordPress full time;
• that they closely manage 27 smart people worldwide who work for WordPress;
• that they have released WordPress mobile support via updates using the iPhone; it was unclear, however, if they are developing the same for other brands and OS'es;
• that WordPress is open to Filipino developers and/or designers because, in principle, WordPress does not select based on geographical location or nationality "or we'd be cutting the world in half";
• that his blog is titled "Unlucky in Cards"; he explained that it came came from the saying "Lucky in cards, unlucky in ..." then trailed off...
• and that he will vote for Barack Obama.

Soft-spoken and shy, Matt said it succinctly, "I'm just a guy that travels around. I listen to what people want. I never dreamt of coming to Manila. I was a kid in Texas who wanted to share the joy of open source."

Thank you for taking time to come to our shores, Matt Mullenweg. You're lucky to have the MindanaoBloggers take care of you. Thank you to the volunteer-bloggers putting on a smile for everyone throughout the day, and to the facilitators, one of whom I had the pleasure of an introduction, thank you.

Next time, other bloggers who fail to give as much as a courtesy RSVP to the organizers should think about the effort these guys put into making sure events like these are worth everybody's time.

Lastly, I think that if Filipino bloggers want to be on the map, each should remember to tag their posts or add to their profiles: "Philippines" or "Filipino/s".

 ~ 6.05pm

EDIT 1: Sept 9, 2008 12:50pm A couple more photos can be viewed from here.
EDIT 2: Sept 10, 2008 12:50pm a rundown of everyone who made the WordCamp possible here.

Dalawang bonggaycious na events ang naganap noong nakaraang weekend.  Noong Sabado, nagtipon ang mga blogger ng Wordpress sa College of Saint Benilde para sa kauna-unahang Wordcamp sa Southeast Asia; habang noong Linggo naman ay pakabugan ng stunts at kembot ang naging happening sa Araneta Coliseum dahil sa UAAP Cheering Competition.  At dahil tight ang budget kets (bad timing lang dahil naganap ang mga itets bago magkasuweldo), kailangang pumili ang maganda't maalindog na blogger ng masang kabaklaan sa kung alin ang dapat puntahan.

Napagdesisyunan kets na sodom gumora sa Wordcamp Philippines 2008.  Tutal, naroon daw si Chuckie Dreyfus bilang isa sa mga speaker at gogora rin sa event si Matt Mullenweg, ang promotor at ang may kasalanan kung bakit isang napakabonggaycious na blogging platform ang Wordpress.

Ang problema, nag-umpisa ang Wordcamp ng alas-8 ng umaga at nasa Ortigas pa rin akets ng alas-7.  Kailangan ko pang umuwi ng balaysung sa Kyusi para asikasuhin ang mag pautos ni Pujay na nag-Tour of America na naman.  Wala akong choice kundi gumora sa Wordcamp nang alas-2 ng hapon.  Kebs lang, ika nga ni Suzanne ng Temptation Island, "Late entrance, early exit.  'Yan ang dramatic!"

Nasa kalagitnaan ng lecture si Matt nang dumating kets, pero puro kageekyhan naman pala ng discussion ditets:  updates sa Wordpress.org, mga demo ng mga sponsor websites, web standards chuva.  Nasaan ang Sexbomb Girls?  Charot!

Intermission muna, mga Mare!

Very laudable ang effort ng mga organizer sa event na itets, pero may isa lang akong reklamo:  Nakakaloka ang pamimigay ng mga major prize. Keri na sana 'yung pa-raffle para makatanggap ng premiere night tickets para sa "I Trust And Love You" (na ewan ko ba kung bakit pinagtawanan ng naaaaaaaapakasusyal na awdyens), Google mugs, gift packs mula sa Smart etchapuwera etchapuwera; kaya lang pagdating sa enggrandeng libreng .ph domain name (.ph meaning "pa hada" ika nga ni Patrick) Pahirapan sa Trese ang drama.  Hulaan daw kung ano ang laman ng 2D code chuvalu ng mga organizer.  Paano namin malalaman, lalapitan namin sila na para close na kami?  Nasagi minsan sa isip kets na baka type lang nilang harbatin ang premyo, which is understandable.  Kahit nga ang mga maledukadong movie reporter ng mga pipitsuging tabloid, ultimo lechon baboy hinaharbat sa presscon.

O baka naman hindi sila makaisip ng bonggang paraan kung paano mamigay ng mga papremyo.  Aba'y dapat tinanong nila akets.  Years ago nga sa isang event sa UP Manila, kailangang ipamigay ang mga maliliit na mouth wash pero sabi ng sponsor dapat interesting daw.  Ano ang ginawa kets?  Nagpakyuwag ng mga magdyowa, patagalan ng halikan.  Palakpakan ang awdyens habang tuloy lang sa pagtugtog ang banda.

Kaya habang patuloy sa paglektyur chuva ng iba pang mga speaker, naglista si watashi ng mga benggang paraan kung papaano ipamigay ang mga parapol sa Wordcamp 2008:

POP QUIZ

Hindi 'yun katulad ng mga tinanong ng organizer na "Hulaan ang paboritong food ni Matt sa Davao" o "Ano raw ang totoong pangalan ng organizer chuchu?"  Ang mga tanong ay dapat 'yung mga tipong "What is the capital of Biliran Province" sabay unahan sa pag-research ang awdyens sa Wikipedia at kung anuman gamit ang kani-kanilang mga laptop.  Ang unang lalakeng makakasagot ay hindi lamang makakatanggap ng premyo kundi makakatanggap din ng halik mula kay Empress Maruja.

BRING ME CONTEST

Unahan ang awdyens sa pagdala sa organizer ng "smallest laptop" halimbawa, o kaya "bring me the shortest blogger," "bring me Janette Toralba," etchapuwera.  Ang unang lalakeng makakapagpadala ng pinapa-bring me ay makakatanggap ng halik mula kay Empress Maruja.

WIN A DATE WITH AILYN APOLLO

Mag-bid ang mga contestant ng amount na gusto nila para maka-date si Miss Google Earth Philippines.  Ang mga matatalo ay makakatanggap ng halik mula kay Empress Maruja.

WIN A DATE WITH MATT MULLENWEG

I'm sure papatok ang larong itets, sa dami pa naman ng mga gelay na laglag kyonti kay Matt.  Sagutin lamang nila ang tanong na itets:  "If you were to become the First Lady of Wordpress, what will you do to fight poverty in the Philippines?"  Pipiliin ni Matt ang winner, and at the same time makakatanggap din siya ng halik mula kay Empress Maruja.

Napatanong din aket kay Matt noong nagkaroon ng Open Forum.  Tungkol lang itets kung posible na ba niyang payagan ang Javascript sa mga kuriputsinang bloggers ng Free Wordpress gaya kets.  Ayaw daw niya, pero undeniable na maraming hit na hit na programs ang nasa javascript ngayon gaya ng Twitter, Last FM, Plurk, at iba pa.  (Add niyo akets sa mga iyan:  empressmaruja)  Ang challenge ngayon ay kung posible bang maging Wordpress-compliant kahit man lang ang mga itets.  Abangan na lang daw natin.

Natapos ang event sa isang enggrandeng agawan ng pakikipag-photo op kay Matt.  Naku huh, talagang wala nang hiyaan itraksi! Kebs kung wang digicam ang Empress at isang mumurahing 3G phone ang ginamit ni watashi para kunan ang mga piktyur na itets.

Sa sandaling attendance ng bakla sa Wordcamp, masasabi kong isa siyang malaking success.  Binabatiti niya ang mga organizer dahil umuwing masaya't may ngiti sa mga labi ang mga umattend.  Hopefully mas bonggaycious ang Wordcamp Philippines 2009, complete with Ati-atihan.  Charot!

With most of my blogs on the Wordpress platform AND with Mr. Wordpress himself, Matt Mullenweg coming to the event, there was NO WAY I was going to miss this event! Even the ADMU-DLSU UAAP games took second place (even if only for a few hours!

Mica rode along with me to the venue site, the College of St. Benilde. We exchanged our campers passes for real badges (complete with barcode scanning!). I was excited to meet Ria and Blogie again and met Gwen for the first time (although we had been Plurk buddies already for some time).

We opened with a plenary session that had the head of CSB and Blogie welcoming all the campers.While all this was going on, I spotted Matt sitting a few rows behind me and took this shot of Mr. Wordpress --

and here --

The morning sessions were breakaway ones, depending on whether you were on the user or developer track. Obviously, I chose the user track.

My first session was Blogging 102 with Jayvee.

Several of us almost did not make it to Jayvee's talk because we were told to go to Rm. 409. There we were, sitting in this room for over 10 minutes when Shari came dashing into the room to tell us we were in the wrong room! Apparently, there was ANOTHER Rm. 409 in another wing of the building! Yikes...we all half walked, half ran to the right room and thankfully still caught a great part of Jayvee's talk which was so well prepared and so educational.

My 2nd session was with Ely Apao who spoke on Organizing and Optimizing Your Wordpress Blog. A lot of what he spoke about affected those who were on Wordpress.org so I could not relate to all of them but I did take down some notes and took pictures of some of his presentation and am filing it away somewhere for future reference.

The 3rd session for the morning was one of the most hilarious but very informative sessions -- Video Blogging by Kring Elenzano.

Kring produces videos and took us through the pros and cons of video blogging (vlogging), how to make a vlog "kick-ass" as she called it. Her presentation was done in a very humorous way (combined of course with spiels from Kring that can only come from....Kring -- including a not-to-be-named comment that got us laughing because she did not realize she was being live-streamed. But I did take pics of every slide she put up because they were filled with great tips (including where lights should be positioned so the subject comes out as well as how to reduce noise and amplify the subject's voice). I absolutely did not regret going to this particular session!!

After a Chowking lunch, I made my way back to the auditorium for the afternoon plenary sessions.

Matt was first in line, regaling us first with interesting stats on the use of Wordpress in the Philippines. (Trivia: Did you know that the Philippines ranked #24 worldwide in terms of Wordpress users?)

He also talked about the future of Wordpress including a live demo of WP version 2.7 which is coming out in November. WOW! We were all eyes and ears!

Aileen (aka Ms. Google Philippines) took us next through Google Analytics (very interesting things you can find about your blog, where visitors come from, what converts more visitors to your site, etc). I think I will spend the next few weeks learning more about this one!

A few more sessions followed after this. Matt later came back on for a Q&A portion (a much awaited opportunity for the campers to ask questions of THE MAN OF THE HOUR). Unfortunately, I could not stay long as the car was already coming for me. I missed the photo op with Matt but came away with a WP bag filled with goodies from the sponsors. And had a chance to get Ria (one of the Mindanao bloggers) to myself for this --

Thanks to the Mindanao bloggers who spearheaded this event. You managed to pull this thing off with aplomb! Looking forward to our next WordCamp Philippines!!!

Here's some link love to people who blogged about WordCamp (I "stole" an initial list from AJ who likewise got it from Jehzlau) and added as I came across other posts:

The New Media Coverage:
1. The Best and Most Memorable Blogger Event in the Phils by Jehzeel Laurente
2. I Got Wordcamped! by Tess Termulo
3. The First WordCamp in Southeast Asia by Adrian Jeric Peña
4. My WordCamp Experience by Master Betong
5. WordCamp Philippines by Hannah Rika Villasis
6. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Nina Fuentes
7. Matt at WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Binary Silver
8. Matt Mullenweg Highlights from WordCamp Phils by The Bachelor Girl
9. WordCamp Philippines Report by Fear the Spork
10. WordCamp Philippines Shirt Please by Evenly Piece
11. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Alrenz Cabasa
12. WordCamp Philippines 2008: A Success! by Melo Villareal
13. WordCamp Phils, 1st Southeast Asia WordCamp by Ana Katharina Pena
14. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Aftermath by Zero Blade
15. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Mae Paulino
16. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Green Bucks
17. Matt Mullenweg by Charmed Mom
18. WordCamp PH 2008 and Afterparty by Carlo Reid
19. WordCamp Philippines After-Party by The WordCamp Philippines Blog
20. WordCamp Philippines 08 by Project 365 Days
21. WordCamp 2008 Philippines by Karla Redor
22. Live Blogging from WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Spilled Lustre
23. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Aja Lapus
24. Experiencing WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Here’s to Life!
25. WordCamp Manila Blow-by-blow by Jonel Uy
26. Just got home from WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
27. Bloggers’ Event: WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Ada Lajara
28. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Winners and Bloopers by Funny Sexy
29. WordCamping 2008 by Billycoy
30. Ernie Meets Matt Mullenweg by AJ Matela
31. Matt Mullenweg, Volunteers, and WordCamp Phils by Misteryosa
32. The WordCamp in Philippines by Mark Aethen Agana
33. Matt Mullenweg by Animo Hosting
34. WordCamp Manila 2008, I was there! by Sha Ang
35. On WordCamp 2008 and Meeting Mr. Wordpress by Diventare.org
36. My WordCamp Philippines 2008 Experience by Regnard Raquedan
37. WordCamp Philippines Status Report by AWB Holdings
38. Live from De La Salle CSB, Marocharim is at WordCamp! by Marocharim
39. For the Love of Wordpress by Kristina Ana Matanguihan
40. WordCamp Pilipinas Success by Ikabon
41. WordCamp 2008: For Healthy and Wealthy Blogging by Hitokiri Hoshi
42. WordCamp 2008 Philippines Success by Arvin’s Thoughts
43. WordCamp, Meeting Matt Mullenweg by Miss Wicked
44. Meeting Matt at WordCamp 2008 by Urriza.net
45. Finally, WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Estan
46. Toothache Vs. WordCamp Philippines by George Putong
47. Notes and Photos, WordCamp Philippines a Success by Tonyo Cruz
48. Some WordCamp Philippines Afterthoughts by Undercover
49. Live Blogging in WordCamp by Pageman
50. My WordCamp Experience by Junele Malaga Caravana
51. WordCamp Philippines A Success! by Sophia Lucero
52. Bakla Goes to WordCamp Philippines by Bakla Ako
53. My WordCamp 2008 Experience by Micaela Rodriiguez
54. WordCamp 2008 Philippines: It’s a success! by Joyceish
55. My WordCamp 2008 Experience by Fitz Villafuerte
56. A Personal Evaluation of WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Danny Arao
57. An Event Which I Failed To Attend by Dexter Panganiban
58. The Wordpress WordCamp Fever by Pinoy Web Listing
59. WordCamp Philippines by Batang Yagit
60. Philippine WordCampers 2008 by Sabrina Lajara
61. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Roanna Roro
62. On Meeting with Mr. Wordpress, Web Standards and Other Stuff by Shari
63. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Highlights by Sophia Lucero
64. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Mong Palatino
65. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Rowjielogy
66. I was WordCamped by The Industrious Time-Waster
67. HURAH! for WordCamp Philippines by Migs Hipolito
68. WordCamp is on today at De La Salle - CSB by AIM CSB
69. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Updates by Teacher Julie
70. My WordCamp Philippines 2008 Experience by Icezorg
71. I was at WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Gail Villanueva
72. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Ramblings by Sarah Cada
73. Weekend Snapshots #6 WordCamp Philippines by Joni Ang
74. WordCamp Philippines - a WordCandy  experience by Flair Candy
75. WordCamp Philippines, below expectations by PinoyTeens
76. My WordCamp Experience by Arpee Lazaro
77. The WordCamp Made Me Sick by Daniel's Mom
78. My WordCamp 2008 Experience by Paul Villacorta
79. Success! by WordCamp Philippines Blog
80. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Tina Elaine
81. WordCamp Philippines 2008: On Being a Remarkable Responsible Blogger by Scrumptious Anime Blog
82. Word-F'N-Camp! by The Deranged Writer
83. WordCamp Philippines 2008 - a success! by the Mindanao Bloggers
84. My WordCamp Experience by The Grape Bunch
85. WordCamp Philippines 2008: Wicked! by Andrew Dela Serna
86. WordCamp Philippines 2008 Video Highlights by Buddy Gancenia
87. WordCamped by La Dolce Vita
88. The WordCamp that was by Oliver Robillo
89. WordCamp Philippines 2008: A Blast! by Rein Winds
90. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by On the 8 Spot
91. WordCamp Philippines 2008: Awesome! by i.PH News and Updates
92. WordCamp: Developing WordPress Plugins by Markku Seguerra
93. A Day of Firsts! by Sablay.Org
94. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Aileen Apolo
95. Wordcamp Pilipinas Success! by Ikabon
96. My WordCamp Philippines 2008 Story by Ria Jose

The Old Media Coverage:
1. Wordpress developer previews new version in RP by Inquirer.net
2. Wordpress enthusiasts meet for WordCamp by GMANews.tv
3. Wordpress Developer lauds RP blogging community by Alexander Villafania
4. Wordpress Creator on the future of RP Blogging Community by Inquirer.net

Some WordCamp Photos from WordCampers:
1. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Jehzeel Laurente
2. WordCamp 2008 Photos by Jayvee Fernandez
3. First WordCamp in Southeast Asia by Hannah Rika Villasis
4. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Tess Termulo
5. WordCamp Philippines by Ada Lajara
6. WordCamp 2008 by Regnard Raquedan
7. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by AJ Matela
8. WordCamp at Benilde by Normz
9. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Micaela Rodriguez
10. Wordpress Philippines 2008 by Shari
11. WordCamp Philippines by Sofimi
12. WordCamp Philippines 2008 by Andrew Dela Serna
13. WordCamp Candy by Flair Candy

Kung tutuusin past time ko lamang ang pagbaba-blog at outlet para maipahayag ang aking mga sentimiento. Masaya ako na marami ang nagbabasa ng blog ko at kapag may nagko-comment, lalo na't hindi naman ako gaanong nag-e-effort na i-promote ito o sumulat ng paksa na hindi ko naman type. So bat pa ako pumunta sa gathering na gaya ng wordcamp?

In fairness, worth it and ibang experience ang event kahapon. Sa rami ng pwedeng pasukang silid para makinig sa mga lectures, ay nakatatlo lang kami . Iyon ay bukod sa pinaka-highlight na kung saan ibinalita ni Mr. Wordpress Matt Mullenweg ang latest at study nila sa mga bloggers ng wordpress.

May isa lang akong pinaghihinayangan na ‘di nabutan ‘yon iyong sinundan na lecture ni Mr. Danilo Arao. Subalit, ang makinig sa "Blogging and Journalism in the Philippines" ni Mr. Arao ay isang malaking bagay para sa akin. Nabigyan niya ako ng overview sa pagitan ng pagba-blog at journalism. Ano nga ba ang lakas na magagawa ng simpleng pagbibigay ng impormasyon sa internet, partikular na kung haka-haka lamang ang naisusulat? Kung ang mga journalists ay may sinusunod na code of ethics, aniya, dapat ganon din ang gawin ng mga bloggers.

Subalit, napaisip ako na teka karamihan pala ng mga posts ko ay may pagka-personal at medyo kalokohan. Magkagayon man, alam ko na naka-stick ako sa aking principles. Hindi ako nagba-blog para mag-report ng balita at basta-basta magbigay ng opinion. Nasa side ako ng journalism na to entertain and to persuade public opinion. May paksa na gusto kong talakayin na maaaring makapukaw ng kamalayan at interes ng mga mambabasa, sa paraang nasa-satisfy ako. I love Psychology and sociology!

Pero definitely, tama si Mr. Arao sa kanyang mga tinuran. Type ko ‘yong Barong na suot niya (proud Filipino talaga!), ang paraan niya ng pananalita ("your favorite justice secretary!) at ang pagtalon-talon niya sa harapan... hehehe! (iyon talaga!)

Okay din ‘yong kay Mr. Oliver "Blogie" Robillo, "Building a Blogging Community." Sa kanyang part napagtanto ko na pwede talagang maging channel ang pagba-blog para magkaroon ng boses at palitan ng impormasyon ang grupo ng mga tao na may iisang adhikain. Plus point pa rito iyong kanyang pagbabahagi sa tunay na kalagayan at persepsiyon ng media at ng mga tao tungkol sa Mindanao.

Sayang rin iyong unang lecture na pinuntahan namin, na di namin nasimulan, kasi maganda yung pinatutungkulan niya na may kinalaman sa paglalagay ng goal at pagtupad sa pangarap sa pamamagitan ng blog. Actually, may kinalaman dito ang iba pang speakers sa auditorium. Anila, may pera rin sa pagba-blog at malayo ang mararating ng isang blogger kung kanyang seseryosohin ang kanyang ginagawa. Hindi nga ba't marami ngayong job opening para sa mga web designer at web content writer.

Bagaman, pinalaking bata sa label ng Alaska ang tingin ko kay Mr. Wordpress Matt Mullenweg, tuwang-tuwa ang mga tao sa kanyang mga balita. Hindi ako tech-savvy eh pero thanks sa kanya dahil may wordpress at may blog ako.

Sa kabuuan tatlong bagay ang iniwan sa akin ng wordcamp

1. maging responsableng blogger
2. gamitin sa tama ang mga bentahe na naibibigay ng blog
3. may kita sa pagba-blog

sana next year maka-attend ako ulit at manalo ulit ako, yong mas malaking premyo naman. Hehehe!

note: yung pix dito na lang.

Really, really tired, but Wordcamp Philippines 2008 was freakin' awesome. No really.

Quick rundown of notes and things before I take a nap:

Some statistics:

24th - where the Philippines is ranked among countries that use Wordpress
24th - where Wordpress.com is ranked among most popular sites (coincidence?)

Over 166% - Wordpress's growth from last year
Over 11.15 million - Downloads this year
3.6 million - Wordpress.org blogs
6.54 billion - Pageviews
4.96 - Average plugins per blog

7.63 million - Wordpress users

And some neat news: Wordpress 2.7 is due this November.

What to expect? Well...

• Navbar is now at the left of the screen
• Drag-and-drop is now available for the entire Dashboard
• Dynamic navigation in the Navbar
• In-Dashboard plugin navigation and installation, with update notices
• In-Dashboard theme navigation and installation
• Sticky posts are enabled
• "Write" page: Both columns are drag-and-drop-able
• "Write" page: Interface is customizable (you can remove some things you'll never use)
• and more.

On Buddypress:
Buddypress is a Wordpress-compatible social network thing - sort of like, quote-unquote, "Facebook in a box."
The site can sync with a blog and its plugins and you can do all sorts of other stuff with it, like sharing pictures, video, and so on

Ah, gotta love open forums.

Some Q&A with Matt: (disclaimer, I paraphrase a lot)

Will Wordpress.com have free access for adding javascript and such?
-There are possible security risks, so no.
Caching for Wordpress.com (without plugins)?
-There is a built-in fuction, but output-based plugins for this sort of thing are better at it.
Threaded comments? Other comment options?
-These will probably show up in 2.7 - things like replying in the admin panel, threaded comments and discussion, etc.
Will Wordpress servers switch to nginx?
-They'll move to it soon, but it'll need some tweaking.
Do you (Matt) still code?
-Yes, but mostly Core Wordpress stuff around the end of coding. He codes less now.
Will Wordpress.com users have a chance to use Google Adsense?
-Possibly.
What does "Unlucky in cards" mean? (refer to ma.tt)
-There's an old saying - "Lucky in cards, unlucky in love." If you reverse it, then it'd go "Unlucky in cards, lucky in love."
Can you (Matt) make a downloadable pdf of sorts for beginners who want a starting point for more advanced WP coding, because the WP codex is pretty tough to use if you don't know what you're doing.

By the way, Matt is a really popular guy here. I mean, really popular.

-The WP codex is indeed not very beginner-friendly, so the first priority is to clean it up and fix out-of-date stuff. How-to tutorials will also be added sometime. After all that, they may make an offline version, though seeing as WP needs you to be online, well.
Good books on Wordpress?
-Wordpress for Dummies is good. (Unfortunately, I couldn't note down the other stuff)
Do you have a full-time job, or do you work solely on WP? Do you profit from it?
-Automattic, a virtual company, is the company that does the coding for WP. Most of its time is devoted to coding for it, though Automattic does not actually "own" WP. Wordpress is also funded by 4 things:

• Upgrades on WP.com blogs (the ones you buy - ie: enabling CSS, more space, etc.)
• Ads
• VIP Program - payment from other large organizations that use it (ie: CIA, CNN, and so on)
• Akismet - free for personal use, but there is a commercial licensing fee.

Will the ability to upload pictures from mobile phones be added?
-There are two options: use the iPhone app (which is obscenely expensive here, so that's not much of an option). The other is that they [WP devteam] are developing a sort of "e-mail gateway" - send an e-mail of pictures or whatever through a mobile phone and it will be uploaded to the blog.
Job opportunities for Filipinos? A Filipino-language version of WP?
-Community translations help make multi-language versions of WP possible (so there'll eventually be a Filipino version out sometime). And for jobs, one only need to refer to automattic.com/jobs. Seeing as it's a virtual company, they don't discriminate other races, genders, etc.

And that was pretty much it. Some of the more incoherent stuff in my notes still needs deciphering.
After that, I left along with everyone else and then played a bit of IIDX (intermittently passing 9th Dan orz) and a bit of DDR too. Afterwards, I went off and bought another fountain pen - an unknown model of Inoxcrom. Someone please shoot me.

And... that's it. I'm beat. Good freakin' night.

PS: I met up with usagijen and her friend hazy. Jen... actually looked the way I expected her to look like >_>
PPS: I have a picture of me and Matt, but because I'm not exactly the most photogenic of people, I would prefer not to post it until people start sending death threats. Then I'll think about thinking about it.
PPPS: This article on ZDNet about the previous San Francisco Wordcamp has a lot more details on Buddypress and other neat stuff compared to my paltry little HP giveaway notebook, so go there and take a damn good look if you're interested.

"[...]
Hoje em dia, fica difícil para qualquer internauta viver sem usar pelo menos um produto ou serviço do Google (encaramos o desafio na pág. 66). Além da ferramenta de busca, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Reader, Orkut, Knol, YouTube, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Analytics, Google Translator e Google Gears fazem parte do dia-a-dia do designer Celso Bessa, de 31 anos. "Google, logo existo", escreveu ele em seu blog. Mas nem tudo funciona perfeitamente, claro. Como todos os mortais, Bessa, às vezes, se depara com mensagens de erro no Orkut e sofre quando o Gmail está indisponível - no mês passado, o serviço ficou fora do ar por algumas hora em diversos países por causa de uma falha no gerenciamento de contatos.
[...]"

(Revista INFO, da editora Abril, na edição 271, setembro de 2008)

Para quem pensou que o post A Vida Google - Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt revisam Descartes era uma egotrip, foi uma contribuição à reportagem acima.

Além da boa matéria e excelente dicas sobre o Google, na mesma edição há uma entrevista com Matt Mullenweg, criador do Wordpress e fundador da Automattic. A cada entrevista, eu respeito mais o Matt. Se rolar uma versão do WordCamp em São Paulo (não precisa nem ser igual ao Wordcamp San Franscisco) e ele vier, garanto que algumas cervejas que ele beber serão por minha conta.

PS: Tenho que atualizar o post "A Vida Google..." com um novo produto Google, o browser Chrome, que não vou falar aqui pois já tem muita gente boa falando. Não vou nem mencionar a fantástica estratégia de divulgação na forma de uma ótima história em quadrinhos produzida pelo Scott McCloud, fantástico estudioso do meio, que sou também mega-fã. Ops, falei!

:-)

click here to view "A WordCamp Experience"

This year, ServerBeach sponsored the San Francisco WordCamp 2008 and it was a great success! WordPress users travel from all over the world to attend these WordCamps and it really is great to see the dedication, humor, and unique perspectives these people bring.

“The idea behind Wordcamp is to set the tone for the following year. We want to expose you to the ideas that Wordpress has been thinking about over the last year. In turn, it’s the audience’s chance to connect on a personal level with Wordpress. It’s 100% user-driven, so here’s your chance.” -Matt Mullenweg

The event began with a private dinner for speakers with Automattic and ended with a WordPress Charity Scavenger Hunt. Generally WordCamp is a 2 day event, but this year they had 2 sessions going on at once throughout the day - the technical sessions for developers that gives a 'behind the scenes' view of coding with discussion and sessions for the WordPress users and supporters with a lot of talk about the applications.

This years speakers included the following:

• The Future of Education and Wordpress
• SEO Mistakes Most Bloggers Make - Stephan Spencer
• Open Source Business Models - Stephen O’Grady
• Andy Skelton - A musical performance
• LOLcats and the Secret of Virality
• Wordpress & Microformats
• Switching to Wordpress Painlessly - Lloyd Budd
• 450 Wordpress Power User Tips - Lorelle VanFossen
• Hassle-free Upgrades - Sam Bauers
• State of the Word - Matt Mullenweg
• Get Friendly with BuddyPress - Andy Peatling
• Democratizing the Web through Global Voices - Jeremy Clarke
• An interview with Om Malik
• Riding the Crazyhorse - Liz Danzico and Jane Wells
• A musical performance by Chuck Lewis aka SEO Rapper
• Kicking Ass and Creating Passionate Users - Kathy Sierra

Ben Huh, CEO of Icanhascheezburger gave an awesome presentation on the Secret of Virality. "Virality is based on people’s good will. You want to maintain trust and good will. Have an honest relationship with your users. You get real traffic from people who will come back. Don’t be like a telemarketer." He ended with quite a bold statement, calling it his "Final Words of Wisdom", that I cannot post on here, but you can view his presentation in full by heading over to the ZDNet Blog.

Another interesting presentation was Aaron Brazell, lead editor at technosailor.com who touched on Search and Findability.

Findability is not SEO. SEO is an aspect of Findability. SEO makes a blog findable for search engines. Really, Findability is all about the right data being available to the reader, whether that reader is human or a machine (search engines). To that end, theme structure is a major area of concerns. Theme developers can setup their themes to have related posts or popular posts functionality, as well as attention to search implementation. I suggest theme authors should provide search results in full format, and not simply excerpts.

More of these presentations can be found by doing a search for "WordPress 2008" and if you're into blogging, SEO, or just learning how social networking can help you, I highly recommend checking some of these out.

To end the weekend of events, there was the scavenger hunt. The hunt was made up of 11 teams of four which purpose was to raise money for 826 Valencia, an organization which offers free educational programs to encourage students to improve their writing skills. The teams raced all over San Francisco for hours trying to solve the clues and take pictures of themselves in front of the treasures and upload them to Flickr.

We've also posted some of our personal pictures taken from the event on the PEER 1 Community.

This is one of my favorite events as it is a great opportunity for an investor/board member type like me to get a good sense of the community around our company's product -- while Matt and Toni give us updates on the community (which they consider a critical consituency and source of strategic value), that just is not the same as meeting community members themselves and hearing what is on their mind.

Regrettably I had to miss Wordcamp this year as I was on a vaca with my family on a remote lake in Maine. However, last night we rolled into Hanover, NH, to drop our daughter off at soccer camp, and as I am reconnecting via my iPhone (after a week blissfully unplugged), I am happy to see that there is lots of good coverage of the event which from a distance seems to have been a success.

From a TechCruncc post, I picked up some stats Matt shard to illustrate the fantastic growth Wordpress has seen: monthly pageviews up from just over a billion to 6.5 billion, 32million new blog posts, and an audience that, according to Comscore figures for unique monthly visitors, is now 6 times that of nearest competitor Typepad.

It certainly has been a good year for Wordpress, and while the challenges are tougher than ever, the opportunities are also greater than ever, and we are banking on the next year being even stronger.