Tag: WordCamp Philly

  • Dear Geeks, may I borrow your brains a moment?

    So Rachel and I had an idea – or more accurately, I had an idea, and Rachel endorsed my crazy and agreed that it should happen and she’d help make it so (…Number One… sorry.)

    Want to Skip Right to the Survey?

    Anyway.

    The idea began percolating in my brain almost a year ago:

    …I wondered if there was some sort of consolidated calendar or website listing all the conferences, conventions, concerts, tweetups, meetups, and other random events and gatherings which draw the geeky masses… and for lack of a better search term, googled “nerdy events” (true story).

    Through that Google search, I discovered WordCamp Philly, a couple good sites to keep an eye on for certain types of nerdy events in my area (and corresponding ones for many other interests and locations), and a sudden desire to move to Portland or Seattle or Vancouver… but no big consolidated calendar of assorted geekery!

    But surely, there must be something!
    • Geeks, by the now-consensus definition, are really enthusiastic about the things we like, and have been known to… enthuse… together. In groups. On specific, pre-planned occasions.
    • A possibly substantial-if-stereotypical subset of us are the sort who like to collect, organize, and display Doctor Who memorabilia information.
    • AND the internet is basically our homeland; a disproportional number of us have some capability to produce a website.

    Surely, those characteristics had overlapped in at least one person crazy enough who thought it worthwhile to create such a website.

    So, I kept an eye out for one.

    I asked around. I periodically repeated said googly search and many variations thereof.

    I found:
    . . . Many, many good websites and calendars for nerds of a particular locale.
    . . . Many for certain geeky/technical professions.
    . . . A veritable crazyton of genre/fandom convention calendars.
    . . . Half a gazillion nerd-relevant groups on MeetUp.com.
    . . . Nerdy musicians and authors and internet celebrities list their tour schedules.

    But nowhere that WordCamp Philly and San Diego Comic Con and a Marian Call show and a monthly table-top gaming night and a NASA Social might all make appearances on the same website!

    “Darn. Somebody should do that.”

    And then I realized, No, I should do that. It would be a hellalotta work, which is probably why no one has, but it should be done, I know it can be done and roughly how to go about doing it and can learn the rest… and the thought wouldn’t leave me alone. >.< A few weeks ago, I mentioned it to Rachel, and she agreed: This is a thing that should exist.

    So, we’re doing it. 🙂

    As we sort out the details and get going, however, we’re in need of some outside input from other folks who would potentially use/enjoy such a website.

    We’ve talked to a few geeky friends about it, and I’ve scrabbled vaguely at twitter for name inspiration, and now we’re going to slightly-more-systematically ask you for some ideas and opinions, kay? Could you spare a few moments to share the contents of your brain with us?

    Take the quick 10.5 Question Survey!

  • WordCamp Philly: Dev Day! (Part 2)

    I wasn’t planning on attending the second day of WordCamp Philly, since it’s focus is developers, of which I am not one (yet). I’m gradually sliding deeper down the rabbit hole, and was certainly helped along by the main event yesterday, but still not at a level at which I would consider myself a developer, even a wimpy amateur one.

    But, a couple people said I should come anyway, and today’s event was even more conveniently located for me, so once again, I figured Why not? and headed on down! And once again, I’m oh-so-glad I did!

    Dev Day is more free-form and hands-on than the main event, and a smaller group, so everybody’s in one [really sweet] room, hanging out and working on things and enjoying cookies as big as my face, punctuated by some informal presentations. Much to my surprise, this included a Q&A time with freaking Matt Mullenweg (co-founder/creator of WordPress (among other things), and occupant of the coolest domain name I know of, ma.tt), which tended toward the future of WordPress and the internet in general. Also, silliness.


    https://twitter.com/HTMLbyJoe/status/260102904046825472


    https://twitter.com/jcasabona/status/260106170159734784


    https://twitter.com/melchoyce/status/260109060307812352
    https://twitter.com/jcasabona/status/260107984888283140


    https://twitter.com/jcasabona/status/260112705409667072
    (Poor guy must have like 100 @ mentions from today!)

    Jason’s hidden talent was also revealed:

    And I even found a collaborator to work with on that calendar of nerdy events idea!

    When the official day wrapped up, we migrated across town to Barcade, “a hybrid craft beer bar and—yep, you called it—video arcade,” (Inc.) ← (the article I mentioned a couple times tonight, by the way!) which boasts a lovely selection of beers and 80’s arcade games, as well as a really unique and tasty assortment of sandwiches and such!

    The evening flew by in a constant stream of great conversations. I got to chat with Matt for a while about a variety of things, including libraries and NASAtweetups/socials (by which he seemed quite intrigued!), so he gets my seal of approval! Talked for a bit with a couple from Lancaster, and Robert from North Carolina, and at times all the separate conversations sort of merged… occasionally taking odd turns… at some point the “fun fact” I learned on the radio this morning — that if you spin a monkey at higher than 145rpm its brainstem separates from its spinal cord D= — was actually relevant (re: Felix Baumgartner’s jump)! Towards the end of the night, I discovered that the guy I’d been sitting next to lives a 10 minute walk from my house! It’s that sort of small, crazy world!



    Heading out, I gave Chris (who wore the awesome penguin costume yesterday) a ride to the train station. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the roads we were on suddenly veering off unannounced or disappearing altogether, resulting in a depressingly impressive number of wrong turns and wild guesses, a surprise detour to New Jersey, and the “scenic tour” of far too much of Philadelphia!

    Thank goodness, we had plenty of time, so managed to still get him to his train and home! He said he’d owe me a beer next time he’s in town, but really I owe him one or three for how absurdly long it took to get there! (I promise I actually have a decent sense of direction! Just not tonight apparently!) But hey, we had a fun little adventure?! All’s well that ends well!

  • So, WordCamp Philly! (Part 1)

    Last night, thinking about my previous post, I wondered if there was some sort of consolidated calendar or website listing all the conferences, conventions, concerts, tweetups, meetups, and other random events and gatherings which draw the geeky masses, and for lack of a better search term, googled “nerdy events” (true story).

    I haven’t found such a listing yet (let me know if you know of one), at least as I had imagined it (maybe I’ll make one myself?), but in the clicking around, I discovered that WordCamp Philly was:

      a) a thing that exists! (a conference about WordPress!)

      b) tomorrow! (by which I mean today, since I made the discovery of it happening “tomorrow” yesterday — it happened today. Though technically, now it’s tomorrow so it really was yesterday… (ow.))

    My job is largely working in WordPress, and this blog is WordPress, so a conference all about WordPress is clearly relevant for me both professionally and for fun. I suspected, and soon confirmed, that this was something Jason, of Stranger Studios, (who built the WordPress-powered websites I live in at work) would be involved in, too. Since by some crazy random happenstance I happened to discover WordCamp Philly’s existence just in time, I decided to go check it out…

    And boy am I glad I did! I accidentally overslept this morning and wasn’t sure if it would be worth going clear across the city for an event I’d miss the first two hours of, but the lovely chica manning the twitter account assured me I’d still be able to register whenever I got there, and it would be worth showing up, even late, and it only cost $20, so I figured, what the heck?, and went!

    I missed the opening remarks and the first two sessions, but that still left me with five to attend (with four good options in each time slot!) chock full of great, useful, and often immediately applicable info and instruction! The presenters in the sessions I attended (and sounds like the rest of them, too) not only really knew their shit, but were pretty much hilarious — a delightful blend of snarky and silly and professional — and some of them were in Halloween costumes!

    I learned how to create basic WordPress themes from scratch — in rhyme from The Cat In The Hat. Day = made.

    (That session was also “penguinbombed”…) 😀

    The attendees were a pretty top-notch crowd, too! I had expected it would be mostly Philly-area folks — you know, being “WordCamp Philly” and all, and since there are apparently WordCamps all over the country and in a bunch of others too — but there were tons of out-of-state-ers, including guys from California and a surprising contingent of folks who live or have lived in Hawaii, and even Amber from Amsterdam!

    There was even after party, which I wasn’t really planning on going to… and then was planning on just checking out briefly… and then was planning on leaving at a reasonably early hour… but it surprised me with how enjoyable it was (being as I’m really not a crowded party person), both due to being my kind of crowd (I like these people! Even en masse!), and excellent planning (rented out the sizable upper room of a pretty nice bar, with darts and shuffleboard and pool to play, and provided plenty of tasty food and a couple drink tickets). Kudos to the organizers, on the afterparty and the whole event! (Yes, even my reaction to parties is nerdy!) I will definitely be back next year!

    Now, sleep.