WordPress.tv Moderator Squad Update

As mentioned last week, there has been a bit of a slowdown in video submissions to WordPress.tv, but that is rapidly changing with the addition of some recent submissions. We are moderating new videos from WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Los Angeles, as well as the first batch of videos coming in for WordCamp Maine, who are using our new bulk upload method for submission. If you are handling video for a recent WordCamp, and in need of help, let us know here in the comments. The ModSquad is here for you!

Top 3 videos this week

In progress

We are experimenting with tweeting recent videos on the @wordcamp Twitter account, testing both manual tweets, as well as automated tweets using the Publicize functionality built into WordPress.tv.

#moderator-update, #wordpress-tv

Team Chat Agenda, Sept 25, 2014

This week’s topics are contributor recognition and site stuff. Here’s what I’ve got as possible agenda items, suggest more in the comments if you’ll be attending and want to talk about something.

  • contributor team swag (stickers, buttons, etc)
  • meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. hub planning (possibly as WCSF team meetup project)
  • sectional theme for this site
  • design needs

#agenda

Busted Contact Form

Got a report via Twitter about our contact form being broken, and it totally is:
screenshot of broken form
Looking at the embed it seems to be an issue in rendering, not that someone went in and changed the form. Pinging the Jetpack team to look into it.

#site

WordPress.tv – Moderator issues thread for week 39

Moderators, if you have any questions or issues with the videos your are moderating, feel free to leave a comment here in this thread, or drop in on IRC (#wordpress-getinvolved on Freenode) tomorrow from UTC 15:00 – 17:00 for our Moderator office hoursOffice Hours Defined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time.. Thanks!

Convert to your time zone

#issues-thread, #office-hours, #wordpress-tv

WordPress.tv Moderator Squad Update

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
– Benjamin Franklin

After the upload of videos for a busy WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. month in June the uploads have slowed down. Although, there were 10 WordCamps held in the last two months with no submitted videos. If you held a WordCamp and the videos are not getting processed then let us know. We can help get them processed.

We do have videos to moderate in the Pending queue but several need the presentations slides links before they are published. Slide links are important for the video presentation. As we move toward incorporating the slides into the videos these links are helpful. And they often contain links, graphs, code, resources and other information that is easier to find in a slides link than to fast forward a video to find the slide with the information.

In The Last 7 Days:

19 videos were published from 6 WordCamps around the world
with views from 146 different countries.

The Top Three Most Viewed WordCamp Videos This Week

Will Haley: Angling Angular in WordPress

Steve Zehngut: Build a WordPress Theme with Foundation and Underscores

Evan Volgas: WordPress and Git

#wordpress-tv

A note for all you WordCamp organizers as…

A note for all you WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizers, as @andreamiddleton mentioned this is the week of the Automattic Grand MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.. I know many of you have vendors needing payment and paper work that needs to be signed. We will be traveling Monday 9/22 and offline 23-24. If you need something paid or signed prior to to Thursday 9/25/14 please submit it to support@wordcamp.org asap so I can take care of it this week.

#wordcamps

WordCamps update

This week is the Automattic grand meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., and thus @jenmylo, @camikaos, and I will not be available at the time of our weekly team chat. Below is an update on WordCamps; if you’d like to meet tomorrow in our absence, perhaps we can have a general WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizer chat, since so many people on the team are organizers and some of you (Toronto, Orlando) have events coming up soon! 🙂

We’ve had 58 camps so far this year, and 19 more on the schedule for 2014. There are still 5 WordCamps on the planning list which are still shooting for 2014 dates.

WordCamps approved for pre-planning in September so far:

  • Belo Horizonte
  • Lancaster PA
  • Switzerland
  • Nepal
  • Mumbai

WordCamps added to the schedule in September:

  • Sao Paulo

WordCamp SF planning continues — we’re 6 weeks away, gulp! 🙂 We’re still working on pricing live captioning for the event and figuring out how to incorporate that into the live stream. @iandunn is working on improving the attendee check-in feature for Camptix. We’ll be posting the rest of our awesome speakers and the provisional schedule soon — hopefully next week — and opening some forums so that attendees can connect before the event to arrange rides, meetings, etc. Expect some informational posts soon about the community summit as well.

WordPress.tv – Moderator issues thread for week 38

Another busy week of WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. videos coming into the queue at WordPress.tv, and those videos NEED YOU, so if you have a question about any of the videos you are moderating, please drop a line here in the comments.

Office hoursOffice Hours Defined times when the Global Community Team are in the #community-events Slack channel. If there is anything you would like to discuss – you do not need to inform them in advance.You are very welcome to drop into any of the Community Team Slack channels at any time. tomorrow

Aside from comments on this thread, if you want to talk shop or have question that is better for chat, please drop in on IRC (#wordpress-getinvolved on Freenode) tomorrow from UTC 15:00 – 17:00.

Convert to your time zone

#issues-thread, #office-hours, #wordpress-tv

How to run a minority-only event

As I promised in last week’s team chat, here is a draft of some guidelines and resources for running minority-only events. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome!

How to run a minority-only event

The tech industry is notoriously white and male. WordPress is all about democratizing publishing, and one of the major strengths of WordPress is that, just as the WordPress software is easy for everyone to use, the community around WordPress is very friendly and open to everyone. However, newcomers are not always aware that WordPress is a friendly community, and many minorities still have to overcome some big cultural hurdles to feel welcome at tech events. With that in mind, your community might want to have some minority-only events. Here are some guidelines about how to run minority-only events.

What kinds of events are okay?

* study groups (people bring their projects and questions and work together to learn and improve)
* workshops and talks around specific issues relevant to that group of people (imposter syndrome, public speaking, dealing with micro-aggressions)
* pre-event mixers (as a prelude to an all-inclusive event)

There’s a difference between saying “we want to overcome cultural pressures by giving women a safe space to learn where they don’t feel intimidated” vs. “these are casual gatherings that are limited by gender.” You need to have reasons why this particular event is useful to this particular minority group, or why this particular topic is relevant to the group. Some topics are of special interest to minorities, but could also be useful to non-minorities. If that is the case, you should consider holding two versions of the event: one for minorities only, and one that is open to everyone. For example, a workshop about speaking at WordCamps is useful to everyone, but there might be specific issues (such as imposter syndrome) that women/minorities will want to discuss more. At the very least, the curriculum you use in your minority-only event should be made available to everyone, or speakers should be recorded and posted on wordpress.tv.

What groups of people can events target?
Any minority group, or group that is under-represented in technology (ie, non-white straight males):

* women
* people of color
* immigrants
* queers
* transgender people
* people with disabilities

But men!
It might seem hypocritical that events exclusive to women and minorities are acceptable, but events exclusive to men or white people are not acceptable. However, women and minorities face issues that straight white men do not. These issues are particularly exaggerated in the tech industry, which is overwhelmingly dominated by white men. Minority-only events can address the issues that minorities face, and create a safe and comfortable space for people who might not otherwise feel safe and comfortable. A minority-only event gives minorities a chance to experiment and build confidence that they can then take with them to events that are open to everyone. This is also about privilege and power. There are some groups of people who have less privilege and power than others. These events are designed to flatten some of that structure of privilege and power.

How to make this increase diversity
It sounds contradictory that having an event where certain types of people are excluded could increase diversity in your community. However, these events can make it clear to minorities that they are welcome in your community, and that the community organizers are thinking about their needs. They can help minorities build confidence, find mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues., and feel comfortable participating. Make sure you explain at these events that your goal is to welcome their participation in the wider WordPress community, either by attending more meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook., contributing to WordPress, or using WordPress more. Use these events as an opportunity to find out what event organizers can do to make minorities feel welcome at all-inclusive events.

How to organize these events if you’re a white male
These events need to be organized and led by a representative of the minority they are designed to help. If you are not a minority, but you want to see these kinds of events happen in your community, you can send out an announcement to your members, or personally invite active minority members of your community. Do not tell them to organize events (that comes across as making minorities do more work just because they are minorities), but invite them to organize events and offer your support.

How to handle it if the wrong type of person shows up
First of all, make sure that your event description clearly states that this event is only open to certain people. If someone who doesn’t fit that description shows up, politely tell them that the event description clearly states that this event is not for them, and invite them to the next event where they are allowed.

How to handle it if you get resistance from your meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. community
Minority-only events can be a very touchy subject, so don’t be surprised if you meet some resistance, or even some downright anger, when organizing these events. First, know that as long as you are following these guidelines, you have the support of the WordPress Community Team, and if you need help handling pushback, we are available to help. Second, make sure that your events really are helping your community’s overall diversity: if not, you might need to reconsider these events. Even if it is clear that your events are strengthening your community, some people (perhaps even the minorities your events are trying to support) will have trouble understanding why these events are beneficial. The best thing to do is to point these people to some resources about the lack of diversity in the tech industry and why this is a problem (see list of resources below), or to provide some evidence to them that these events are directly helping your community. If you are just getting resistance from a few people, don’t invest too much time or energy in trying to change their minds: if they don’t understand issues of power and privilege, you will have a difficult time convincing them.

How to handle definitions/outliers
Assigning people to categories can be shockingly difficult. Someone might show up at your event who doesn’t quite look like they belong, such as a transgendered or mixed-race person. Be aware that this might happen, and be careful how you word your event descriptions. For example, you might limit a women-only event to “women and anyone who identifies as woman in a way that is significant to them.” You are creating a safe space, so let people define themselves instead of trying to impose your definitions on people.

Make sure it’s working
These events are only worthwhile if they actually do help increase diversity in your community. Make sure that you tell attendees that the goal of these events is to encourage/facilitate more participation from minorities. Ask attendees regularly why they’re coming: it might have more to do with date/time/location than with demographics. Also try to keep an eye on how much people who attend these events participate in the community as a whole: if they don’t participate more, perhaps these events aren’t working. Keep in mind that “participation” does not necessarily mean “coming to more meetups.” Participation can also mean contributing to WordPress, using WordPress more, and encouraging others to use WordPress.

Further Reading
If you want to know more about these issues, here are some good resources:

Diversity issues in the tech industry:

* Technology’s Man Problem – http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/technology/technologys-man-problem.html
* We can do better – http://do-better.herokuapp.com/
* Abuse as DDOS – http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/abuse-as-ddos

Privilege and power:

* Straight white male: the easiest difficulty setting there is – http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
* Male Programmer Privilege Checklist – http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Male_Programmer_Privilege_Checklist

Value of minority-only spaces:

* The Rise of Feminist Hackerspaces and How to Make Your Own – http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-rise-of-feminist-hackerspaces-and-how-to-make-your-own
* Why Women-Only Tech Events are a Good Idea – http://womenofwp.org/2014/03/why-women-only-tech-events-are-a-good-idea/
* Why Do Women Try To Get Ahead by Pulling Men Down? – https://medium.com/thoughts-on-society/why-do-women-try-to-get-ahead-by-pulling-men-down-a1345b36b91b

Resources for people who want to be supportive of women and minorities:

* Resources for allies on Geek Feminism Wiki – http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Resources_for_allies
* So You Want to Be An Ally – http://juliepagano.com/blog/2014/05/10/so-you-want-to-be-an-ally/

#diversity, #meetups-2, #women

WordPress.tv Moderator Squad Update

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
– Albert Einstein

The videos submitted to WordPressTV by WordCamps worldwide has been about 1 submitted video for every 3 videos shot. And then even some of those were never published for various reasons. And some WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. were not submitting any videos.

But of the 10 WordCamps held worldwide in the Month of June this year, videos have been published  from every WordCamp held (about 20 each on average). And videos are still being uploaded from some of these WordCamps.
Congratulations to these WordCamps.

WordCamp Hamburg 2014
WordCamp Romania 2014
WordCamp Manchester 2014
WordCamp Seattle 2014
WordCamp Asheville 2014
WordCamp Philly 2014
WordCamp Kansai 2014
WordCamp Orange County 2014
WordCamp Chicago 2014
WordCamp Calgary 2014

Of the 5 WordCamps held in the month of July we have published videos from two.

WordCamp Kansas City 2014
WordCamp Vancouver 2014

And of the 9 WordCamps held in the month of August we have published videos from one so far.

WordCamp Russia 2014

 

The Top Three Most Viewed WordCamp Videos This Week

Steve Zehngut: Build a WordPress Theme with Foundation and Underscores

Morgan Kay: Magic with CSS Pseudo-Selectors

Evan Volgas: WordPress and Git

 

In Process:

In an effort to make videos available sooner they are now published as soon as they are moderated and are not held in a pending queue and published in small batches. This can result in numerous videos getting published in a day which can be a little overwhelming. As a result, there is a new link appearing under WordPress News in the admin panel (blog.wordpress.tv). This post is a summary of recent videos published on WordPressTV with a selection of a few of those videos published.

#moderator-update, #wordpress-tv