Join the Community Team for a #WPDiversity Writing Sprint: May 23 to May 30

Tl;dr: The Community Team is launching a one-week writing sprint from Monday, May 23 through Monday, May 30, 2022. You are invited to contribute, or even just watch. Every contribution, however small, is valuable!

Open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. communities thrive on collaboration, transparency, empowerment and collective ownership. Writing sprints put these values into action. This post describes the upcoming writing sprint and how you can contribute.

What is a writing sprint?

In a writing sprint, community contributors work together, in the open and across time zones, to develop new materials or refine existing materials. The purpose of this upcoming sprint is to create materials that will support WordPress event organizers in creating diverse and inclusive events. The materials created during this sprint will be shared with new and existing 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., 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., and do_actiondo_action do_action hackathons are community-organised events that are focussed on using WordPress to give deserving charitable organisations their own online presence. Learn more on doaction.org. organizers, as described in this proposal: Steps to Integrate #WPDiversity into WordPress Event Organizing.

During the sprint, we will create the following materials:

  1. Self-paced lessons on creating welcoming and inclusive WordPress events, designed for a global audience. These lessons will be made available on learn.wordpress.org as part of the WordCamp Organizer Training and Meetup Organizer Training courses.
  2. Email templates to send to new and existing WordPress event organizers
  3. Additions to orientation scripts for WordPress event organizers

What skills would be useful? Any of the following:

  • Passion for creating inclusive, diverse spaces
  • Comfort writing and/or editing text for clarity, brevity, tone, and language accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)
  • Familiarity with crafting educational materials
  • A global perspective: recognition that diverse and inclusive spaces look different in different parts of the world

How do I participate in the writing sprint?

  • Save the date: May 23-30, with an optional kick-off in the #community-team channel on May 23 from 17:00 UTC-18:00 UTC.
  • Anyone can participate!
  • Document & Contributor Tracker: We will use this sheet as a base, and work in separate Google Docs for each document. Please log all your contributions in the tracker, along with any relevant notes.
  • Google Docs: email templates, orientation script, learning module
  • The team will also coordinate together in the #community-team channel. I will be available here throughout the week to answer questions and help coordinate contributors.

Are you going to participate? Comment below! These materials will support WordPress event organizers and help shape diverse and inclusive WordPress events now and in the years to come.

#documentation-sprint #sprint #wpdiversity