Contributor Drive Planning Chat – Recap

We met again in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. this week to continue our planning from last week. Again the goal is to get our handbook ready for an upcoming contributor drive at the end of the month. From last week we each processed a video (download raw file, add slides, publish to WPTV) and then came back to discuss how that went. What were some pain points we noticed. How can we make the process smoother. Here are the things we discussed:

• It wasn’t clear if I could use the iMovie software that comes on my mac, so I downloaded the other one, which took a long time. If people need that software they should install before contributor dayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/.
• We are almost done with an iMovie video to edit 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
• point of confusion #2 was which videos might be good to try and cut slides into. It’s not obvious which ones need it, and which just need simple edits
• if the slides are already clearly visible in the video, they probably don’t need to be cut in, so that’s probably another thing to note there in terms of which ones need it.
• I poked around awhile to find the instructions just on cutting in slides and felt like they were buried in lots of things I didn’t need to know for that particular task
• overall what would make it easier is to have some sort of task based workflow, like 1) do this 2) then do that 3) do that other thing, like a clear map or checklist of what need to be done.
• @ajhill shared notes about how we might document this process in this Google Doc which is a great start for a task based guide to post-processing.
• if the idea is to ensure contributor success during the drive, we may want to line up a list of videos that makes the entire process far faster and less painful. (e.g. videos where the slides are partially visible so that they can time based on the visuals)
• one little note – there is some jargon in there that I didn’t understand, for example, “codec” here: “Any video editor can be used for editing and processing the videos as long as it has a good codec to process the videos”
• @bethsoderberg volunteered to help copy edit (as a non video expert) to help catch those, and @ubernaut volunteered to help with “non-jargony” alternatives
• For videos that are already on WPTV (published) but could benefit from edits to add slides, we need a set of instructions on how to access the file and subtitles on WPTV
• One thing I noted (thinking like a user) is that the spreadsheet is pretty confusing. Not sure how to make it simpler, but I imagine its hard for a new contrib to know where to start
• @jerrysarcastic added a list of potential things that will trip new contribs up, in this Google Doc.

We also discussed plans for using blog.wordpress.tv as an outlet for topical updates, pro tips, etc. This will let us keep the handbook light and focused, while allowing us to add other important tips in the blog. This gives us a URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org we can point to when sharing. Also our blue welcome box on make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//tv needs an overhaul, and 2 hours of straight Slack meetings is for the birds. Well look to move our planning to P2P2 “P2” is the name of the theme the blogs of make.wordpress.org use. When asked to post or view something “on the p2” by a member of the WPTV team, that usually means you’re asked to check https://make.wordpress.org/tv. posts more as we plan going forward. Thanks for sticking it out!

Also present: @tashan @roseapplemedia @johnparkinson @oleg

#contributor-drive, #handbook