Long ago, updates for the WordPress.tv Mod Squad used to be a regular thing, and I miss them. Since there is no better time than the present, here is what we have been up to lately, and also what we are working on for the future.
The last 30 days
Here is a snapshot of what we have been up to in the past 30 days:
- Videos published: 89
- Camps represented: Orange County, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tokyo, Connecticut, Bologna, Paris, Switzerland, Norrköping The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.”, Chicago, Romania, Denmark, Kansai, Hamburg
- Languages represented: English, German, Japanese, French, Romanian, Dutch, Swiss, Italian
We have also added two new mods to our merry band over this time, in addition to the 6 active moderators we have currently.
Expanding our role as moderators
Watching and publishing videos is awesome, but there are still things that the Mod Squad can do to improve where we are at now, to make wordpress.tv an even more valuable resource for WordPress knowledge! Currently there are two issues on our radar that we will be working on in the near future: Technical issues and Internationalization
Addressing technical issues
We don’t publish every video that is submitted, and whenever we are forced to make a call as to wether to publish a video or not, issues with quality (sound, picture, etc.) are the culprit in the vast majority of cases.
Currently, the WordPress Foundation supplies great camera kits to events around the world, so equipment is not the issue, and yet quality suffers. However, this is understandable, as WordCamp 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 are not usually video professionals, producing video of a live event is a stressful even for pros, and it is “one shot at getting it right or else” proposition. Not easy! So how can we make this better as moderators?
Since we deal in video every day, and see the problems first hand, we are starting projects to:
- Improve the documentation that is included with the Foundation Camera Kits
- Create instructions and tutorials for handling video after the event is over
- Establishing a sub-group within the Mod Squad to handle post production centrally, to take the load off camp organizers.
We are in the planning stages on these, and you can expect future announcements on both of these fronts as we start to roll them out. 🙂
More non-English videos
WordCamps are held all over the world, and global use of WordPress is on the rise, so this is an area that we are seeing a lot of growth in. Unfortunately, we are a primarily English-speaking team, so without the ability to speak and understand videos in the ever growing number of languages we see, these videos tend to languish. The solution to this problem is much more direct; We need a global team to match this trend
Help us make wordpress.tv awesome!
It goes without saying that our merry band could use some help as we look to expand our skills and responsibilities. Moderating is also open to anyone with a background familiarity with WordPress (you don’t need to be a developer) is welcome to apply to join us.
We especially need mods who are bilingual to help with our non-English content, as well as anyone with some prior background in video, but any lover of WordPress is encouraged to apply!
Being a mod just takes 1-3 hours a week of your time (most of it spent watching videos!) and you can apply right here: http://wordpress.tv/apply-to-be-a-wordpress-tv-moderator/
#mod-squad, #moderator-update, #wordpress-tv-2
