WordCampers keep up to date

Photo / Kenny Rodger

Somewhere on the planet most weekends there will be a WordCamp.

That's an informal user-generated "un-conference" where users of WordPress get together to discuss the latest advances in the open-source blogging and online publishing software. This month 100 people gathered in a Wellington bowling club to hear WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and local users share what they've learned about what works online.

The rise of WordPress reflects the evolving way we use the web. For most people who want to establish an internet presence, buying an expensive web development package doesn't make sense. They cast around for online tools, discarding what doesn't work and adopting what suits their needs or their level of technical competence.

Mullenberg started WordPress in 2003 while a 19-year-old student at the University of Houston, Texas, because the creators of the b2 software he used to blog his photos stopped development.

The project picked up steam the following year, after rival Movable Type switched to a complicated paid licensing model.

Mullenberg stuck with the open-source development model, leaving it open for anyone with the time, skills and inclination to develop new features and add-ons.

And proving there is money to be made giving things away, he moved to San Francisco and created a company, Automattic, to provide WordPress hosting, support for the large corporate customers who are willing to pay for services, and an anti-spam product, Akismet.

WordPress is now the second most used blogging software, behind Google's Blogger.

One of the WordCamp organisers, Auckland marketing consultant Jason Kemp, says WordPress has evolved into a comprehensive publishing platform.

"There are around 6000 mini-applications or plug-ins, so it's like having a function library. You can set up a basic site with static and blog pages, and then if you want to build something on the social media side, do events management etc, there might be something already built. It means people can do things very quickly without a programmer. You can prototype things quickly."

The WordCamps have become part of the WordPress experience.

As Mullenberg says on a YouTube posting from one camp: "Something that's typically lost in the open-source world is the idea of going into a bar and getting a drink with someone in your neighbourhood, and that's something I always missed out the development of WordPress because the other lead developer, Ryan Boren, I didn't meet him for a couple of years. We worked together every day for two years before I met him in person.

"Technology is best not when it replaces human interaction but when it augments it."

Kemp says getting 100 people to give up a fine weekend to discuss a piece of software shows New Zealanders have taken WordPress to heart.

The organisers identified at least 500 New Zealand sites using the platform, including everything from the Stock Exchange to the AUT and Whitereia journalism schools to the Grey Lynn Community Centre and the Topp Twins.

The State Service's Commission's e-government site and the Te Ara Signposts site which points to the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand also use WordPress tools.

Kemp says people can't just rely on one tool and effective campaigns are likely to employ a number of channels as they attempt to get the kind of viral lift-off that is possible in an internet-connected world.

"One interesting thing at the event itself was a guy volunteered to tweet live, and ended up doing 700 tweets over the weekend.

"We also had people with video cameras, so some of the presentations went up in various locations. We had live streaming, and at one point we had more than 100 people watching."

In keeping with WordPress philosophy, entry was kept cheap, and part of the deal was creating a new website for the bowling club.

Kemp says one of the things that impressed him about WordPress was the way it did a complete back end overhaul with release 2.7 - a huge risk in software development.

"It never happens with most software. People get used to dysfunctional software and bad interfaces, but WordPress did something brave. That alone would make it worthwhile to watch."

He says WordPress is picking up steam not just among bloggers but in the corporate space, where people are getting fed up with expensive portals and content management systems which promise a lot and deliver little.

"A blogging engine is a great way for people to push stuff in and organise content. I think we will see a lot more of that.

"Under the old model, people blew their budget on the software licence and didn't put anything aside for the content. Under the open-source model, you can spend your money on the creative side."

* http://wordcamp.org.nz