I seemed to have come to Melbourne at a great time – Priscilla the Musical is still on going, one of my favorite travel writer Peter Moore is launching his latest book in Australia, and the event I attended last Saturday, WordCamp Melbourne.
WordCamp is a gathering of Wordpress users talking about (you guessed it) Wordpress and blogging. Among the speakers were Alex Shiels of Automattic (who quite succinctly told us how big Wordpress is), James Farmer of Edublogs (who organized WCM07 and quite a jolly person), Darren Rowse of Problogger.net (how can this be a blogging event without Mr. Rowse? He’s a very nice, down to earth guy, by the way, and he even granted my odd request of posing with my Pinky St doll), Christine Davis of Neato.co.nz (developer of the Ultimate Tag Warrior, which I’m currently using), and Alister Cameron, the self-proclaimed blogologist (who was wearing a TinTin in Vietnam t-shirt, which had me racking my brains whether TinTin ever went to Vietnam).
Darren Rowse mentioned in passing that Melbourne bloggers have been talking about having one of these gatherings for a long time, and this is the first time it has pushed through. Also, when I asked him if he gives talks on blogging a lot, he said he gets invited to talk overseas, but hardly in Australia.
Apart from the talks given by the speakers, there were also round table discussions, where in participants get to talk among themselves regarding a topics pertaining to Wordpress or blogging. Topics like choosing a blogging platform, selling plugins, online reputation management, themes, and blogging as new media. I joined the plugins table, reputation management and new media.
The online reputation management discussion was facilitated by Gerry McCusker, a Public Relations Analyst. We discussed how organizations can optimize blogs for better public relations. I found myself drifting off at certain points, thinking of how certain individuals can hurt their reputation through online self-publishing.
When the time came for the last round table, I eagerly headed to the table set for the new media discussion. Disappointingly, there were only three of us there. Hmmm, as I told Gerry, who was also at the table, this table would’ve been full had it been in Manila.
Overall, it was a great, enlightening event. I was able to see the “blog culture” in Melbourne, and how people are utilizing it. It was great to meet people with such passion for blogging. Oh, and Lucio, too bad you left early…you could’ve won a Wordpress shirt :P
Pictures from WordCamp Melbourne
Darren Rowse talking about how to make money by blogging
Alister Cameron telling us about all the fun to be had with Sandbox
James Farmer sharing his trick for increasing your multi-user blog from 1 to 1,000
Christine Davis differentiating between tags and categories
The panel of speakers with Alex Shiels answering question from the audience
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Posted on November 20, 2007
Filed under Australia, Everything Travel Related, Geek stuff, Melbourne
Tags: Melbourne, wcm07, wordcamp, wordpress
Visited 2166 times, 3 so far today
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It is good for you to attend such a gathering. I just hope it can also be done is Saudi Arabia he he he
Lucky you…!:)
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Hi Nina,
Shame on me I had to leave early!
I’m sure it was more enjoyable after I’ve left with all my talking, hehe
Anyway, it was a great pleasure to meet you over there!
we’ll keep in touch!
Cheers
Lucio
swerte mo naman! I only get to read things like this in blogs.
That sounds so cool! And you’re turning into quite the “pro blogger,” aren’t you, Missy?
Was this event “accessible,” as in, of value to or understandable by, newbies in blogging, or was it more for experienced and technically proficient bloggers? Was this a “technical” event, or a “content” event, or was it a good mix?
You comment on the New Media discussion… or lack thereof… is interesting. I’ve been reading a little bit about “blogging in the Philippines,” and I definitely pick up more of a social consciousness from the Filipino blogging community than I see from US bloggers. In the US… and I imagine Australia… the interest in blogging appears to be motivated primarily by “self-interest.” That is, it’s all about how to turn a buck. Content is created specifically to generate “click-throughs,” rather than to actually communicate, entertain, or inform. Not that this is a bad thing. If I had any clue how to set up a web site that would generate some revenue, I’d be all kinds of into that!
I wish I coulda attended this with you. I think it would have been eye-opening and fascinating.
One more thing: what the heck is a “pingback”? All I know about ‘em is that they clutter up the comments thread. You’re starting to get so many of them here that sometimes I don’t want to bother reading through or leaving comments. Yeah, I know, how lazy is that?
Like it matters… you don’t need “readers” or “comments,” you need “clicks” on your ads, right? ;-)
David: The event was open to everybody, and the attendees were a mix of beginners and pros. The pingback is when another blog/site links to your post
Whew! astig! WordCamp…….. sana makarating sila dito sa Manila tapos anjan ka pa rin sa Australia… heheheh (ingitero kasi ako e)
Hahaha, ganun? But I think I’ve met most of the Pinoy bloggers na. And mas frequent ang blogging events in Manila, compared here in Australia.
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