Plans are in the works to hold a WordCamp conference right here in the Aloha State. Whether you are a hardcore WordPress hacker, a happy WordPress user, or want to know more about WordPress, this event will be for you.
The explosive growth of WordPress has been nothing short of a revolution for online publishing. It's become a key tool for individuals, groups, and Fortune 500 companies alike. Your neighbor might use it to blog about her cats, while CNN uses it to power its immensely popular Political Ticker.
If you spend a few hours a week on the web, chances are you've visited a site powered by WordPress. And, of course, many of the most-read blogs in Hawaii have WordPress under the hood, including iLind.net, Poinography, Honolulu Nightlife Diaries, Homespun Honolulu, Hawaii Online Advertising, Hawaii Vacation Blog... and this blog, too, which has been around for eight years but switched to WordPress last September.
There is a massive community of programmers, designers, and marketing professionals invested in improving and maximizing WordPress. A WordCamp brings all these groups together to "learn from each other, figure out the future of publishing on the web, and have a good time."
The 2008 Mac a'hiki Tech Fest featured a keynote presentation by Matt Mullenweg, founding programmer of WordPress.com. He gave an excellent overview of blogging software, the WordPress community, and his company, Automattic. (You can watch an archive of the live video feed from Mullenweg's talk at Ustream.) During his talk, long-time tech-head Bob Lew floated the idea of a Hawaii WordCamp.
Mullenweg, who says WordCamps are his "favorite events," said he'd love to see it happen and may even return to attend.
Lew is eying October for WordCamp Hawaii, and I've already made contact with WordCamp gurus Matt Thomas and Maya Desai to get things rolling online. The most important part, however, will be bringing together the diverse bunch of Hawaii WordPress users so that we can collectively make the most of this fantastic tool.
Are you a WordPress user, or WordPress curious? Make yourself known! Let's do this thing.