WordPress Photo Festival 2024, A Five Part Retrospective, Part 3, Attendees

In this episode we interview three attendees, one in India, one in Spain, and one in the USA. We have a great conversation about what it means to “attend” a virtual event, and ways we could make it more engaging for those that wish it.

In this particular we’ll meet attendees Hari, Nilo, and Jeff.

This article is available in Video, Audio, and transcribed text.

Audio version:

Transcription:

[00:00:00] Topher: Hi,

welcome back to our series on the international photos festival that took place earlier this month in February, 2024. In this episode, we’re going to talk to some attendees about what their experience was taking part in the event, getting photos uploaded and understanding how it all works. So if you could tell me your full name and where you live.

[00:00:44] Hari: My name is Aishankar and I live in Kochi, India, which is in the southern part of India in a city called Kerala.

[00:00:51] Topher: All right. So you were near the center of all the action, right?

[00:00:56] Hari: Yes. Yes. I saw, yes, I was, I was, I’ve [00:01:00] been in the center of the action, literally and figuratively. So definitely. So, because I live in the center of Kerala as well.

So yes. Okay.

[00:01:09] Topher: So, um, I want to talk to you because you were an attendee and there must surely have been a wide variety of kinds of attendees because there are some people who are far away by themselves. Others were in a group. Um, what? Okay, first of all, how many photos did you submit? One? A hundred?

[00:01:33] Hari: Somewhere closer to one than hundred, but if I can give you the exact number, exactly nine photos, if memory serves me right. I submitted ten, one got rejected, so nine

[00:01:42] Topher: were approved. So in Kochi, in Kerala, were there groups of people who went out and did photo walks? Or was it all singles everywhere?

[00:01:56] Hari: I believe we had folks contributing single photos.

[00:02:00] Uh, But as, as a local community, we did have photo walks before the photo festival event, which were held by local meetups, especially the Cori code meetup. So those folks went on photo walks and they’ve had a couple of events where they did it. But for this event specifically, I don’t think there were photo walks.

Mostly we had folks contributing photos individually.

[00:02:22] Topher: Sure. That’s very interesting. I would have expected, um, people to get together because, uh, sort of, sort of put together by your community. Yes,

[00:02:31] Hari: it was an idea that was floated though, but this was mostly an online event. We, uh, there was, there was some talks of having local events, local in person, um, gatherings to contribute photos, but due to the logistic side of things.

Online mates made more sense, especially for this event. So we had folks trying to do it online, but it does sound like a great idea to have an in person aspect to this community building, especially for an online global event. So for the next photo [00:03:00] festival, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be an in person part of it and photo walks and all that.

[00:03:04] Topher: So if you do that, do me a favor. Get everyone into a group and take their, a group photo with their back to the camera.

[00:03:13] Hari: Ooh. There’s a, then you can put it up on the project. That would be nice. Uh, there’s actually a very famous, one of the, one of the most famous Bollywood movies, which has a scene like this where like the three protagonists, so they’re like three musketeers.

Like they show their backs to the camera. There’s an iconic photo. Uh, the movie is called three idiots. So, yeah, we’re going to do that like a bunch of open source lovers, you know, showing their backs to the camera so they can be on, they can be on the directory. That’s a fantastic idea. I would love to do that.

[00:03:48] Topher: So, uh, for your, for your photos for this, did you take new custom photos for this event or did you select some out of your library?

[00:03:57] Hari: I, to be honest with you, I did select some out of my [00:04:00] library. So I’m in a very unique situation. I, I take a lot of photos for myself, which I do not share elsewhere. Like I used to, but then like, I just take photos as a, how do I say it?

Like for my own reference or just to read a memory. You know, I just keep going back to it. Yes. So I had a, I was, I’ve been sitting on a, um, I’m, I’m sitting on a stash of at least 200, 000 photos. So I have, I have plenty of them. And it so happens that a lot of them meet our guidelines as well. So I just had to go back and 2023 was a year, 2022, 23.

I traveled a lot. And as you know, we’ve been together on at least a couple of those trips. So I, and I had a chance to take photos all over the world. So my photos reflect my travels. So you will, you will find photos from Kerala, Singapore, the U. S., Europe, right? Literally Japan, like you, you’ll see a side of the slice of the world in the nine photos that I contributed as part of the photo festival and my [00:05:00] other contributions in the past as well.

[00:05:02] Topher: I experienced that with Bigel as well after, uh, I think after WordCamp Asia. Yes. He went on a world tour. It would seem. Yes. He posted pictures from Serbia and Romania. And I’m like, yeah, don’t you live in India?

[00:05:20] Hari: Yeah. He, he, he is also sitting on a very similar, but actually much bigger stats than I. So I wouldn’t be surprised.

[00:05:29] Topher: Yeah. He recently passed me. The person with the most photos up there.

[00:05:33] Hari: I did see that. I did see that. So interesting. ,

[00:05:37] Topher: he’s, he’s the man. . Yes.

[00:05:39] Hari: So are you,

[00:05:40] Topher: okay, so no, there can only be one. It’s like, no, I, I, I

[00:05:45] Hari: think that’s space for multiple. We have, we have no project so we, we can have as many people as, yes. So, okay.

[00:05:51] Topher: Um, so you were an attendee of this event, but what, practically [00:06:00] speaking, that sounds like you sat at your desk and uploaded nine photos. Uh, which is not a, not a lot of time commitment, which is kind of nice. Um, what does it, what does it mean to be an attendee of an event where you can spend, I mean, you can upload five pictures at once.

So if you did just five pictures, you could literally be an attendee and a contributor and take part in the whole event in five minutes. That’s, that’s very different.

[00:06:31] Hari: I, I still found it fulfilling and my, my regret is that I could not upload a lot more. I could have actually, I just got busy with other things, but I, but I did enjoy it.

It was a very unique experience and I think it reflects a future of events where we don’t need to be in person synchronously at a certain for a certain amount of time to do it. So there’s other ways where you can collaborate collectively, which like, like this event where you sort of like upload photos and [00:07:00] then it shows up in the photo directory and like you’ve made it available for anybody to really use that.

And, uh, I’m, I’m, I’m sure I can think of a, A hundred different scenarios that folks might find the photos that I’ve uploaded useful. So while it did, like you said, while it did take only five minutes for me, I didn’t feel the impact of it. You know, so, uh, I’ve not done this before and I feel, I felt part of the global WordPress community, which is why I keep contributing to WordPress.

When I uploaded those photos in those five minutes, You know, and when those were approved, when I got the email notifications that they were approved, it didn’t feel good. Um, it does feel good. I, I, yes, I, I felt connected to the global community. I felt this very unique sense of belonging. I felt so loved and like, it was like, I was a part of this.

This, you know, uh, a global community. I already am. Yeah. But it felt even more so. So that was this warm, fuzzy feeling, which I got in five minutes, which I may not [00:08:00] have got at a, at another event. If I attended an online event or maybe even at an in person WordCamp, this feeling of, you know, having those photos out there in five minutes, it felt good.

Definitely felt good. Yeah. Yes. Yes. To the warm, fuzzy feeling.

[00:08:14] Topher: Similar, similar to being a code contributor, one line can change someone’s life. One photo can change someone’s project. Absolutely. If you get the perfect photo and it just fits. Yes. Um, that’s, that’s, that’s a really big deal.

[00:08:29] Hari: And, and it so happens that our photos are CC zero, which is the closest equivalent to GPL.

So he’s giving it out to the world. You’re, you’re just, you know, uh, maybe it’s a, it’s a blogger. They was looking for an image and this image fits for them or a company who was trying to, you know, create a corporate website. N number of uses and if it helps them that that that may that means the world for me So even if even if what one person uses a photo that i’ve used or maybe I mean it’s out there Even if others watch it that that that means the world to [00:09:00] me So I I didn’t have a few four people come into me and say hey those photos look good Which is a really good moment for me because I never consider myself to be a photographer.

Like I told you, I just take photos for my own reference. I’m not, I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a photographer, but when, when random people, to be honest, it’s not a lot. It’s not like they said, Oh, this is a breathtaking photo, but they just. When, when somebody shares a positive comment on a work that you’ve done it, that’s what we live for.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. We’re all human beings and we need that validation. So that validation definitely felt good. So yes, yes, to the, yes, to everything is to belonging is to warm, fuzzy feelings is to being part of a global community. Yes. Helping others. So

[00:09:40] Topher: you heard it here, kids comment on blog posts.

[00:09:43] Hari: People like it. Yes, absolutely. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[00:09:49] Topher: All right. Um, so you did, you did nine photos. That was fulfilling. Was it fulfilling enough? If we do this again, are you, are you going to do more? Are you going to do less? [00:10:00] Are you happy with what you did?

[00:10:02] Hari: So, um, I was helping out with the, with the event and, um, I was obviously not looking for prices or anything.

I was just doing this for me, of course. That’s, that’s what, that’s why I can’t do it, but when I’m doing it, when I’m doing it for a different photo festival. I might get into the competitive spirit. I’m going to, I might, I want to win prizes, but just kidding. I’m just doing it for open source. I would definitely do more.

And I was definitely busier this time. So when the next event happens anywhere all over the world, I mean, that’s the beauty of this format, right? Anyone can organize it anywhere. It instantly, yes, it instantly becomes global. Which is, which is again the beauty of this format. So short answer to your question, yes, yes, and yes, I am, and I am going to be submitting way more photos than the nine ones that I did.

Because I have, I have, I have 200, 000 photos in my stash. So I need to, yeah, it would be a crime to not upload at least a hundred of them. So that’s right. I’m going to try doing

that.

[00:10:58] Topher: Are you going to wait for the event, or are you going to start [00:11:00] soon?

[00:11:00] Hari: I, so in fact, like, uh, I did see someone in, uh, I think it was Jonathan, Jonathan Doroshes.

Somebody did pledge in Twitter that saying, who was saying that, Hey, I’m going to, I’m going to contribute like a photo periodically on a periodic basis. Yeah. So I’ve been, I’ve been doing that idea myself. I want to do that actually like, I mean, of course I, I will be a part of an event, but other than that, I want to, I want to do this regularly, you know, because like, um, I, and again, that, that feeling of getting that email that your photo is approved and, you know, putting your work out there, I wouldn’t do this consistently on a regular basis.

So yes, I am. I’m going to keep doing this. You will see more photos from me.

[00:11:40] Topher: That’s very exciting. I look forward to them.

[00:11:41] Hari: Yes, yes. I know you’re a moderator, so I’m going to make your life a little difficult by giving you more photos to moderate.

[00:11:49] Topher: Yep. Alright, well thank you very much for your time. This has been very enlightening.

Topher. And I will talk to you later. Being an international event is one of the things that [00:12:00] makes this event unique. Next we’re going to talk to Nilo from Spain. Thanks for coming today. Uh, tell me your name and where you’re from.

[00:12:09] Nilo: Hello. Thank you for having me here. I’m Nilo Velez and I’m from, from Sevilla, Spain.

[00:12:15] Topher: Oh, nice. Uh, I don’t know if you are closer to India in time than me or not. I don’t know what the offsets are. I

[00:12:25] Nilo: don’t know, because you’re maybe closer by one side. I’m closer on the other side. For me, it’s like seven hours. They are seven hours ahead from me. Something

like

[00:12:36] Topher: that. Oh, I think I’m 12. Yeah, so you’re closer.

So, uh, we’re here today to talk about the recent, uh, photos event that took place out of Kerala. Um, you’re in Spain. What made you think, Hey, look, an event in India. Let’s, let’s go do that.

[00:12:55] Nilo: No, because I didn’t thought that it was an event in India. It was a [00:13:00] global event online. So from the photos, from the photos team.

So this time is in India, maybe next time is another place.

[00:13:09] Topher: All right. That’s, that’s actually really good to know because. They tried to convey that it is, it is an international event for all the organizers are mostly from Kerala. Yes. And so

[00:13:19] Nilo: they are been talking about the idea, you know, about making it, uh, more times in another hosting cities around the world.

[00:13:31] Topher: Yeah. All right. Uh, and I’m, I’m sorry, you probably already said this. Where did you first see it?

[00:13:39] Nilo: I don’t know. I think it was the photo channel on Slack. Okay. Yeah, probably was there.

[00:13:46] Topher: Probably the first place they announced it. Um, so how many photos did you put in?

[00:13:54] Nilo: I don’t remember.

It was a hundred something maybe?

No. No, no, no. No, [00:14:00] no, no. 80, 80 something. 83. Because the woman who won was 86. I was three photos, three photos behind her. Yeah.

Wow.

[00:14:13] Topher: Okay. Um, that’s quite a lot. Uh, for those. Okay. Watching, listening, and unaware. You can only, only, only upload five at a time until they get moderated. And so you have to wait. And particularly during this event, the wait was really quite long most days because there were just so many to do.

Um, how did you manage to get so many through? Get up early in the morning or?

[00:14:42] Nilo: No. Okay. Now that I, this is over, I can tell my secret.

[00:14:46] Topher: Yes.

[00:14:48] Nilo: No. Uh, okay. Uh, actually it was a hack on, uh, you know, hacking in a good way. I consider myself, myself a hack, a hacker, uh, not by [00:15:00] the idea of the pirate that breaks things, but, uh, to find the loopholes, find the tricks behind things.

And, uh, when the event was presented, uh, one of the moderators, uh, sold us. How the moderation, uh, QA works, right? I don’t remember if it was Michelle, maybe it was Michelle. Uh, and she said that, uh, when she moderate photos, uh, uh, you choose one of the photos from the QA and then, uh, the system automatically, uh, select another one random for you.

Yes. So the trick is really easy is just to keep always five photos on the queue. Yes, because that way there’s more possibility of your photos get picked and moderated. Yep. And also they [00:16:00] say that the moderators have a problem because if the system flags an image, because it considers it violence, nudity, or whatever.

Uh, the photo gets on hold, uh, because a super moderators have to, uh, go there and review that and remove the flag. And it was, uh, it happened a lot with animals. So no photos for animals. So if you, yes, send no photos for animals and keep five photos all the time, it’s more

[00:16:34] Hari: problem probable that your photos

[00:16:38] Nilo: get approved.

[00:16:40] Topher: Yeah, that’s a good plan. Um, in the early days, I used to always keep five in the queue, but that’s because there are only three of us moderating and you can’t moderate your own. Well,

[00:16:52] Nilo: those are not the early days. The early days were when, uh, Rocio Valdivia, uh, tell us, okay, we are [00:17:00] doing something new,

which is going to be.

A photo, something that they, they have sent me that they need photos. So you have been taking photos to WordCamp, so share, share that with us in this, uh, Google Drive album.

[00:17:17] Topher: That is a long time ago. Yeah. It’s been, it’s been years now, do you realize?

[00:17:22] Nilo: Yeah. Yeah. I do now.

[00:17:25] Topher: Yeah. Um, yeah. So. Uh, tell me about your photography, uh, do you have a, do you have a big camera or do you use a phone?

[00:17:37] Nilo: I use several cameras, uh, I’m sorry. I’m a Sony shooter. I have been volunteering, volunteering as a photographer for a lot of work. Um, actually I work at my, uh, day job is as a developer and a translator. So this is more than a hobby, but you know, once you start going [00:18:00] to more and more work, you get a sponsor, you get a better year and you end up, uh, organizing the photography team or work on Europe,

[00:18:08] Topher: things happen.

There you are.

[00:18:13] Nilo: And there goes your impostor, your impostor syndrome, because you have, there’s one point in which you have to review the application for the volunteers, and you have to, to vet people who has been working as a professional photographer. For the press for 20 years or for the New York times, the National Geographic.

And you say, okay, I have to tell this guy how he has to take photos in a WordCamp. Okay.

[00:18:39] Topher: Yeah, that’s funny. Uh, so you’ve been around WordPress for a while doing photo photography for a while. Um, I, I have a compliment for you. Um, another moderator was, we were talking about, um, I think kind of deal with [00:19:00] people submitting too many photos that were.

Against the rules and someone said, Oh, but not, you know, he knows what he’s done.

[00:19:09] Hari: Yes,

[00:19:10] Nilo: I actually take it a little personal when a photo of mine get rejected because, Oh, okay. That wasn’t, you cannot see the

[00:19:19] Topher: face. You would have approved it.

[00:19:25] Nilo: I don’t know. I don’t know if I, if I, one time I’m on the other side, I don’t know what the decision would have taken in moments like that, but yes,

[00:19:34] Hari: it hurts.

Yeah,

[00:19:37] Topher: I know what you mean. I gave up, uh, I don’t want to say caring. I gave up feeling the sting long ago. I have, I don’t know, I’ve, I’ve a couple dozen rejected photos now.

[00:19:52] Hari: No,

[00:19:52] Nilo: but, uh, actually that, uh, has been, it’s much better now because, uh, on the early [00:20:00] days when a photo gets, gets, uh, got rejected, they only say, uh, that we don’t accept your photo.

And now the moderators leave a comment saying okay we cannot accept that photo because there’s a face showing on the top right or there’s a logo so you can crop the photo or edit or whatever.

[00:20:22] Topher: That’s nice. Um, do you have any plans to do a photo event in New York City?

[00:20:31] Hari: I have already done now. Okay. A WordPress one?

I did, I did. Yeah. No, I,

[00:20:35] Nilo: I did a, a WordPress photo walk during a WordPress meetup because I’m one of the organizer of the WordPress meetup group. Sure. And it went nice. We was like, uh, 10 foot photographers. I taught them how to contribute to the photo, the photo WordPress photo directory when taking photos and then they upload the song and it

went great.

[00:20:58] Topher: I was talking with [00:21:00] Bigel in another interview and he said one of the issues they had with photo walks is that everybody takes a picture of the same thing.

Yes,

[00:21:08] Nilo: because you tend to go in a group and oh hey a plant, hey a plant, everyone takes a photo of a

[00:21:14] Topher: plant, yeah. Yes, a bird, look get it. No,

but we, we did,

[00:21:19] Nilo: uh, we did that on Seville on Christmas night.

So there was a lot of lights, a lot of different, uh, photos to take. And when, you know, we, there was always that photo that everyone, everyone took, but, uh, for most of it, it was, it was nice.

[00:21:40] Topher: That’s really great. I think that’s all the questions I have for you. Um, really, I just wanted to know what you thought of being a participant in the event.

You liked it?

[00:21:51] Hari: I like

[00:21:51] Nilo: it very much. The only thing that, uh, maybe I missed, uh, I, I don’t say this as a critic, not, uh, [00:22:00] just as, uh, something that should be, uh, taken into account for the other edition, that, uh, as a participant, I missed a little more communication during the event, because it was the opening event, the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, the closing ceremony.

that, uh, But during that, uh, you know, we try to get people into talk, um, uh, talking to the photos, uh, channel, but not so many people, uh, get involved, uh, on talk. So maybe, I don’t know, make, uh, some workshops or get, try to get people into the conversation.

[00:22:39] Topher: Right. That’s, uh, that’s an excellent point. Um, and I know people who were involved in the organizing.

So. I’ll definitely pass that on. Um, a lot of people said they, well, I guess when I was talking to the volunteers, they said they didn’t feel the need for more [00:23:00] communication. They were able to just do their thing and move on. But that’s maybe it’s different from as a volunteer. Participant.

[00:23:11] Nilo: Another thing that, uh, I don’t know, there’s something that, you know, you, that you have your opinion.

I have mine, but the fact that the prices about, uh, participation, uh, with actually when you have a, such a huge bottleneck, because, uh, if you say, okay, I’m giving you a price. If you submit the most photos, actually you are making more pressure The moderator that actually volunteers. So like, okay, you are going to work a lot this, uh, the, maybe the prices will, should have been to the

moderator who actually, but

they, it was you that was working during the event.

Not me. I was

[00:23:57] Hari: sick.

[00:23:57] Topher: Well, you are, you, it was, [00:24:00] it was, it was Michelle. Mostly Marcus was at a work camp. I was sick and Michelle. Moderated like 900 photos. That’s

[00:24:10] Nilo: just for you to share more on that

[00:24:11] Hari: word than me.

[00:24:12] Topher: Yeah. Yeah. That’s actually an excellent point. All right. Well, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Um, maybe I’ll see you, uh, at work camp Europe this year. We’ll see. We’ll try. All right. Our final interview of the day comes from Chicago, Illinois. Yet another international attendee. Thanks for being here today. Uh, tell us your name and where you’re from. Sure.

[00:24:44] Jeff: Uh, Jeff Paul, director of open source at 10 up and I live in the Chicago area.

[00:24:51] Topher: All right. Um, there was a time when most of TENUP lived in the Portland area.

[00:24:58] Jeff: Unofficial [00:25:00] headquarters. Yeah, we still have a good size contingent there, but not fully, fully distributed, fully remote, fully growable. Uh, so yeah, spread out for sure.

[00:25:10] Topher: Nice. So we’re here today to talk about the, uh, international photos event that happened recently, and you are a participant.

What does that mean? What does that mean to you? I’ve heard a number of things about what it means to be a participant in this thing. What does it mean to you to be a participant in that event?

[00:25:28] Jeff: Yeah, I mean, it was, uh, I saw it as an opportunity to finally do something with the, like, tens of thousands of pictures I’ve taken with my, uh, camera phone over the years, right?

Uh, never really printing many out, uh, only occasionally sending some to folks, uh, Infrequently posting to my own blog. So yeah, it was like, Oh, I can actually, you know, one contribute, uh, to the project, which is cool in a new way for me. And then also like make use of hopefully some photos, [00:26:00] um, mostly accepted, uh, at this point.

Excellent.

[00:26:05] Topher: That’s cool. Um, do you, you use a camera or

[00:26:08] Jeff: a phone? Primarily just a camera phone. So iPhone, whatever of the moment, uh, I think, I think my, the archive of things does include a camera, you know, back when. Yeah. The cameras on phones did not quite, uh, parallel the megapixels that you would get, but everything in like recent history is pretty much just the camera that’s, or the, the, sorry, the phone, um, yeah, not, not like a DSLR house over here by any means.

Yeah,

[00:26:37] Topher: I don’t own a camera. I do it all on the phone. Uh, and if I did, I would struggle. Like I would take it on a photo walk, but most of my photos are very spontaneous and I’m not going to have my camera at a restaurant, walking down the street, whatever. And I think the vast majority of the photos on the project are camera phone.[00:27:00]

So how did you hear about this event? What made you think? Hey, I’m going to go. Go do this thing. So

[00:27:07] Jeff: I, uh, I subscribe and follow the, uh, WordCamp Central, I think central. wordcamp. org, uh, just to be alerted when there’s new camps that come up, uh, usually to see if it’s one I want to try and attend. Uh, and this one came up as, uh, you know, it was unusual in that it wasn’t your typical WordCamp.

It’s, you know, one of these kind of newer events that are being, uh, trialed now. And, uh, Seemed like an easy thing to contribute to. Um, the part participation part was a little more difficult ’cause I think it was mainly hosted out of, um, India and the Indian time zone, and so I don’t have a great overlap there.

Um, so it was more of like a solo effort and not really as much of a community feel, [00:28:00] uh, on my end. But, uh, yeah, caught it from Word Camp Central.

[00:28:04] Topher: Uh, I’m all right. It’s a good place. I’m finding that, uh, it was a very solitary event for most people. Um, Ari was on earlier and he said he picked five photos and sat down and uploaded them and he was done.

And that’s the extent, I mean, he did, he did nine total. So he did that maybe twice, but, uh, just a few minutes in a, in a week long event to be a participant. But then he also pointed out that the results of those few minutes are going to last. Right. You know, those photos are right out there for anybody to use forever.

Uh, so that’s, that’s kind of a cool, cool thing, a very simple way to be able to impact the project with a minimal effort. Yeah, probably one

[00:28:56] Jeff: of the easiest ways to contribute perhaps, uh, across [00:29:00] all the, the make teams for sure. I’m sure

[00:29:02] Topher: it is. Yeah,

that’s cool. I just, it still blows my mind. What a big thing it is for so little effort. Right. Right. Yeah. So, uh, how many photos did you upload?

[00:29:20] Jeff: Um, I don’t have the immediate numbers, but I would say that I, so my first interaction with the photo directory was around WordCamp US last year. I published a couple.

Uh, I think I,

[00:29:36] Topher: I mean, just in this, uh, this event. Right.

[00:29:39] Jeff: Point being, I think I had done a couple. You know, last fall didn’t really do any started in January being a bit more active, um, not probably more than like a dozen or two a month, but then I think during the span of the photo event. Uh, probably got, um, you know, I, I was, [00:30:00] you know, the, the cap is five at a time and pretty much as soon as one would get approved or rejected, um, you know, fairly quickly find another one and submit.

So, um, I don’t know exactly how many I submitted or the total that were accepted, but I, I’d probably say easily, uh, a dozen or so in that short timeframe.

[00:30:21] Topher: Um, I am impressed by anybody who got in more than 5 or 10 because the moderation queue was, it was very difficult to maintain. So well done. Um, I had another question.

I’m trying to remember what it was. How many? Oh, would you do it again? Yeah, definitely. I mean,

[00:30:48] Jeff: I think I. You know, I, I have a friendly, not even a wager, just a friendly competition with, uh, Jonathan DeRozers and, uh, I think Jeff [00:31:00] Galensky, uh, that came out of Twitter of just contributing as a group to the photo directory over the course of this year and just, you know, seeing how much the group of us can, can get published there.

Uh, so I’ll. You know, continue to try and find ones to to submit. I think if there was another event would happily join in. I think the tagging aspect was a little clunky. So hopefully that can be improved. Um, and given that it was. You know, a community event for me, and it sounds like for others that you talk to it didn’t feel like there was a lot of a community feel.

So trying to find ways to give it more of that would be, I think, interesting and perhaps, you know, get keep folks more engaged. Um, you know, there was certainly, I think, a kickoff and a conclusion, uh, to the event, um, that was a synchronous call, but, uh, the time didn’t work for me, it was, I [00:32:00] think, super early on a Friday or Saturday or something, and I think, um,

[00:32:02] Topher: It was Saturday, I remember.

[00:32:04] Jeff: Yeah, I was, yeah, I was five kids, so it was, it was difficult to make that happen. Um, And I think it was, I think it was fun that there was like, uh, awards for, you know, kind of like a, almost like an art show, right? Like best in show sort of thing. And there was monetary, uh, awards, uh, attached to that. Uh, uh, Aaron Jorban, who, you know, I collaborated with, um, as well in, in getting things submitted.

Uh, you know, he was, I think one of the honorable mentions or something, which was kind of cool for him. Um. I think if there were ways to, again, give it more of a community feel would be just a bit more interesting. Um, perhaps, um, like specific, um, side quests or achievements, right? Like a photo, you know, this sort of a photo or, um, you know, this kind of composition.

Right, exactly. Uh, best use of the color red. Who knows, right? Um, [00:33:00] uh, like those are things I think that could be interesting to. You know, give folks an idea of if they’re, if they’re going out to actively shoot with a camera or a camera phone to, you know, what to look for versus just like searching your back catalog of things to submit, um, could be fun and could give it a bit more of a community feel.

I mean, the, the site they had up that pulled in, uh, kind of the tagged photos that were accepted was fun to. Browse through and see, but it didn’t feel like I was really interacting with anybody. Um, and that aspect.

[00:33:29] Topher: All right. Um, did this event feel special? Did it feel different from other times you’ve uploaded photos or were you just given incentive to do it a lot this one week?

[00:33:43] Jeff: Uh, I think it was, it was interesting in that it was, you know, one of these next generation events that I think the community team is trying to, to spur forward. So I think it was fun to participate in that manner. Um, you [00:34:00] know, outside of that, um, you know, I don’t know that it was dramatically different than the contributions to the photo director I’ve done in the past, except for the fact that I kind of ratcheted up my attention to, um, keeping that cue of five.

Pictures topped off, right. So I could have things getting into the, the competition as it were. Um, other than, other than that, um, probably not a dramatic difference, uh, for me feeling wise again, because there, there wasn’t much of like a, a real community aspect of that contribution of, of, of things.

[00:34:37] Topher: So basically I’m hearing that you’d like just more community involved or something more of a feeling of community during the event.

[00:34:45] Jeff: Yeah, something. I mean, or, or even, uh, you know, WordCamp U. S. last year, there was a physical. Uh, exhibit that had photos, I think from the photo directory printed out, um, and matted and framed in a nice little [00:35:00] photo installed down, uh, in the sponsor area. Um, so

[00:35:04] Topher: They’re doing that again and WordCamp Asia,

[00:35:06] Jeff: awesome.

So you, I, you know, I could totally see where like, if, you know, this could be done again, perhaps, um, you know, the weeks leading up to a major WordCamp event, uh, and then. You know, maybe sponsored by one of the major sponsors and, um, you know, then the, the best and show the selected ones are actually then printed in, in, uh, shown in, in person at that WordCamp, I think would be really cool.

Um, you know, it gives you, again, it gives you a bit more of a, uh, community feel. Um, but, uh,

[00:35:46] Topher: those are great ideas. Um, tomorrow, my, uh, episode is going to be. About next gen events. Oh, cool. And all the [00:36:00] different ideas people have had for them. There’s some pretty exciting ones. I’m, I’m really looking forward to the future of WordPress events. Yeah.

[00:36:07] Jeff: I mean, I think the. I’d love to see more of the kids camps.

Um, especially ones that are attached to other events just because, uh, you know, if I’m already going, it’s great. It’d be great to bring my kid along and have them have something that’s tailored to their interests. Um, and then the, uh, the do actions I’ve never been able to participate in those. And so I, I, I would love, I would love to have, again, maybe attached to a.

Like a WordCamp, uh, Europe, Asia, U. S., um, you know, the ability to, you know, leverage the skills we have in contributing to the project and, and instead, you know, contribute to, you know, a worthy organization, right? I would love to see that as well. Um, and, and also really curious, what Uh, you know, perhaps all the other next gen ideas are like really excited to see, um, you know, the project branching out just beyond what I still love the camps.

Uh, you know, they’re, they’re, [00:37:00] they’re fantastic. Um, but also really, always really interested and excited to see what else comes up there. So, uh, I’ll have to stay tuned. You got a, got a good hook for me on that one.

[00:37:10] Topher: All right. Well, yep. Check it out tomorrow. All right. That’s all I have for you today. Thank you for being here.

I appreciate your time. Good to see you Topher. And that concludes our episode for today. I’m glad you came. Thank you very much. It was really interesting hearing all the different experiences that people had, the variety of experiences. Some took just moments to be involved. Some took hours. And it was exciting to see how a different kind of event can happen.

Uh, which brings me to my next point tomorrow, we’re going to be talking with Julia Golomb from the community team about next gen events and what they are, what they could be and how you can be involved. So please stop [00:38:00] by.