WordCamp New York City 2009

Erin Blaskie

In a world where everything moves as quickly as it does, it’s no wonder that we (bloggers, entrepreneurs, geeks, etc.) are looking for ways to capture our online lives – our online presences – in a way that is coherent and succinct. We also live in a time when voyeurism (not that kind) is at an all-time high and being transparent, authentic and open is the way to build a business and solidify a tribe.

As we look at ways to create a moving, online picture of our lives online and also tie in the need for transparency and authenticity, it’s not surprising that we turn to social media, blogging and lifecasting. These mediums allow us to share ourselves with the world in a way that feels good (and is good for business).

If you Google me, Erin Blaskie, you’ll quickly realize that I live on the Internet.  Really, I do.  It’s a fun place to exist as it’s ever-changing, ever-evolving and there’s always someone online to chat to (even at 4:20am).  More than that, it’s becoming a way of life for many of us who run virtual businesses, have telecommuting positions or who are blogging on their off hours.  It brings us together and connects us as human beings.

In my presentation at WordCamp New York City, which I am super stoked to be giving, I’ll be covering the topic of, “Lifestreaming: The New Future of Blogging?” We’ll be exploring ways to bring in all of the different social media sites to one aggregated source, how to keep your lifestream up-to-date via the mobile lifestyle and whether too much transparency is a bad thing.

I’m curious to see what the general consensus of the crowd is on this question.  Do you think we’re moving into an era of total transparency via lifestreaming or do you think we’ll stick to the more traditional forms of black text on white screens?

Here is a sneak peek at the Lifestreaming Blog design map:

I invite you to share in the comments what you think about lifestreaming in general. Heard about it?  Want to know more?  What are the questions that you’d love me to address via my presentation about this subject?

I look forward to meeting you at WordCamp and you’ll know who I am… I’ll be the girl with the iPhone, laptop, Flip camera and “regular” camera which will be all but strapped to my head a la lifecasting style.  Please, stop me to say hi!

Like it said in previous announcements, regular registration ended on November 4th, due to deadlines from our vendors. Never fear, though, you can still buy tickets to WordCamp NYC! Late registration is only $5 more, and will get you the same full pass as regular registration. The only difference is in the swag. Or more accurately, when you’ll get it.

We’re having awesome long-sleeved conference t-shirts printed with our snazzy logo, plus some bags to put things in, but it takes time to get them printed and shipped. We hope to have everyone’s shirts on site on November 14, but if you register late, yours may not arrive in time. When you arrive at WordCamp as a late registrant, one of two things will happen. 1. When you get to the registration table and tell us your name, we will hand you a cute little WordCamp NYC bag that contains your shirt, name badge, program, etc.; or 2. You will get a name badge and program, and a priority mail envelope. This will mean your shirt didn’t arrive due to your late sign-up, but if you write your name and address on the priority mail packaging and return it to one of the registration table volunteers, we will mail you your shirt and bag a couple of days after the conference ends and the final shipment arrives.

How awesome is that!

Now, look: San Francisco is traditionally the largest WordCamp in the U.S., looked at as the flagship of all WordCamps. We can be the east coast flagship. Our city has ten times more people than San Francisco; we should at least be able to equal the SF WordCamp in attendance numbers! So tell your friends, your colleagues, even the neighbor who always stops to tell you about the latest celebrity gossip when all you want to do is get your mail  — tell them that they should really come to WordCamp NYC. Work at an agency? Everyone you work with should come. Are you a freelancer? Your clients should come. Have a girlfriend who’s thinking of getting off Blogger or TypePad? She NEEDS to come. Seriously, with 8 tracks of content, there will be plenty of content to suit just about every point of view.

If we can get 800 people registered by November 12, I will personally bake cookies for everyone. Yes, everyone. In my little east village oven in my fifth-floor walkup.* That’s how much I want us to have the biggest most badass WordCamp ever. You can ask anyone, even Matt will tell you I’m a good cook. So please, spread the word.

*Unless someone wants to offer me the use of their industrial kitchen, which would be awesome.

Raphael Mudge

You’re making the word processor obsolete. Thanks to you we’re composing email in our browsers, writing articles in software like WordPress, and building all kinds of sites that welcome user-generated content.

The web is not ready to replace the word processor yet. The word processor still has something that we don’t.

One of the great powers of the word processor is its magical ability to check my writing and tell me it’s OK. Before the web can replace the word processor this fire must be stolen from the proprietary word processor and brought into more systems.

Meet After the Deadline

After the Deadline is a magical proofreading technology created (not stolen) by rubbing dry sticks together for over a year. After the Deadline is an API that checks spelling, style, and grammar using artificial intelligence. The software is capable of amazing feats. Use it and you may believe Prometheus is chained to the side of a mountain reading and correcting your content for all eternity.

After the Deadline is a software service. Since it’s open source you’re not tied to any vendor and you have access to the code to run your own server.

Add Proofreading to Your Application

Using After the Deadline is seamless thanks to jQuery and TinyMCE plugins that communicate with the server software.  You add After the Deadline to an application by loading one of these plugins on your page and adding an After the Deadline button to check the part of the page containing the content.

As an example, here is a bare-minimum After the Deadline integration:

<html>
  <head>
    <!-- 1. load jQuery -->
    <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3/jquery.min.js"></script>

    <!-- 2. load AtD/jQuery plugin -->
    <script src="scripts/jquery.atd.js"></script>

    <!-- 3. load a library to do cross-domain AJAX over CSS -->
    <script src="scripts/csshttprequest.js"></script>

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="css/atd.css" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="preview">heloo world</div>

    <p>
      <a href="javascript:AtD.checkCrossAJAX('preview');">Proofread!</a>
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

You can try this example on our server. This example loads the necessary resource files and creates a DIV with the ID preview. When the user clicks Spell Check! the AtD.checkCrossAJAX('preview') code is executed. This one function calls make all the magic happen.

This picture shows how it works:

All you need to add AtD to your application is jQuery, our jQuery plugin, and a CSS file to style the menus and errors.

This simple example could serve as the basis for an editorial review feature on a site. Imagine having a button where a site administrator could quickly check the content area for errors. I’m saving textareas and other form elements for the session. Speaking of which:

Come to the Session

Adding grammar, style, and spell checking to your system will be the focus of my Saturday session in the Advanced Development track titled: After the Deadline: an API to Check Spelling and Grammar. Come on by and let’s change the way people write together.

If you have any questions or points you’d like me to discuss, leave them in the comments or contact me rsmudge at gmail dot com.

Raphael is a code hacker and technology entrepreneur. He developed After the Deadline, the intelligent proofreading software used on WordPress.com and available as a free GPL plugin on WordPress.org. Raphael resides in Washington, D.C.

Starting today, each day we’ll be having our official speakers post about their upcoming sessions. This will allow you to get a better idea of what they’re planning to cover, ask questions in the comments so they’ll know what specific things people are most interested in learning, and get a sense of the speakers’ personalities. Since we have over 50 speakers and only 10 days until WordCamp NYC, the posts will be coming regularly. Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up to get the posts delivered right to your inbox once per day. Please note: we’ll be making a lot of announcements on Twitter that don’t get a post here, so if you are attending, or thinking of attending, WordCamp NYC, you need to follow us on Twitter. Let the games begin!

We are very happy to announce that Microsoft has stepped forward as a Platinum Sponsor for WordCamp NYC. Their generous contribution will allow us to focus more on the content of the event (and less on whether or not our checks will clear) as we continue to solidify plans. As platinum sponsors, Microsoft will have a table in our registration area, where they will be on hand to demo some of their products and service offerings and answer questions. Their interest in supporting WordPress and its open source community has been seen at previous WordCamps, such as the recent ones in Portland and Seattle, as well as in their dedication to developing for the WordPress platform with Live Writer and other initiatives. We are very grateful for their support. When you see them in a week and a half, stop and say hello (and thanks!).

Thank you, Microsoft!

If you check out our sponsors page, you’ll see we’re doing pretty well with getting sponsors to help support WordCamp NYC. I’m surprised, though, that hasn’t been more traction on the lower-cost Individual and Consultant sponsorships. (While I’m thinking of it: Thank you, Baruch, Media Temple, WP e-Commerce, Margaret Roach, Shopp, EasyToBook.com, Sun, Tierra Innovation, WebDev Studios, Mojofiti and Slipfire for your support!)

At $250 and $500 respectively, these sponsorships are still cheaper than any of the conferences most people working with WordPress are likely to attend. In comparison, Future of Web Design (in NYC the 2 days after WordCamp NYC, one workshop day and one conference day) is $695. Web 2.0 Expo (in NYC the week following WordCamp NYC, lots of panels) ranges from $845 to $1995, depending on how much of it you want to attend. South by Southwest Interactive (in March in Austin, lots of panels) is $450-$550, depending on how soon you register.Have you taken a look at our program? The Saturday schedule alone is on par with those conferences.

The goal of WordCamp is to raise enough money that we can keep ticket prices low (and $40 for 2 days in NYC with the breadth of content we have is a damn good deal… a lot of our speakers are even speaking at those higher-priced conferences), but if WordPress is contributing to your success, maybe you should think of yourself as a potential sponsor rather than just an attendee. New Yorkers know how expensive our town is: food and beverage especially. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had enough money in the coffers to do something special food-wise, or put some money toward a bar tab for an afterparty?

If you sign on as an Individual or Consultant sponsor between now and November 10th, we’re upping the ante in terms of reward.

• You’ll be listed on our sponsors page here on the site, with a link to yours.
• We’ll thank you by name at the event.
• You’ll be listed in the program, and can include your contact information so WordCamp NYC attendees looking for WordPress consultants/designers/developers can easily reach out to you.
• If we have at least ten of these sponsors, we will have a special display at the event in the registration area thanking you for stepping up. You will be able to have an 8 1/2 x 11 sign listing your services and business cards at this display.

There will be a lot of people at WordCamp NYC looking to find developers and other WordPress gurus. Make yourself stand out by becoming an Individual or Consultant sponsor today, and show the community how much you love and appreciate WordPress!

To become an Individual or Consultant sponsor, just head to the Tickets page, scroll down, and select the sponsorship you would like to purchase. After your PayPal transaction is confirmed, we’ll get in touch with you about the publicity materials.

So come on, what are you waiting for? Celebrate your success by giving something back to the community that makes WordPress possible, and let us celebrate you in return.

*If you have already purchased a ticket but would like to upgrade to a sponsorship, email us at wordcampnyc/gmail/com.

I’ve posted the tentative schedule for Saturday’s track sessions. Please note that we are still finalizing some sessions, and some speakers may need to change time slots due to travel plans, so this is not set in stone. But it’s pretty close. If you haven’t bought your ticket yet, now’s the time. In the next week and a half, the speakers themselves will be posting here about their upcoming WordCamp NYC sessions, so if you haven’t already subscribed to the feed, now’s a good time to do that, too.

Casey Bisson

Most every university uses LDAP or some other authentication technology to reduce the number of systems that users have to maintain their passwords in. When Plymouth State University first deployed WordPress MU (when it was still in pre-release beta), we integrated with LDAP. Eventually we migrated to single sign-on via CAS (Central Authentication Service) and I took over maintenance of the wpCAS plugin.

Running WordPress as a client to other authentication systems is easy, but WordPress offers a number of user-facing features that get lost when doing that.

So when we went looking for ways to improve the security of our password assignment and reset process, we decided to make WordPress the center of the system. Using WordPress saved us the trouble of building our own and the many eyes of the WordPress development community help ensure the overall security of the system.

WordPress now powers the authentication, password recovery, and profile management for the university, replacing the authentication features of our commercial portal system. Now we’re taking advantage of WP’s plugin architecture to easily add new features (like sending password reset codes by SMS), but this approach also offers a neat way to sneak more social features into the tools our users depend on daily.

I’ll be discussing the evolution of WordPress authentication at Plymouth State, including the custom plugins and hacks we developed to make it work, in my session on User Authentication with MU in Existing Ecosystems at WordCamp New York.

I’m very pleased to announce that Media Temple has come on both as a Silver-level sponsor for the event and as the hosting sponsor for our Newbie track. What does this mean? Well, the cash means we can cover more expenses like food and printing costs, so that’s very appreciated. The hosting sponsorship is also seriously great, though: everyone who signs up for the Newbie track to learn how to use WordPress and get their first WordPress blog set up at WordCamp NYC will get one free year of hosting with Media Temple! Their 1-click WordPress install makes Media Temple the perfect hosting sponsor for us, and we are thrilled to have them on board.

The room we have reserved for the Newbie track can hold 78 people, and so far 30 of those slots are filled. That means that those 30 people and the next 48 newbies to sign up will get a major bonus! Not only will they be walked through how to use WordPress by some serious experts and walk out of the workshop with a fully functioning blog, they won’t even have to pay for their first year of hosting. Once we’ve had 78 people sign up for the Newbie track we’ll remove the option from the signup form, and create a waitlist in case anyone drops out.

Note: Newbie track attendees must bring their own laptops (wifi-enabled) to the event in order to participate and take advantage of this offer. If someone shows up without a laptop, their slot will be given to the first person on the waiting list (assuming they have a laptop with them, of course).

Media Temple will also be contributing several one-year hosting packages for our door prize raffle, because they love all WordPress users, not just the n00bs. : )

Thank you, Media Temple, for your support of WordCamp NYC!

Today in the mail I got the printed proofs of the WordCamp NYC shirts. They are, in a word, awesome.

WordCamp NYC shirt (women's M)

Sorry for the slightly-blurry image; iPhone self-portraits are *really* awkward with that button placement. Anyway, the shirts! They are black, long-sleeved cotton shirts printed with the logo in white, yellow, orange, blue and black. There is nothing on the back. There’s nothing worse than getting a cool conference t-shirt and then realizing the back is plastered with sponsor logos, right? This is a shirt you can wear happily until you wear it out. Men will be getting American Apparel, while women will be getting Bella brand shirts (not USA-made, but sweatshop-free according to their web site).

The men’s shirts are actually unisex, and are USA-made and sweatshop-free. Sizes available are S, M, L, XL, and XXL. A word on sizing: these do not seem to run small. I had my brother try on the men’s Large. He 6′, 210 lbs., and usually wears an XL in t-shirts, with a 16.5″ neck and a 32″ sleeve in regular shirts (and more than a little extra around the middle, truth be told). I just wanted to see where the printing would fall height-wise on the chest, but I was pretty shocked to see that the Large fit him really well.  You can see in the image below that it’s not tight around the shoulder at all. So, if you tend to get XL or XXL just to be safe, you might want to think twice or you could be swimming in cotton.

WordCamp NYC shirt, Men's L

The women’s shirts have a little more cling to them and are of a slightly smaller-knit jersey. I’m wearing the sample right now and it’s great (pictured at top of post). Nice and soft, with a loose neck and sleeves that come down just a bit past the wrists: the perfect long-sleeved t-shirt. The women’s shirts are available in S, M, L and XL, and the women’s shirt also surprised me. I was thinking it was roomy for a Large, which I usually wear, but this shirt is a Medium! So unusual… American Apparel women’s L shirts are always a little small on me, so this was an awesome change of pace. The women’s shirts are not available in XXL: if you are a woman and normally require an XXL, you should order either a women’s XL or one of the American Apparel unisex sizes, but probably NOT a men’s XXL. The men’s Large  or XLarge would likely do it.

So! Awesome shirts! A lot of effort when into these, so I want to thank the people whose efforts led to this outcome. Jason Alvich, Krista Gonzalez, Andrew dela Serna, and Dan Simmonds submitted subway-themed entries to our logo contest a while back. Volunteer designer Christine Labate took on the job of synthesizing the elements of the four logo entries into one cohesive graphic that we could use to brand the event. Volunteer designer Matt Thomas did additional graphic cleanup and pre-press preparation. And last but not least, our fantastic printer, Lo-fi Mike, helped us with decisions around shirt stock, logo size and other shwag-related things, and whipped up the samples in record time to make sure we were happy with them before beginning the first print run. This is my second time working with Mike on shirts, and he’s been amazing both times.

The kicker: our last shirt order is being placed on November fourth to ensure we receive it by the event. If you do not register before November 4th, we CANNOT guarantee having a shirt for you. So, please, go register right now! This will also help us with ordering the right amount of food. Late registrations will not receive shirts unless we have extras, so let’s consider November 3rd to be the registration deadline if you want to be an awesome attendee and get this awesome shirt. Thanks!