I got the privilege of attending Wordcamp 2009 in San Francisco over the weekend. Overall it was a really positive experience. For those of you not in the know, Wordcamp is a conference surrounding Wordpress with topics as specialized as Buddypress and as abstract as Tara Hunt’s Whuffie or social capital. Ideally, I would have liked to see a little more about how people are using Wordpress in new and unusual ways – and a little less on basic web development. As mentioned, I did see a nice presentation of the Buddypress project, which is a series of plugins and themes to turn Wordpress into a social networking environment.
I did a short stint at their genius bar answering questions. A wide range of people showed up seeking help with the extremely obtuse, and the very simple. It was fun – I managed to help a nice couple from SF working on a capieora website (to the dude with the mysterious p-tag – sorry dude, I hope you find it).
The conference itself was great. They did a nice job putting it together. There was decent food, a constant supply of coffee, and snacks. A nice tshirt, and an afterparty with an open bar – all for $30! Defintiely a worthwhile experience. If I was uber motivated I’d look into organizing one in the Twin Cities… hmmmmm….
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Book One: Work, 1986-2006 by Chip Kidd
Trek: David Carson, Recent Werk by David Carson
Hand Job: A Catalog of Type by Michael Perry
The End of Print by Lewis Blackwell
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop by Timothy Samara