Wordpress – Frontline Club

Workshop: WordPress for Journalists with co-founder Mike Little

Millie Cartwright — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:05:16 +0000

This class is ideal for the freelance journalist wanting to showcase their writing, a budding radio presenter wanting to learn to podcast to get their voice and personality out there, a photographer looking to put a portfolio online, or a local video reporter wanting to showcase their presentation style.

Anyone looking to work for any of the many media companies using WordPress will benefit from having these skills.

You may have already tried to set up WordPress but got lost in the technical stuff. This course will set you back on the right track.

All you need on the day is your laptop. Included in the course fee is one month’s free hosting to practice what you have learned.

If you have some images or writings you would like to practice with, please bring them along.

Please note: We are unable to provide hardware on the day. Participants are required to bring their own laptop with an up-to-date web browser installed. This course does not cover WordPress.com — it concentrates on self-hosted WordPress.

Prior WordPress experience is required for this course. You will need to know the basics covered in ‘WordPress for Beginners‘ from having attended the course or from previous WordPress use.

What the session will cover:
How WordPress is used in the news/media
Advanced editing in WordPress
Syndication: RSS — feeds in, feeds out
Podcasting/videocasting
Themes: some good themes and sources of more
Plugins: adding more functionality
Some key plugins, SEO, and more
Comments and social media: engaging with your readers
Linking with the social media world
Galleries and photography showcases
Multiple users: co-authoring and workflow
Copyright and attribution

Learning outcomes:
A thorough grounding in using and administering WordPress.
How to use all the features of the WordPress editor.
An understanding of podcasting, video blogging and more.
How to incorporate social media and SEO.
A set of valuable skills appropriate for WordPress’s increasing use in the world’s media organisations.

Trainer Bio: Mike Little is the co-founder of WordPress, and founder and CEO of zed1.com — a WordPress specialist web development consultancy. He has over 25 years worth of experience in software development in senior positions. Mike has also worked on a variety of government WordPress sites that include the DWP, COI as well as developing and providing support to David Cameron’s official Cabinet Office website.

Workshop: WordPress for Beginners with co-founder Mike Little

Millie Cartwright — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:02:41 +0000

WordPress for Beginners will provide you with a great start in how to get the best out of the web’s most popular content management system (CMS) and how to create your own home online. It will teach you about software installation, adding content (including multimedia), interacting with your readers, customisation and other ways of enhancing the functionality of your site.

At the end of this course you will have your own fully functioning website.

All you need on the day is your laptop. Included in the course fee is one month’s free hosting to test and refine your site.

If you have some images or writings you would like to practice with, please bring them along.

Please note: We are unable to provide hardware on the day. Please bring your own laptop with a pre-installed web browser. Note: This course does not cover WordPress.com — it concentrates on self-hosted WordPress.

What will the session cover:
Introduction: a little WordPress history
What is WordPress? Why do we use it?
Installation: five minutes is all
The WordPress dashboard: logging in and looking around
Content types: posts, pages and more
Publishing your first content: it’s that easy!
More on content: adding images, media, formatting
Settings: configuring WordPress just how you want it
Plugins: ‘apps’ for your site
Some essential plugins: backups, security and more
Themes: an introduction
Headers and widgets and menus, oh my!
Next steps: what comes next

In association with Manchester Digital Laboratory. The Madlab is a community space for people who want to do and make interesting stuff — a place for geeks, artists, designers, illustrators, hackers, tinkerers, innovators and idle dreamers; an autonomous R&D laboratory and a release valve for Manchester’s creative communities.

Just for YOU: NATO launches WE-NATO social media platform

Frontline Club — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:19:19 +0000

NATO has launched a new interactive social media platform called WE-NATO. It’s primarily a WordPress blog which will attempt to encourage an "eye level conversation with netizens out there in the web".

WE-NATO also wants to livestream a series of talks and conduct video interviews in the run up to the NATO summit in Chicago in May.

Unfortunately it’s not really started off too well. First, we have the launch announcement from "Deputy Assistant Secretary of Pubic Diplomacy". (Yep, that’s NATO’s "pubic"…)

Which consists of a fairly dull YouTube video:

I’m sure Dr. Stefanie Babst has lots of interesting things to say about what NATO does but I’m afraid after she tells me I’m in the "right place" to follow global issues, I just feel like actually I’m in the wrong place. A shame.

Then on the About page we have an impassioned plea for YOUR contributions. (Yep, that’s NATO’s excitable capitals):

"WE-NATO is an interactive platform, which will enable YOU to engage directly with other netizens around the world in an open and transparent dialogue on issues related to NATO’s current agenda.

"This site is not a one way communication talk-shop, but a forum where YOU contribute…

"WE also want to listen to YOUR views and comments and WE want to share with YOU our thinking on a range of security issues some of which you may not be familiar with.

"Join the discussion. Join the debate and WE look forward hearing from YOU!"

Brilliantly, we are then informed that "comments are closed".

To be fair, you can comment on the launch announcement page, other pages and a plethora of NATO’s other social media sites. No doubt somebody will reply to you there.

There is more background on the WE-NATO project in a slightly more interesting YouTube video on WE-Magazine.net.

Here an unidentified woman informs us that "NATO itself, in its organisational structure, is not ready yet for what Web 2.0 is actually asking from the institution".

Hmm…that maybe says it all.

P.S. In a bonus irony, you can’t currently comment on this blog despite my occasional pestering of the good people at the Frontline Club…but YOU (sorry, couldn’t resist) can drop me a line on Twitter.