I was signed up to go to WordCamp NYC last weekend but was too much of a lightweight to take the red eye from California directly to WordCamp NYC after the DevLearn conference.
Instead, I went home and removed the lint from the dryer vent because, you know, that’s really important.
One of the main reasons I wanted to go was to hear Matt Mullenweg. He’s the 25-year old founder of WordPress.

Here’s the next best thing I guess…he was interviewed on “This Week in Startups“ with Jason Calacanis and Joel Spolsky.

Did you know 1 in 3 people online in the US visit a WordPress blog (even though many are not actually used as blogs)? (This blog, in fact, is a WordPress blog.)
Random factoid: He went to the same school Beyonce went to (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts).

Love this question…

Interviewer to Matt: Did you think at some point, Jesus Christ, I’m a fraud, I’m getting myself in over my head. All these guys think it’s going to be a big thing…putting millions of dollars into the company…I’ve got dozens of people working here. Did you ever have that doubt…this can’t be real or this is going to end badly or did you always think it was going straight up?

Matt’s answer

…I’ve always been careful not to…I’m kind of antihype, anti over-promising so I kind of managed the expectations at a very low level. So saying…who knows how this is going to go.

He’s so down to earth. And he’s got a beautiful website and awesome URL. I had to check if it’s WordPress ( I KNEW it would be.)  Here’s what it says:

“This page took 0.205 seconds of computer labor to produce.
This blog was formerly known as Photo Matt, and lived at photomatt.net.
Proudly powered by WordPress. Also powered by ramen noodles, XFN, Ping-O-Matic, and love.
Designed by Julien Morel | Joolz.fr”

Ramen noodles. Gotta love that.

Via Stephen Downes, I noticed this link of 25 Great Edublogs. It is an excellent list. Coming off of a women’s blogging jam here at IiL08 (which went over two hours) I just have to sigh when I see that 22 of the 25 listed are men. Mostly older men. Mostly white. We had some discussion on this.

I realize that this is just a listing based on Zaid’s preferences and applaud him for featuring great edubloggers (I have done so here – in past posts – with women edubloggers). But Zaid’s post (in conjunction with the conference session) leaves me wondering if the Internet is the great equailizer it was supposed to be or just another reflection of society? There are similar numbers of men and women blogging and certainly women are not underrepresented in our field.

Any thoughts on this consistent issue? Genre? Style? Biology? Content? What would you’re list look like and why? And more importantly, is this important?

It is not:

• A sweet fruit condiment favored by blogging women and often spread on toast
• Women slam dunking a basketball while blogging
• Women blogging about covering the Michael Jackson song, “Jam”
• Women rockers who blog about jam sessions

One familiar definition of a jam is a simple social gathering and communal practice session [for music]. “Jams can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to sophisticated improvised sessions intended to be edited and released to the public.”

A Women’s Blog Jam then is an simple gathering for those who read, write, or want to write blogs. It’s a group session for sharing best practices on the art of writing (and other forms of communication like video, audio, etc.) and publishing your content on a blog. Although open to all, the focus is on the unique voice of women and the education/training/learning niche. We’ll loosely focus on e-learning, technology, professional development, and how people take different approaches to blogging. Some possible conversations…

• You: professional advancement and personal identity
• Customs: blogiquette (the edublogosphere community)
• The craft: finding your blogging voice and niche
• Technical information: readers, widgets, blogrolls, Technorati advertising,…what they’re all about

Come and jam with us!

Where?

• The Innovations in Learning Conference
  
• Open to all conference attendees (men too)
• Featuring Michele Martin, Christine Martell, Cathy Moore, and others (including me)

If you are attending the conference and want to participate in the jam, please contact me at JanetATbrandon-hallDOTcom. Lurkers, as always, are welcome. I’m also working on ways to get virtual attendees involved.

Ideas welcome.