Category: Post

Thanks for 2019, and Happy New Year!

Naoko Takano4 Comments

It’s already 2020 in Japan but still 2019 somewhere in the world, right? I’ve written a long Japanese version of my year in review but I also wanted to share something here as well.

Looking back, it’s been a great year thanks to some unexpected (but good!) changes and opportunities, like being selected as an inaugural WordCamp Asia Global Lead, leading Polyglots tables at WordCamp Europe Contributor Day, team change at work, or visiting Bangkok with my daughter and friends.

I’m most grateful not for what happened, but for everyone who has supported and helped me throughout those events – some of them I got to know for the first time in 2019!

Thank you: WordPress Polyglots Team, WordCamp Asia/Tokyo organizers and mentors, WordPress Tokyo Meetup co-organizers, Automatticians, and family and friends.

My hope for 2020 is that I can be as resourceful and helpful as you are. And of course, I’ll do my best to organize WordCamp Asia!

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Open Source Summit Japan 2019

Naoko Takano

Last week, I volunteered at Open Source Summit Japan, a professional conference hosted by the Linux Foundation.

This was my first ever presence at this event. Although I’m not new to attending or staffing at events, I learned quite a lot of things from both perspectives.

“From User to Contributor” Talk by Riona MacNamara

Riona’s talk “From User to Contributor: How Documentation Enables Vibrant Open Source Communities” was excellent. Since I’m in the middle of organizing upcoming events (WordCamp Tokyo & Asia) and still figuring out the best way to program Contributor Day, it was perfect timing to understand contributor personas and blockers.

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Riona MacNamara

Not only that, her talk was a good reminder of why we should help othrers to contribute. Her different talk from Write the Docs conference is available on YouTube. Some of the key ideas I resonated are also in this one – well worth your 15 minutes!

Women in Open Source Lunch

Another highlight of the conference for me was attending Women in Open Source Lunch. Thanks to Sato-san & Fukuyasu-san frin Linux Foundation Japan (who also invited me to volunteer), I found out about the opportunity to meet more people in the field.

At my table, Sarah Novotony, Patricia Ferreiro, Raona Roess, and I talked about a wide range of topics like career path, mentoring/leadership, and continuing education. I feel very lucky to have had a chance to spend some time with them!

Volunteering in a New Community

I also got to meet other open source community leaders/members in Japan through volunteering. Between our shifts, we exchanged ideas about event organization and community management.

Overall, I’m so glad I decided to go to this event! I even wish I had done it sooner. I look forward to going back again in the future.

Header photo credit: The Linux Foundation (CC BY-NC 2.0)

My WordCamp Europe 2019 #WCEU

Naoko Takano2 Comments

Here are some of my highlights of WCEU 2019 in Germany.

Contributor Day & Contribution Area

I’ve already written about Contributor Day, but again I very much enjoyed that day! Contribution Area on other days was also a nice space to have.

Meeting WordCamp Asia Organizing Team

14 of 41 team members were at WCEU. I met seven of them for the first time in Berlin. Thanks to Abha from Marketing Team, we got a nice group photo.

Some of the members were volunteering and others had a busy schedule with appointments, but we got to hang out in between sessions and after hours.

Getting Involved Table

I only spent 2 hours at the table, but the experience there as well as at Contributor Day made me realize something: there are still some hurdles for getting involved for the first time.

I really like what Training Team is doing to make it easier for everyone to participate. It’s my homework to review the flow for new Polyglots Team contributors and make some improvements.

Thanks to Mayo’s call on Twitter, I had a good conversation with Anyssa & Allyson from São Paulo about growing community.

WPCafe & Sessions

WPCafe was like a mixture of lightning talk & casual meetup. For the one I attended, Afsana opened the session with about 20 minutes of talk, and then the mic was passed around to the participants.

I’m glad that there was a full session dedicated to the multiligualization feature in core.

Picnic

I didn’t have time to explore Berlin during this stay, but thanks to Ellen & Manuel I had a chance to experience a little bit of the life of Berliners. It was nice to stay outside on a long summer day with colleagues and friends.

See you next time… online & at WordCamps!

To all the people who made the event happen – thank you for a great time.

Now it’s my turn to help make WordCamp Tokyo a place attendees feel sad to leave. And of course, WordCamp Asia too!

WCEU 2019 Venue
Get Involved table
Jetpack booth
Bluehost booth
Polyglots stickers at GoDaddy booth
Closing session
Jenny Beaumont at WCEU stage
WooCommerce booth
WordPress test booth