Valent Mustamin: Let’s Build a Solid WordPress Community

Admittedly having a great fondness into WordPress, Valent Mustamin has successfully held two WordCamps in Indonesia. Here is a sneak peek into his mind, what he thinks and feels about Indonesian WordPress community.

In a web development term, what have you done with WordPress?

I don’t see myself as a web developer. I prefer being a WordPress evangelist. Sometimes I code, sometimes I design. I once designed some themes a bit better than Kubrick, modified some plugins just a bit here and a bit there.

But my greatest contribution to WordPress community is in fact how I’ve tried to introduce WordPress to almost anyone I met. I’ve been so thrilled in a debate on the best CMS. When a conversation on Drupal, Joomla, WordPress ever comes up, I’d be happy to go head to head with them.

Just about 2 years ago I developed the first Indonesian video portal site. Won’t drip details on the company. It belongs to a discharged cable TV, that’s all I can say.

WordCamp has been held in some countries, including Indonesia. What are the requirements?

To be frank, there is no special requirement. Every country can hold a WordCamp. It’s just… It seems like the Automattic peeps love to see stats. You know what I mean. Indonesia gitu lho.

When the first WordCamp was held here, the initial idea was… It was actually not the WordCamp itself, but the possibility of Matt Mullenweg coming to Indonesia. His name was surely a guarantee. After he’d committed to come, I prepared the event. In less than two months I did everything needed: registration, publication and other stuff. Thank God Matt responded to it positively. He was so excited to find out on his own the fact that WordPress users in Indonesia is statistically high.

At that time, I think WordCamp would’ve meant nothing if Matt Mullenweg wouldn’t come. But he did. So if you ask me about requirements, I’d definitely say: passion and statistic.

I’m sure you had ups and downs in organizing some event, especially the huge one as WordCamp Indonesia. What was the biggest obstacle you were facing while organizing WordCamp Indonesia?

Hahaha… Plenty, Dear, plenty. From the beginning I’d never thought of money. I organized WordCamp not to boost my bank account. I was really an idealist. Even if I had to throw in my own money to drag Matt onto the stage, I’d do it. Hahaha…

I just wanna have a huge international event in Indonesia. And the only thing I’m familiar with is WordPress.

Oh yeah, dunno what you’d call this, but when the words finally came out and peeps found out I organized it, they seemed surprised, as if a Valent Mustamin couldn’t have done it with such an international event, on WordPress, with Matt’s name printed on its invitation, hahaha…

In the end, for me, it felt like an up, not a down. I loved it when I tweeted, “Gue bisa mendatangkan Matt Mullenweg ke Indonesia #bestof2009.”

Please note that I’m not boasting here. I’m just glad that I could do it, while I’m in fact just an ordinary person.

As for WordCamp Indonesia 2010, I think it went quite well. Don’t you think?

How do you see the growth of Indonesian WordPress community?

Amazing. Insanely amazing. Too bad they haven’t exposed themselves to the world.

In the first WordCamp I tried to map the community. I found it was quite arguably “messy” since it’s been affected by the surrounding factors: social media, digital, blogging, developer, marketing, author, etcetera.

In this year’s WordCamp I found a better opportunity to actually map it. That was why I intentionally drove WordCamp 2010 to be more geeky.

If we speak about blogging, I’m sure everyone agrees that blogging community in Indonesia is the greatest. But the geeky side of it… Well, that one is quite unrevealed. Yet.

There are many talents in Indonesia, but sadly, they haven’t been managed well. Everyone seems to love working on his own.

I think it’s a shame… Spending our time on the screen without spitting it out to the world. I wanna see more active wranglers, as currently active end users.

That was why I didn’t expect Matt’s appearance in the second WordCamp. He’s been too business-thingy now. I invited Automattic’s wrangler (Beau Lebens, red) instead, hoping that he could inspire us all. I wanna show you that we, Indonesians, can do what those foreigners have done. That was why I proposed *censored* to come, to perform on the stage, hahaha…

We have great WordPress warriors with great work. Some themes have in fact won in international WordPress theme contests. What should we do to reveal those “hidden” talents to the world?

By having the courage to publish it. The courage to go head-to-head against ThemeSharper or CrowdFavorite, for instance. Make sure those work are Indonesian-made, by local talents.

For coders, I strongly suggest you to directly contribute in WordPress development. Speak out loud in WordPress mailing lists, both official and inofficial. Set your feet on WordPress support forums. By contributing directly and courageously, I’m sure you guys will be spotted.

Oh, one thing for sure, we have to support ourselves. Let’s build a solid WordPress community where everyone supports each other.

What does Automattic find in Indonesian WordPress community?

As I stated earlier, the statistic is amazing… You know, Jakarta is the largest city in the world accessing WordPress… I can say that Indonesia is one of the most important countries for them.

Please spoil us with your wishes for WordCamp and Indonesian WordPress community.

Wishes, eh? Fiuhhh… What can I say… I have so many wishes, hahaha…

But the greatest wish would be a greater involvement of Indonesian WordPress community in the next WordCamps.

Won’t go on details, I wanna keep some secrets here, hahaha… And I’m still tired, won’t think much of WordCamp now.

Original Source:
http://portfolio.icreativelabs.com/valent-mustamin-lets-build-a-solid-wordpress-community/

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