Cate DeRosia 8:44 pm on February 27, 2023
Tags: #meetups ( 49 ), community ( 16 ), diversity ( 14 )

Proposal: Modify the Events and News widget to show topic-based meetups worldwide

Published on behalf of Amber Hinds (@amberhinds on Make Slack)

The purpose of this post is to discuss proposed changes to the Events API that displays upcoming events from Meetup.com meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups in the WordPress admin dashboard widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user..

Background

Topic-Based MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.

In April of 2021, a proposal was created to allow topic-based meetups in the Meetup chapter program and in May 2021, meetup applications for topic-based groups were accepted.

There are currently three meetups in the chapter program that are topic-based rather than city-based:

These meetups have a city location of San Francisco, CA because that is the location of WordPress headquarters, however they each offer online events via Zoom that are open to anyone in the world (rather than in-person events).

The WordPress AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) Meetup and Learn WordPress Online Workshops are holding events at times that are optimized for people around the globe so that some events will always be in the daytime, regardless of where you are in the world.

WordPress Events and News Widget

The WordPress Events and News admin dashboard widget displays upcoming events filtered by proximity to a city. This geographic radius makes sense for in-person meetups where people are unlikely to drive long distances to attend a meetup.

For the three topic-based meetup groups, this means that their events are only visible in the WordPress admin Events and News section if someone has set their location to San Francisco.

A challenge of the current geographic restrictions is that many users will be presented with a message telling them that there are no events they can attend and prompting them to start their own meetup. While we do want to prompt people to start meetups in their cities, it’s a missed opportunity to not make people aware of upcoming events that they can easily attend online.

Proposed changes: Allow events from topic-based meetups to show in the Events and News widget worldwide

The WordPress admin dashboard Events and News widget is a key way meetup groups can reach attendees to promote their events and may be the first exposure a new WordPress user has to the meetup chapter program.

While the current geographic restrictions on event display make sense for a city-based group, they do not make sense for a group that is not city-based, holds events exclusively online, and which is intended to have worldwide speakers and attendance.

Benefits of this change

Changing the Events and News widget to include meetups from WordPress Accessibility Meetup, BlackPress Meetup, and Learn WordPress Online Workshops will accomplish the following:

Expose more people worldwide to virtual learning opportunities.
Provide increased resources to people in rural or other areas without a city-based meetup, thus leveling the playing field for people learning WordPress in these areas.
Increase the potential speaker pool size for these groups as more people become aware of them and participate in meetups.
Create a better user experience by showing virtual events in the WordPress dashboard rather than no events at all.

Why WordPress Accessibility Meetup

In the case of the WordPress Accessibility Meetup, making events show worldwide will also serve the goal of increasing general awareness of what accessibility is and emphasizing the importance of building accessible websites.

Many people have never heard of website accessibility or realize that they need to take people with disabilities into consideration when building websites. The more people who are exposed to the concept of accessibility, the more likely we are to see improvement in the overall accessibility of WordPress websites – whether it’s because content creators will learn to enter their content more accessibly or because pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party, theme, and web developers will put more thought into developing with accessibility in mind.

The first step to making the web accessible is ensuring everyone knows about and has easy access to learn accessibility best practices. Putting WordPress Accessibility Meetup events in everyone’s WordPress dashboard is a major step towards growing awareness around the importance of accessibility.

Why BlackPress Meetup

BlackPress is a global WordPress meetup group that aims to raise awareness about WordPress in the global community of creators of Black African descent, and help connect them to other community members and grow participation and sponsorship toward WordPress.

People of Black African descent are underrepresented in technology careers and within the WordPress community. Many people who identify as Black may benefit from a group that supports their growth in WordPress, but may not know that the BlackPress Meetup exists or know to look for a group like it. Making the group’s events show worldwide will help people in their target demographic find the group, thus potentially increasing the number of Black identifying people participating in the WordPress community.

Why Learn WordPress Online Workshops

Learn WordPress is a community initiative to make more training resources on WordPress available to people all over the world. While making this group’s events appear worldwide doesn’t have the same social benefits that the other two have, the meetups held through Learn WordPress Online Workshops have a broad appeal and are specially created to help people work in modern WordPress.

Things to Consider

If this proposal is approved there are some things to consider, a few of which were brought up in the original discussion on allowing topic-based groups.

Will there need to be changes in the events widget to display online event timing correctly across the globe?
How many topic-based meetup groups can the Events APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. support?
Should the Events API handle each topic-based meetup group equally?
Should the events be divided into two lists under headings for “Local Events” and “Global Events”?
Should the total number of displayed events increase to account for the large number of weekly events held by Learn WordPress Online Workshops?
Because there will no longer be “no upcoming events” results, where would the prompt to start a meetup group be moved to?
Could there be a way of filtering global events by language so that people could choose to see events happening only in their preferred language?

Request for Feedback

Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts on including events from topic-based meetups in the Events and News widget worldwide.

#meetups, #community, #diversity

rawrly 9:59 pm on February 27, 2023

Great idea. I like it! li

You have recommended 3 great examples, but there may be interest in other virtual events to be added as well.

How could additional virtual events petition to be included? It would make sense that only events similarly as accessible as WordCamps (as in similar cost, inclusion, conduct, etc..) should be included.

There may also be a need for someone to take the time to review these submissions periodically. Making the criteria to apply public will help reduce this workload.
- Amber Hinds 10:03 pm on February 27, 2023
  
  I think that the virtual events would have to be part of the MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. chapter program to be included, so they would have to follow all of the rules with regard to how the group is run, free events, volunteer speakers, etc. I can’t see a good way to make this work for events that are not part of an official meetup.
Courtney Robertson 10:00 pm on February 27, 2023

I was about to write a similar request today based upon https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57785#comment:9 😀 Let’s do this!

+make.wordpress.org/training/
- Benjamin Evans 2:11 am on February 28, 2023
  
  +1 👍🏼
likethegoddess 10:26 pm on February 27, 2023

I love this idea, especially for topic-based meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. happening locally. You posed some thoughtful questions too.

While I can’t speak to the events widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. or the Events APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways., Here are my first thoughts.

Yes, I think the Events API handling meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups equally makes sense in the current context, unless a function is added for users to favorite meetup groups.

Having two separate lists makes sense, though I’d go with “Online Events” instead of “Global Events.” Or some sort of filtering could be added to a single list. I like the idea of filtering by language too.

Yes, the total number of events should be increased anyway, unless there is a user selection option.

The prompt to start a meetup could be added to the external links at the bottom of the widget.
- Alex Stine 4:48 pm on March 1, 2023
  
  I really like this idea. I think the widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. should include a section for local events which I can set via zip code/mile filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output., section for online events, and a section for any other events happening. Including all events is important to me as I find them to be a lot of fun and do not always know when things are happening. Time zone conversions would be a huge help.
Amber Hinds 6:46 pm on March 1, 2023

This is an interesting idea. I was proposing only modifying the logic to display the events from these specific meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.. But it sounds like you are proposing changing the widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. to include a section displaying virtual meetups from any group. Is that right, @likethegoddess?

Assumingly, there’s an indicator for this in the MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways., so it would be easy. The only downside is that there would likely be a large enough number on any given day that only some online events would be shown (the ones with names at the start of the alphabet?) unless there was pagination which seems like too much. It also would be unfair to events that never were shown.

I actually think that there are benefits to promoting an accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) meetup over a different random event from a local meetup – because it increases awareness for accessibility in WP. There are arguably social benefits to featuring events from Accessibility Meetup and BlackPress that don’t exist for the other meetups, and I’d hate for them to be buried/never show up.
- Diana Thompson 9:45 pm on March 1, 2023
  
  Yes, I completely agree with putting emphasis on the AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and BlackPress meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.. That’s what drew me to your proposal. I want to suggest ideas that support this goal. So I am thinking about how the widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. might be updated to be more engaging to users to raise the profile of topic-based meetups and WP meetups in general too.
  
  And, yes, I would like to see the events list include IRL meetups according to user location and online meetups regardless of location. Online and IRL events could be in the same stream labeled by type and maybe filterable too.
  
  As you mention, there is a concern about how many online events would be listed if all online events are included. As things continue to open up, I suspect that location-based meetups will largely go back to IRL, which would let topic-specific events surface better. Sorting events chronologically with the next scheduled meetup at the top would help too. Also, News and Events could be separate widgets to give more space for events.
Hari Shanker R 5:06 am on March 2, 2023

I propose that the WordPress Hosting MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. be also included in the events widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.: https://www.meetup.com/wphosting/ – @javiercasares @crixu @amykamala
- Amy Kamala 4:51 pm on March 2, 2023
  
  That would be great! Thanks!
Isotta 9:11 am on March 6, 2023

I love this idea! Thanks Cate for bringing it up!
Leo Gopal 2:54 pm on March 6, 2023

@mysweetcate — I have always wanted and wondered how nice it would be to show more than just the local WP or WC event in the area, as there are also online and WooCommerce ones I would have loved to know about but never knew where to look.

Whatever assistance and support is needed to make this a reality I am here for you and this.
Wes Theron 1:58 am on March 9, 2023

This is definitely something I support and would love to see happen.
Naoko Takano 2:40 am on March 9, 2023
I support this change!

It would be great if we could find a good balance of local & online events. My thoughts are:
- Local events should always be prominently visible.
- The number of online events to show in the widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. could be small, with a link to view a list of all available upcoming events.
- Maybe we could randomly rotate upcoming online events? If two events are close in timing, the latter event will have little chance of view viewed in the widget.
Could there be a way of filtering global events by language so that people could choose to see events happening only in their preferred language?

I would love it if preferred language events were given a higher priority.
Amber Hinds 1:43 am on July 7, 2024

Hey all,

I realized that we never did everything with this, so I just opened a Trac ticket with a proposed design for modifying the Events and News Widget.

Feel free to comment on it with any feedback. I think that someone from my team may be able to submit a patch.