Why I Love the Podcamp Toronto Wiki

Wow. What a mess. The Podcamp Toronto wiki, the anyone-can-edit site that we are using for scheduling and registration, is a wreck right now. Multiple edits by multiple people on multiple platforms have created a hodgepodge of formatting, fonts and very ugly exposed HTML code. Sometimes pages have disappeared completely. The thing is a huge pain in the ass.

And I love it.

I’ve fought with the Podcamp Toronto Wiki. We’d had our bad moments. But the same could be said for my relationship with my friends and family, the people I love the most.

I love the wiki because of what it represents, and moreover the discipline it enforces. To register for Podcamp Toronto, or to put on a session or volunteer, you have to hit the Edit button on the wiki.

Some people have never edited a webpage that others could see and edit for themselves. The first time you do it, it’s scary. And you can fuck it up to. Lots of people have, including me.

Overcoming that fear is INCREDIBLY important if you think you’re going to have any success in the new media space, or at least on the fringes of it where much of the stuff we usually talk about at Podcamps still exists.

And, if and when you do mess up the wiki, you realize it’s not a big deal. There is an edit history, and the ability to recover changes. You can re-edit as many times as you need to get it right. And eventually, you realize it’s not really all that scary. You get used to occasionally making mistakes in public, for everyone to see. And you’re fine with that, ‘cus that’s part of the process.

Apparently Podcamp Toronto is going to be crazy this year. A lot of people are coming. Some people will be bothered by the crowds, put off that they can’t get into the session that they want to, not sure where the washrooms are, whatever. They’ll be uncomfortable, and will want things to be easier.

Those people don’t really belong there.

But if you’re brave, if you’re brave enough to hold your breath, cross your fingers and hit the Edit button on the wiki, Podcamp Toronto just might be a really great experience for you.

See you there!

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