Word Camp aims to empower people on the Internet

Most people login to the World Wide Web of interconnected computer networks (aka the Internet) without thinking much about websites or how they are created.

Most people just want to use their computers to get on with whatever it is they need to do, whether it’s look up friends on Facebook, find information, create a document, send an email, or stream music, videos and films.

Many options are available for creating a website, and one option is WordPress, an opensource website software program owned by California-based Automattic. “Open source” is code for “free,” and making website software free to anyone follows in the footsteps of CERN and later MIT engineer Tim Berners-Lee who created the WWW with his team and gave it to the world in 1991. Berners-Lee’s idea was that all people should have unlimited and free access to as much information as possible, including ways to post and disseminate it.

WordPress, including both its free .org and feebased .com versions, will be discussed and explored at the eighth annual WordCamp Fayetteville conference set for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 22, in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus.

According to the WordCamp website, the four tracks of workshop sessions are geared for all levels of interest and expertise, from those who “just wonder about WordPress” to those who want to refine graphics, add plugins, employ Google analytics and more.

WordCamp Fayetteville registration is $20 until July 2 when it goes up to $25. Registering early allows participants to receive a conference T-shirt, box lunch, access to the Friday night opening event and first dibs on scheduling a Sunday “jam session,” which offers one-on-one sessions with the presenters.

Go to https://2017. fayetteville.wordcamp. org/ to register. See other information about WordCamp Fayetteville at https:// www.facebook.com/ WCFay/ and at https:// wordpress.tv/?s=fayetteville.