In brief

It’s important to create some kind of space where online conversation and collaboration can happen before, during, and after a THATCamp. We offer hosted THATCamp websites here on thatcamp.org, but you can also build a THATCamp website with WordPress on your own server or you can use a commercial third-party service such as Tumblr, TypePad.com, or WordPress.com.

What should be on the website

• A prominent contact page and/or e-mail address so that visitors can contact you with questions
• The date of your THATCamp and other relevant dates, including when applications close and when notifications will be sent
• An About page explaining THATCamp
• Information about how to register or apply, including the deadline for applying or registering
• The date by which people can expect to know whether they’ve been accepted (many people need to know at least 6 weeks prior in order to make arrangements and/or get institutional funding)
• A blank schedule — see the page on scheduling for more on this
• Information about the organizers and sponsors of your THATCamp
• A blog, wiki, Twitter feed, or other forum(s) where participants and observers can communicate and work with one another
• A “Campers” page listing all THATCamp participants, who should all be users on the site
• Travel information, including directions to your THATCamp and recommended hotels
• A description of your workshops (if any), including titles, descriptions, instructor names (preferably linked to profiles), and any prerequisite knowledge (this information can be posted as soon as you have it)
• Times, dates, and descriptions of any planned social events

Hosted THATCamp websites

We run WordPress Multisite here on thatcamp.org, which enables us to offer you a quick and easy THATCamp website on our own server. To get a hosted site on thatcamp.org, indicate that you would like one when you sign up on the registry or write info@thatcamp.org. Features of hosted THATCamp sites include

• Pre-installed plugins that enable common THATCamp tasks
• Customized THATCamp registration
• Pre-installed, customizable themes developed specifically for THATCamps
• Support for languages other than English (choose your language in “Settings –> General”)
• The fastest and easiest way to make a THATCamp website
• Assurance that your THATCamp site will be backed up and maintained by the Center for History and New Media

Stand-alone THATCamp websites

Commercial services such as Tumblr, Zoho Wiki, or PB Works wikis might well be sufficient to enable the kind of online interaction that’s crucial to a THATCamp. Most THATCamp websites have been built with WordPress, however, which is an open source blogging and website content management software that we love.

If you build your own THATCamp site using WordPress, you’ll have more control over its look, feel, and functionality, but you’ll probably spend more time on the website than you would have if you’d chosen the hosted option. Nevertheless, to make it as easy as possible for you to build your own website, we offer some instructions and materials below. Here’s what you need:

• The famous WordPress software, available from WordPress.org. See also their Installation Guide.
• The THATCamp logos in various formats. See our page on designing a logo for guidance on how to customize these logos into one of your own.
• A WordPress theme. You can pick your own theme, or use one of the THATCamp themes we have made: see below for instructions.
• A registration or application form: see below for instructions.

Using THATCamp themes and plugins on a stand-alone site

All THATCamp themes and plugins are available for download on GitHub at github.com/chnm/. These plugins and themes are automatically installed on every THATCamp site hosted on thatcamp.org.

THATCamp Plugins

The THATCamp Registration plugin generates a registration form and allows site administrators to create site users easily from registrations. See below for instructions on using the plugin.

• THATCamp Registrations plugin — github.com/chnm/thatcamp-registrations/zipball/masters (.zip)

THATCamp Themes

The THATCamp themes are “child” themes which need their “parent” themes in order to work: to use THATCamp themes on a standalone WordPress site hosted elsewhere, download both the “parent” theme and the “child” theme from the links below, uncompress the .zip files, then upload the files for both the “parent” and “child” themes to your /wp-content/themes folder. Click on the link to the “parent” theme to see a preview of what it looks like.

• Twenty Ten (parent) and THATCamp Twenty Ten (child)
• Arclite (parent) and THATCamp Arclite (child)
• Furvious (parent) and THATCamp Furvious (child)
• Graphene (parent) and THATCamp Graphene (child)

If you like, you can read more about Child Themes for WordPress.

Creating a “Campers” page

All THATCamp themes include a template called “Campers” that will automatically generate a page that links to the profiles of the site’s users. (In general, THATCamps make all participants users on the site so that they may post to the blog.) First, create a page called “Campers” or “Participants” or what you will by going to Pages –> Add New. Then, in either the Quick Edit or the Edit screen for that page, look for the dropdown box labeled “Templates” and set the template to “Campers.” You’ll wind up with a page such as this Campers page for THATCamp CHNM 2011, with users’ pictures sorted alphabetically by first name linking to their profile pages.

Note that you will not be able to add or remove text from the Campers page. Note also that users can either upload pictures directly to their profile on thatcamp.org or register at Gravatar.com with the same e-mail address as they use for thatcamp.org and upload a picture there. Gravatar is a “global avatar” system run by Automattic, the same company that makes WordPress; pictures uploaded there will be available at WordPress.com and other Gravtar-enabled sites around the Internet.

Creating a registration/application form

There are two different methods we recommend for enabling registrations on your THATCamp website: either use the THATCamp Registration plugin, or else create a Google form in a Google Docs spreadsheet and link to or embed it on your site. The advantages of the THATCamp registration plugin are that it automatically creates WordPress users and enables automatic e-mails to registrants; the advantage of the Google form is that it’s customizable and currently makes it easier to review many applications at once rather than one at a time.

THATCamp Registration plugin

If you have a site on thatcamp.org, your administrative panels should already show a menu titled “THATCamp Registrations.” If you are running a WordPress site on another domain, you can download a .zip file of the THATCamp Registrations plugin from github.com.

To use the plugin, create a new page called “Register” or “Apply” and type the shortcode [thatcamp-registration] in either the Visual or the HTML tab. This will generate our standard (non-customizable) application form if registrations are open, or will produce the text “Registration is closed” if registrations are closed. Registrations are closed by default; you can open registration on the THATCamp Registrations Settings menu. In your Settings, you can also choose whether to automatically add approved applicants to your site as WordPress users, and you can write text for e-mails that will automatically be sent to users whose applications are Pending, Approved, or Rejected. If the field is left blank, no e-mail will be sent.

Google Docs form

To set up a Google Docs form, see Google’s own instructions. You are also welcome to copy and adapt (or not) our sample spreadsheet and form. Be sure to copy the sample spreadsheet and form into a new Google document.

Click on “Form > Go to live form” to get a link to the form that you can post on your website. You can also embed the form directly on the page (as below) if you make sure to put in the iframe code while you are on the HTML editing tab (not the Visual editing tab). Once people have registered for your THATCamp using a Google form, you can import a CSV file of their information into user accounts on your WordPress website. Instructions on how to import user information is available on our page about accepting registrations.

If you have any questions or requests for your hosted or stand-alone THATCamp website, write info@thatcamp.org.