How WordPress Changed the Face of Croatian Politics

The basic idea of WordPress was to redefine online publishing by allowing anyone to easily publish their articles. More than 10 years later, we used WordPress as an open source publishing platform to build a website for one of the largest cities in Croatia. I’ll tell you a story of how the city of Rijeka decided to go with open source software and how the people reacted to everything being open sourced as well. One of the first large-scale “design in the open” projects in Croatia is defining standards for future web development. We’re discussing the web design process, sharing knowledge with the public and asking citizens to be a part of the redesign effort. By delivering designs, HTML and CSS, WordPress theme and documents like Content Strategy and Accessibility Guidelines – we’re redefining what the public website should look like. And with the help of WordPress we’re promoting the power of publishing and transparency. Last but not least – I’ll tell you how the city of Rijeka helped us organise our first WordCamp Croatia in 2015, by believing in the power of WordPress.

Transcript

1. HOW WORDPRESS CHANGED
 THE FACE OF CROATIAN POLITICS Emanuel Blagonić, @eblagonic
2. FATHER
3. DESIGNER WORDPRESSER
4. MEETUP ACTIVIST WORDCAMP
5. CROATIA
6. CROATIA VS. WESTERN EUROPE
7. DIFFERENCES OF
 WORKING WITH
 CLIENTS
8. PROFESSIONALS IN CROATIA HAVE TO BE INNOVATIVE AND RESOURCESFUL
9. CROATIA’S 
 BIGGEST PROBLEMS
10. UNEMPLOYMENT ECONOMY POVERTY CORRUPTION
11. UNEMPLOYMENT ECONOMY POVERTY CORRUPTION
12. UNEMPLOYMENT ECONOMY POVERTY CORRUPTION & LACK OF VISION
13. LACK OF 
 TRANSPARENCY
14. “ A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity. DALAI LAMA
15. WHY IS TRANSPARENCY IMPORTANT?
16. 2014 TRANSPARENCY SURVEY RESULTS — GONG conducted 3 surveys: in 2009, 2011 and 2014 — Average score for 2014 is 5.91 — 98% of local governments have a website but without required information — Rijeka was the most transparent city in Croatia in each survey with a score of 9.61 in 2014
17. LET’S CHANGE 
 THINGS WITH
 RIJEKA
18. RIJEKA
19. 3RD LARGEST CITY 50X SMALLER THAN LONDON
20. MULTICULTURAL MOST TRANSPARENT
21. WHY RIJEKA 
 WANTED 
 WORDPRESS?
22. WORDPRESS REVOLUTIONIZED PUBLISHING
23. WORDPRESS 
 HELPS
 TRANSPARENCY
24. DECISION: BUILD A PLATFORM
25. “PROBLEM”: NO POLITICAL TIES :)
26. OUR APPROACH — We wanted to make a better city website. — We wanted to open source it. — We wanted to design it in the open. — We wanted to make it accessible to everyone. — We wanted everything disclosed.
27. RIJEKA SAID: WE WANT THAT TO
28. QUESTIONS — How to even start working with Rijeka without public bid? — How will the public react? — What will be the professional community reaction? — Is this enough of a budget?
29. ANALYSIS DESIGN
 HTML WORDPRESS
30. AGILE DESIGN
31. OUR PROCESS ANALYSIS
32. ANALYZE CURRENT CONTENT
33. ANALYZE CURRENT CONTENT BUILD BETTER INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
34. ANALYZE CURRENT CONTENT BUILD BETTER INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE FOCUS ON KEY CONTENT
35. INTERVIEW CITIZENS AND OTHER CITIES
36. CREATE PERSONAS AND TEST USER FLOW
37. BUILD WIREFRAMES AND TEST SOME MORE
38. BUILD WIREFRAMES AND TEST SOME MORE
39. OUR PROCESS DESIGN
44. OUR PROCESS HTML
45. OUR PROCESS WORDPRESS
46. PROBLEMS
47. BENEFITS
48. EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE
49. WORDCAMP CROATIA
50. “ Politicians should leave their comfort zones if they want to make a better future.
51. WHY ARE WE 
 DOING THIS?
53. THANK YOU GET IN TOUCH @eblagonic