Events highlights for the week of May 11 – May 17, 2009

Hello, newly sunny Philadelphia, that’s a hell of a farmer’s tan you’ve got there.

Let’s keep that weekend energy going with our region’s active tech community. Half of our highlights are straight outta West Philly. It’s not bias, we swear! But if you just refuse to do anything West of the Schuylkill, our events calendar would be happy to schedule an appointment for you.

On Saturday and Sunday, help University City with some GPS mapping. The folks at Philly OpenStreetMap realized long ago that Google might one day threaten our existence so they’re mapping the world until it happens. How else are you gonna find the way to good Chinese restaurant when the Goog steals your identity and shuts down Maps?

Wednesday, academia will sign-up for Second Life, get harassed by creepy dudes and annoying tweens, and beg for a way to get the heck out of there while still applying some of those virtual concepts to higher education. With Wharton hosting, it might be a little smarter than our summary.

Monday, IndyHall will host a PHP Meetup featuring Sigurd Magnusson of Silverstripe, an open source CMS for the WordPress haters out there. Magnusson will even be taking feature requests, so give him some advice or he’ll ignore your feedback when the next version hits.

Philly Office Geeks are trying to spread the word about social media in the business community on Tuesday. It might be a clever attempt at getting network privileges for Facebook in the office, but we’d bet there’s a little more too it than that.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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Events highlights for the week of April 27 – May 3, 2009

What’s going on this week?

Oh not much. Just that huge, silly Mashable mixer that brings the popular blog to Philly for the first time. Rumor has it they even catered the event specially to Philadelphia.

After you recover from talking social media until 2 a.m., you can shake off the grogginess by attending the third Ignite Philly presented by P’unk Ave‘s Geoff DiMasi and company. But, please, get there early. Last year’s was so packed that Johnny Brenda’s stopped letting people in.

If you can’t be around this weekend, then at least make it out to the SEO Grail April Meetup on Tuesday where Pay Per Click strategies and tips will be discussed.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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Friday Tech Links: Comcast competes, Indy Hall grows and more

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun.

Because that’s what we do best.

• The Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez rewrites a press release and puts two lanterns in the window, announcing that Verizon is coming; Verizon is coming. The company is upgrading its telephone network in Philadelphia for high-speed FiOS Internet and TV services, and they’re starting in Chestnut Hill.

Below see more stories you need to be sure you saw, including our most trafficked of the week.

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IndyHall anticipates signing lease after membership drive

This article originally appeared in the April 9, 2009 issue of Philadelphia City Paper and is reprinted here with permission. Photo Credit: Neal Santos.

Picture Old City overwhelmed by a procession of independent workers carrying desks, chairs and laptops up Third Street. Add a lively marching band ushering them along and the evening news to document it.

�Can you imagine if Channel 6 had a helicopter in the sky?� Alex Hillman asks Geoff DiMasi, joking with his business partner in a conference room.

�It would be insane. We�d stop traffic,� he says, laughing chirpily.

Hillman and DiMasi run Independents Hall, a shared office space that rents desks to self-employed workers � though they�d cringe to hear it described so antiseptically. To them, the space is an environment for a �coworking� community, and the inevitable collaboration that comes from putting freelancers in close proximity.

In the two years since its inception, the number of freelancers interested in IndyHall (as it is popularly known) has grown dramatically, prompting Hillman and DiMasi to consider relocating from their current digs on Strawberry Street. They hope to make the move in May. If they pull it off, they�ll not only put Philly on the coworking map � they�ll be in the vanguard of the coworking movement.

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Indy Hall to expand, add educational element

It’s been just over two-and-a-half years, and things seem to be working out for Independents Hall: the community is thriving, the success of the business model has made Philadelphia a cornerstone for the coworking movement, and the Strawberry Street office is frequently packed with workers.

However, it is that runaway success that has forced Indy Hall to make some tough choices about its future. The coworking company has filled membership to capacity and there are eight more people on the waiting list. In an effort to take the next step, owners Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi called a “Town Meeting” last night to propose their plans to 40+ members of the community packed tight into the Old City office space.

In short, Indy Hall will likely expand into a space that is two-and-a-half times larger than the current offices, and there will be an effort to create an alternative education system powered by the community. See all of the details of the new plan, including the exact location of the new offices, after the jump.

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