Philly invades South by Southwest

Indy Hall founders Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi lead "How Geeks Grabbed Philadelphia by the Balls."

AUSTIN – In the Courtyard Rio Grande Hotel, just across the street from the Austin Convention Center, BarCamp Philly organizers Roz Duffy and Kelani Nichole walked up the escalator with a burlap sack and hustled down the hall.

“It’s our bag of balls,” said Duffy with a smile.

Culminating Philly’s strong presence here (TP has seen our share of Phillies caps and jerseys) was the Saturday session “How Geeks Grabbed Philadelphia by the Balls,” a panel led by Indy Hall co-founders Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi that aimed to help residents from other cities foster a tech community.

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BarCamp indicates that Philly is ready for next step. But will it happen?

BarCamp's organizers address attendees in the morning. Photo credit: Flickr user MonkoPhoto

In what was an uncharacteristically warm Saturday for mid-November, roughly 250 BarCamp Philly attendees shuffled their way into an auditorium on the 16th floor of 211 South Broad Street in Center City, Philadelphia.

Standing before the packed room complete with attendees spilling out into the hallways, organizers J.P. Toto, Roz Duffy and Kelani Nichole took the microphone to kick off the event they had spent months tirelessly organizing.

“How many people are not from Philly?” asked Toto. Roughly 15 percent of the hands in the packed auditorium went up (most of whom turned out to be from Florida) to the sound of impressed whistles and nods of approval.

Toto continued: “How many people have never been to a BarCamp before?” Slightly less than half of the room raised their hands validating on what many had suspected previously: The Philadelphia tech scene is growing.

But with that growth comes a fresh set of issues for the city’s techies to tackle.

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Friday Q & A: J.P. Toto and Roz Duffy of BarCamp Philly

The schedule board from last year's BarCamp Philly. Photo courtesy of Roz Duffy.

Last November, 180 people awoke on a Saturday afternoon and gathered at the University of the Arts to attend a conference. Except not one person had the slightest clue about how the day was to transpire. There was no plan, there was no agenda. Just a blank bulletin board and a stack of index cards.

By the end of the day, BarCamp’s schedule board was filled with subjects ranging from “How to make your own business cards” to “Rethinking the EDU.”

Since last year’s BarCamp Philly, HealthCamp, HigherEdCamp and our own BarCamp NewsInnovation have since popped up, and the monthly Refresh Philly event even has roots in BarCamp.

This year, organizers J.P. Toto, co-founder of Collegeville-based Cognis IT, and Roz Duffy, Web developer at Comcast Interactive Media, are back for round two, this time with Kelani Nichole, a Web designer at M. They hope to beat last year’s attendance while attracting attendees from other cities.

“I want it to be a bigger draw and to be well-established. I would love BarCamp Philly to be an industry standard,” says Duffy.

We spoke with Toto and Duffy about what will be different at this year’s BarCamp, what first-time presenters should know and the story behind BeerCamp.

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Community gathers for IndyHall anniversary and Two Guys’ 100th episode

Photo from Flickr user dirty_jerzee99

Tucked away in Old City bar National Mechanics, more than 100 gathered on Tuesday night to celebrate the second birthday of the East Coast’s premier coworking space IndyHall along with the 100th episode of Two Guys On Beer, a local beer podcast.

It was Philly’s first foray into fall weather with temperatures dipping in to the high seventies and giving the city a much needed respite from overbearing heat and humidity only a week ago.

Free pints of Flying Dog Brewery’s Dogtoberfest surely didn’t hinder the festive atmosphere.

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Editorial: City government calls for tech support

Allan Frank, city CIO

Here’s a test.

Just how innovative and influential, forward-thinking yet practical is the technology community in Philadelphia? Because you’re being challenged.

We’re still reeling from a presentation that Allan Frank, the city’s chief information officer, gave at a meeting of Refresh Philly Monday night.

The Nutter administration is investing $100 million during the next four years into city technology, including a complete overhaul of Phila.gov, as he told 75 mostly professional, tech-savvy 30 and 40-somethings in a modern, white-walled conference room on the 45th floor of the Comcast Center yesterday.

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Friday Q&A: Roz Duffy of Refresh Philly

[Update: expanded list of contributors]

To tell the story of Refresh Philly, you have to go back to last November. It was then that Web developer Roz Duffy and friend J.P. Toto planned Philadelphia’s first ever BarCamp. In the spirit of BarCamp’s success, Duffy and BarCamp attendees Aaron Held, Arpit Mathur and John Riviello of Comcast Interactive Media decided to start Refresh Philly.

Coming up with a succinct description of Refresh Philly can be rather difficult for two reasons. The first is that the organization’s motto of “refreshing” industries purposefully leaves a lot of room for interpretation. And second, the group is in its infancy with only three meetings under its belt. But under the guidance of Duffy, Held, Mathur and Riviello, Refresh Philly is growing. The next gathering is planned for March 5th at the Comcast Center (Disclaimer: I am scheduled to give a brief presentation at the March event). Technically Philly sat down with Duffy to get the details behind one of Philadelphia’s newest meetup groups. Q&A after the jump:

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