Studying the Shadows from Startup Weekend DC
Comments, conversation, and the emergence of a community
While the event happened almost 3 weeks ago, the buzz about Startup Weekend is still alive and well. Not only was there a front-of-the-business section article in the Washington Post on Monday, but there have been at least a dozen+ blog posts about it, and at least triple that in comments scattered throughout these posts.
And that is the beginning of what I want to focus on in this post: the comments. Event more accurately, the fact that these comments are in conversation with one another. And, to take it one step further, I believe that they are signs of a community in the early stages of development. To understand how I made this leap and why it matters, check it out…
The renowned social scientist Emile Durkheim, studied - among other things - the penal codes of a society to understand their value system. Durkheim visualized the legal system as a shadow cast down from a larger body — the workings, values and ideology of a society.
To apply this same methodology, the blog posts, WaPo article, and comments from Startup Weekend are in fact a shadow being cast for us — in the DC area — and for the rest of the country, for that matter, to read as an emerging body of energy, ideas and entrepreneurism. They tell the story.
But there’s more… study the event calendars on Upcoming, look at the groups on Facebook and Ning… in fact, I would say that the shadow is even bigger than the weekend event because there are a dozen+ other groups and events thriving throughout the area, such as the DC Technology Group, NextDC, BarCamp DC, Refresh DC, DC Tech Beat, DC Social Media Club, Facebook Developers Garage, Yahoo! Citizen 2.0 Summit, Tech Cocktail, Meet-up groups that cover everything from blogging to PHP… the list goes on. I would also add to this the actual COMPANIES that are involved with these events and embody/promote/support these kinds of ideas (off the top of my head, places like Viget, nclud, and *shameless plug for employer* New Media Strategies). WHOA, BIG SHADOW. But there is MORE!
After attending the Yahoo! event last night, I was also reminded that there are dozens of OTHER GROUPS and people out there that I have yet to even discover or hear about… but would LOVE TO (I am sure that this is analagous to “Hortoon Hears A Who” … more than meets the eye).
The groups and events I have listed just happen to be the ones that I have been to or heard about… and at them, I seem to see a lot of the same people getting involved in, but I would love for this universe to grow, better communicate with others interested in or already doing similar things. Support, camaraderie, collaboration. Locally, nationally.
So, taking stock of what we have…
Very interested and active group of tech-sperts, web 2-oh/new media strategists and entrepreneurs that seem to be going to a lot of the same events (listed above).
Groups that exist and probably have their own communities formed, but might not crossover to the groups I listed.
Step #3:
Work to bring these worlds together. I hope to continue having this dialog and seeing the Community (capital “C”) grow. From seeing how hard they work in these communities and having some really inspirational conversations with them, I know folks like Will Kern, Brian Wynne Williams, Greg Gershman, Moses McCall, j3, Martin Ringlein, Justin Thorp, Nick O’Neill, Peter Corbett, and Frank Gruber (to name a few!) are all similarly interested in and passionate about this/these endeavor(s). Would love feedback — and please let me know how I can facilitate or help in any of these efforts.
(Kinda cheezy, but you get the point)
Author’s note:
Originally posted on my WordPress blog: Studying the Shadows from Startup Weekend DC: Comments, conversation, and the emergence of a community. [November 9, 2007]
