The inaugural Philly Tech Week, made official by City Council, has come and gone.
All told, my fellow Technically Philly co-founders and PTW co-organizers helped bring together 65 events, from more than 50 groups that attracted more than 3,000 people (we’re still tallying) in the first six day-event that we first suggested in the summer, confirmed in November but did get moving until February.
So, as is my custom, I wanted to gather together what happened, the thoughts from others and my take aways so we can do even better next year.
OUTCOMES
- More than 120 people came to WHYY to see the launch of Open Data Philly. The site, developed by Azavea, is a central hub of many of the city’s data sets.
- Councilman Bill Green unveiled his10-point Open Government Philadelphia initiative.
- IDGA showed off 15(!) local video game studios.
- IDGA showed off 15(!) local video game studios.
- During Switch Philly, five local startups demoed their products, all of which found new investor interest
- At BarCamp NewsInnovation, journalists from all over gathered as hackers made use of the datasets on Open Data Philly including OPA Liberator, a site that allows property records to be looked up by name, a feature previously unavailable on the city’s website.
- Put 5,000 Philly Tech Week print supplements into more than 50 retailers in the city
- Latest from the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster was shared
- An open source development prize was offered
- City Managing Director Rich Negrin pledged the 311 mobile app ‘within the next three months.’
MEDIA COVERAGE
- Find the half dozen coverage hits specific to the OpenDataPhilly.org unveiling here, other specific event coverage is below.
- Philly Tech Week on tap for this week — Philly Inc.: Inquirer, on the cover of the Inquirer business section Monday morning
- Philly Tech Week starts today –Daily News feature spread
- A Guide To Philly Tech Week — CBS 3, picking out their favorite events, even though there’s no links for anyone to get more details
- Philly open source prize offers geek treasure — Philly Deals: Inquirer, Joe Distefano highlights local firm Monetate offering $5,000 for top open source offering and announcing during PTW
- Geeks ahoy! Tech week begins in Philly — NewsWorks, WHYY
- The geeks get geared up to go at it for Philly Tech Week — Philadelphia Business Journal, on page four of print edition, subscription required online
- Philly Tech Week: a first ever week long celebration of innovation in Philadelphia is set for April 25-30 — uwishunu, the events blog from GPTMC and tweeted here
- Philly Tech Week and us — Azavea blog
- Philly Tech Week promises a printer-smashing good time — Flying Kite event preview
- Philly Tech Week promises a printer-smashing good time — Flying Kite review
- Be Proud Citizens, Philly Tech Week is coming — Tek Lado, Hispanic tech blog highlights
- YIP Update — Young Involved Philadelphia April newsletter
- Geeks Unite! — Philly Post: Phillymag, quick mention that was followed by a little joke in another post
- One Great Idea press release — Philadelphia Media Network, I covered this event here and spoke there, as documented in photo above.
- Maiden Media presents Social Media boot camp press release –Maiden Media
- Hive76 wrap up of a week’s worth of events –Hive76
Popular culture blog Geekadelphia previewed a handful of our more geeky events:
- The Hacktory Presents the Office Space Printer Smash
- Indy Hall Beer Pong
- Augmented Reality @ the Art Museum
- Philly Robotics Expo
- Tech Quizzo @ Grey Lodge
Specific Events:
- Rage against the machine — NewsWorks, WHYY on the Printer Smash, with video above
- Connections, travel and family, with business promise — Inquirer print edition on Switch Philly, our startup showcase event, in addition to a smaller online item here.
- Bloggers, others gather — Inquirer preview on BarCamp NewsInnovation in print local section, in addition to a follow up piece after the event here
- Philly Tech Week signature event — Hiv76, the hackerspace wrote out its name on our Twitterfall wall at WHYY using characters, make it out by clicking above and zooming in.
- Philadelphia City Planning Commission planner Alan Urek previewed his leading a lunchtime event on the Philadelphia2035 plan, as can be watched below at around 9:20 in.
Some of my favorite #phillytechweek tweets:
- @phillytechweek this month and #mw2011 last month i have a new sense of drive and feel rejuvenated mentally. @jimshreds
- Live every week like it’s Philly Tech Week! @JPToto
- Such an impressive array of events happening during @phillytechweek http://bit.ly/eYr YES PHILLY IS A GREAT TECH CITY! @gloriabell
- Despite growing up in Philly I left over a decade ago due to a dead tech community. This week proves Philly Tech is alive and kicking ass. @rit
- #PhillyTechWeek, thanks for intro’ing me to some new peeps & ideas & reuniting me with others! @alexbthegirl
- The anticipation for @phillytechweek almost has me shaking. It might also be the coffee. @alexknowshtml
- App by @atogle + @mertonium helps find street art in Philly; for Philly Tech week using the city’s open data catalog http://bit.ly/ivpSbX @timoreilly
- @TechnicallyPHL great conference this week. Philly needed it! @VaughnKing
- Philly WP Happy Hour was a huge success! Met lots of new attendees interested in our group @williamsba
- When was the last time you and your significant other had a meaningful conversation about the concept of data? Thanks #PhillyTechWeek!!! @joshdubin
- @TechnicallyPHL Thanks so much for the NRT post. I was about to recycle my old laptop, but now I’ll donate! @errrica
- Woo tech conferences #phillytechweek, #wasted @sarahsolfails
- Reading the tweets and wishing I was at #phillytechweek @mertonium
- Every week should be a @PhillyTechWeek @alexknowshtml
- I’d say #phillytechweek was a huge success, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year. @hoyboy
- Loved meeting so many tech savvy people in one room. @RichNegrin
- When you put bodies together in a room, it doesn’t immediately solve anything, but puts things in motion in a powerful way. @KelaniNichole
- Mad props to the boys at @TechnicallyPHL for making it rain awesome all last week. #phillytechweek @mheadd
- A Gchat from Far McKon: “Great job on tech week. I’m excited as I was when I moved here in ’08,” says Far McKon, who moved from Rochester, N.Y.
So proud. <3