In 2008 a group of people decided to get together to promote a social atmosphere for the networking of IT professionals.  We set a date, choose a topic and met.  This was the basis for the gathering that has occurred in SWVA. Similar to what Geek South has been doing.

For this group to move forward into 2009 we want to get some feed back.

What should we call this gathering?  Here is a Poll that will help us determine a name:

UPDATE:   We Have decided upon a name.  We are now called GeekSWVA!  Be sure to keep an eye out for our site.  www.geekswva.com

The next item that we need your help with is deciding when we want to meet this year.  In 2008 we had it set for every third Wed.  Is this still good for 2009 or would we like to change it up some?  Tells us with this poll:

For those who were unable to make it to our events we would like to provide you with a brief recap of what topics we covered in 2008.

Event 1: 5/27/08 Ron Perry of the Center for Innovative Technology presented and discussed how the volunteer IT work has helped the VA Wildlife Organization and how this initiative can protect up perhaps being the first to know of airborne germ terrorist attacks. Joseph Meade, Web Systems Specialist with UVa-Wise, talked about aspects of Linux being used with servers in an enterprise environment.

Event 2: 7/2/2008 “Current Issues in Information Security”.  The presenter was Erik Rolf, president and founder of Deliberare, Inc., an information and security consulting firm. He examine just how secure people really were on a computer. With video clips from RedHat and DefCon he also showed how the computers themselves were not secure.

Event 3: 7/30/08 “Linux on a Sony PlayStation 3.” Presenter Brent Dingus, Consultant of CGI demonstrated how in under an hour you could install Linux on the PS3 to maximize it for use as a all in one media solution. This was a hands on demo where participants tested the operating system to see if it was capably of providing one all the features needed for an all in one system. With game play capability still intact, access to the world wide web, coupled with the blue ray play several people left this event wanting a PS3.

Event 4: 8/27/08 “Cell Phone Show & Tell” We had everyone bring their cell phones out and show us what they could do. We had Razors, Blackberry’s, even an AT&T 8525. The discussion included talks about features, service providers, current event surrounding the merger of cell companies, and how people ranked customer service. We had video captured, pictures, and even demonstrated how phones were used to connect to the internet.

Event 5: 9/17/08 “Gut Check” Internet Entrepreneur Shares the Story of a Start-Up. FellowTip founder Eric McCarty presented his story of his internet start-up. Eric described the idea germination, patent application process, business formation, sleepless nights, depleted bank account, and the famed “Garage Lock-In” which was broadcasted by the local news. We learned what to expect, what to do, and what not to do when that new earth-shaking idea hit you in the middle of the night!

Event 6: 10/15/2008 “Ruby on Rails” What is it? Where Did it Come From? Why Do I Use It? Should you Use It? For this event we had Austin Moody, a founding member of Geek South and Director of Information Services for MedAlliance Management Group, Inc. tell us all about Ruby on Rails. Ruby on Rails is an open-source framework that’s optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity. It lets you write code by favoring convention over configuration. Austin demonstrated how to create a web application that contained a database in a matter of minutes. The instant visibility was nice, but the concept prompted a debate between Austin and a local database professor. Both pros and cons of this instant type of creation were discussed providing a great learning experience for all who attended.

Event 7: 11/19/2008 Breaking Out of the Black Box: Change Education, Expectation, and Culture for the Better. Daniel Ray an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at UVA@WISE focused first on some of the shortcomings that have been identified in the way that the public views technology and its uses. Next, and more importantly, he discussed some ways that the community could begin working on and addressing these shortcomings. Daniel spoke of the use of robotics to teach and learn about technology. He explained the robotics education program at UVA Wise and what their plans were in the future for area schools. This lead to the Robot demonstration. With the Robots he did some show and tell concerning how anyone can take inexpensive robotics hardware and build their own robot army.

Thank you for your help and we look forward to seeing you in 2009.