Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
As you may remember, a little over a year ago, Legion of Tech—a grassroots organization established to help fund and manage Portland are tech events—fell victim to embezzlement. Details at the time were obviously nebulous, due to advice from counsel. And every time talk of Legion of Tech came up, someone would rightfully mention “What ever happened with that situation?”
Well, now Legion of Tech has announced a resolution and planned restitution for the situation. Read More
[HTML1]It’s no secret that I believe in supporting the free events here in Portland. I firmly believe that companies who can step up to sponsor these events are fostering the survival, development, and maturation of the Portland startup and tech community. What’s more, a little bit goes a long way.
Well, it may be time to cough up that little bit if you’re in a position to do so. You see, BarCamp Portland could use your help. Read More
Portland-based Legion of Tech—the organization formed to manage events like Ignite Portland and BarCamp Portland—has revealed that a member of the organization has misappropriated the Legion of Tech credit line for personal use.
To be blunt, this sucks. I can’t tell you how much I didn’t want to write this. But it’s news that affects the Portland tech community, and as such, I felt an obligation to cover it. Long story short, you deserve to know.
Deep breath. Here it is:
Portland-based Legion of Tech—the organization formed to help manage events like Ignite Portland and BarCamp Portland—has revealed that a member of the organization has misappropriated the Legion of Tech credit line for personal use. Read More
Rest assured, we want your Ignite experience to be as fun and rewarding as possible. So whether this is your 23rd Ignite event or your first, here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Ignite Portland 6.
[HTML2]Sometimes this content is so easy, it practically writes itself. Especially when I’m just repeating stuff I’ve written before. But it bears repeating.
So you’ve reached that special time in your life. And you’re headed to Ignite Portland 6, tonight. Exciting isn’t it? You may be experiencing some funny feelings about Ignite. That’s natural.
Rest assured, we want your Ignite experience to be as fun and rewarding as possible. So whether this is your 23rd Ignite event or your first, here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Ignite Portland 6. Read More
It’s that time of year again. Time to pick Ignite Portland presentations for Ignite Portland 6! And this time around, you’ve got the opportunity to provide your feedback on the proposals in a couple of different ways.
So get ready to flame those burning ideas! Oh wait. Or I guess you could be nice, instead.
Either way, your input is needed on the latest Ignite Portland presentation proposals. And there are now two ways you can provide it. Read More
Remember that other rant at which I was hinting in my last rant? No? Well whether your remember it or not, here we go.
I’ve been concerned lately. Bad economy. Tightening budgets. Volunteer run events relying on sponsors. Not exactly a proven recipe for success.
There’s the bigger volunteer-run events like the Legion of Tech events, Open Source Bridge, WordCamp Portland, and Beer and Blog—and then there are any number of smaller events like Portland Web Innovators, PDX Critique, Refresh Portland, PDX Wiki Wednesday, user groups, yadda yadda yadda. Read More
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women who are excelling in the world of technology.
Who was Ada Lovelace, you ask?
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born on 10th December 1815, the only child of Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella. Born Augusta Ada Byron, but now known simply as Ada Lovelace, she wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented.
That got me to thinking. I’m incredibly lucky to get the chance to work with a number of extremely talented and technically adept women. And I get the chance to work with many of them on a weekly basis, which is awesome. Many of you are just as lucky as me.
So I thought I’d list some of the cool female geeks in Portland whom I am proud to know:
She’s the co-founder of Open Source Bridge, has had code committed to PostgreSQL, attends and speaks at any number of conferences, served as one of the original board members for Legion of Tech, and provides some exemplary guidance on killing chickens.
She’s the other co-founder of Open Source Bridge, a founding member of Legion of Tech, a celebrated Rubyist, the driving force behind Calagator, and one of the most creative thinkers in the Northwest.
She’s a wizard with Yahoo! Pipes, a sage with community development, a hardworking startup type with Shizzow, one of the founders of Legion of Tech, and from what I understand, one mean werewolf player.
All of these women have been an absolute inspiration for me. And I’m truly honored that I get the chance to work with them on a regular basis.
And just as I’m in the midst of writing this post, I see a tweet come across from Steven Walling, validating my choices—and adding Amber Case, who is amazing in her own right.
But for as much as I love the local scene, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention two other incredibly inspiring women in the tech scene who have gained—and will continue to have—my utmost admiration.
She’s an incredible speaker and thought-provoking writer whose Creating Passionate Users completely changed the way I thought about marketing and writing—and was a direct inspiration for Silicon Florist.
She’s taught me how to think about the power and the promise technology holds for doing good. And her Gnomedex performance, last year, remains one of the coolest technological experiments I’ve ever seen—even though it had very little to do with technology and everything to do with people.
If there are women in technology who inspire you, I’d love to hear about—and I’m sure they would, too. Who are the other women in Portland technology or Silicon Forest technology who deserve some recognition? Why not take a few minutes to write something up? There’s still time.
(Image courtesy Anyaka. Used under Creative Commons)
Legion of Tech—Portland’s benevolent free-tech-event organizer—has been refreshing the organization as of late with new Board members and a new Advisory Committee.
Now, they’re shuffling the upper ranks a tad.
What’s changed? Former Treasurer, Todd Kenefsky, has been elected Chair. Former Chair, Dawn Foster, is now Secretary. And Adam DuVander, who led the organization and management of the last Ignite Portland, has been named Treasurer. Raven Zachary, former Secretary, remains a member of the Board.
Congratulations to the new Officers! Err… Officer. And congrats to the old Officers in their new positions.
Today, the Legion of Tech—the completely volunteer force behind a number of the free and amazing tech events here in Portland, Oregon—announced a new addition to their organization, an Advisory Committee to help guide the efforts of the LoT.
Specifically, the Advisory Committee works with the Legion of Tech Board in an effort to “provide feedback on Legion of Tech activities, act as a few more eyes and ears in the community, and get more people involved in Legion of Tech.”
The 12 inaugural members of the committee are:
Congratulations to everyone who has been named to the Advisory Committee!
For me, it’s an humbling honor to have been selected to serve with this group of incredibly intelligent and creative folks. I’m looking forward to doing all I can to help the Legion of Tech volunteers and the new LoT Board continue to build one of the most beneficial tech resources in the Silicon Forest.
In a very Barack-Obama-naming-his-running-mate-esque moment, I saw Bram Pitoyo congratulate the new Legion of Tech board members in a tweet. I’m struggling to find an “official” post on this , but If texting is good enough for Barack, then Twitter is absolutely perfect for Legion of Tech. [Update] Legion of Tech has posted the new board for 2009.
The new board members are Amy Farrell, Craig Fisk, Chris O’Rourke, and Chris Pitzer. They join existing board members Josh Bancroft, Adam DuVander, Dawn Foster, Todd Kenefsky, and Raven Zachary.
An advisory committee is being established, as well. Names of the advisory committee were not announced (or tweeted by Bram, either).
Congratulations to the new board members! I know we’re all looking forward to another amazing year of Legion of Tech events.