Portland Oregon Startup and Tech News
In the early days of this blog—way way back in 2007—when we wanted to find an event or figure out what was happening, there was one place we all went: Upcoming.org. Back then, in Portland BC (Before Calagator), the site provided a unique way of figuring who was going where and what might be an interesting event. Unfortunately, Upcoming had been acquired by Yahoo! And, like many things that Yahoo! has acquired, Upcoming died.
I know that this may come as a surprise, but I get a bunch of questions from folks. Like “You’ve been writing about the Portland startup scene for almost a decade. How is it that you’ve never learned how to use the English language?” And “What do you actually do?” And “A beard? Really?” But one question I get more often than any other is “How do I get involved in the Portland startup scene?” Read More
Early in the days of this most recent reboot of the Portland startup scene. We were all trying to figure out who was doing what. And what we could be doing. And how Portland could work together. And nothing was better at getting people together during those early days than a little site called Upcoming. Read More
I’m incredibly sad to report that the Portland open source and startup scene has lost an amazing contributor, a crux of our community, and an incredible person. Igal Koshevoy is no longer with us. Read More
You know, we throw a lot of technology around in Portland. A lot of open source. A lot of geohacking. A lot of data points being tossed about, willy nilly.
But let’s be honest. What is data without context? Not much. And when it comes to context, what better context is there than badassedness? None. Really. Read More
But did you know that the whole Calagator goodness is open source? That’s right. Anyone who wants to start a calendar system, slurp events from other hCalendar marked up systems, and make their community a whole heck of a lot more happy, can download Calagator code and build a calendar of their own.
If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on tech events in Portland, then you need look no further than Calagator, the tech calendar for Portland.
But did you know that the whole Calagator goodness is open source? That’s right. Anyone who wants to start a calendar system, slurp events from other hCalendar marked up systems, and make their community a whole heck of a lot more happy, can download Calagator code and build a calendar of their own. Just like Corvalligator. And BendCal. Read More
Whenever anyone asks me “How would I keep up on the events in the Portland tech scene?” I always blurt out two things immediately. The first thing I mention is Upcoming, the social event sharing service currently owned by Yahoo! that was started by Andy Baio who now resides in Portland. There’s a ton of Portland event goodness on there.
The second? Well, that’s Calagator, the home grown open source tech calendar that allows folks to post events directly—or slurp events over from other services like Upcoming. I mean, it’s a calendar aggregator. Calendar aggregator. Calagator. Get it? Hello? Tap tap tap. Is this thing on? Read More
On January 19, 2008, a group of folks got together for a codefest.
Today several of us met during the Code Sprint gathering at CubeSpace to talk and work on the calendar.
Participants: Audrey Eschright, Selena Deckelmann, Igal Koshevoy, Reid Beels, Paige Saez, Daniel Etra, Anselm Hook, and Bill Burcham.
I was a little slow on the uptake. But a few days later, I managed to crank out a post about the “Portland Tech Calendar” project, highlighting:
Last Saturday, the Portland Tech Calendar group dove headlong into a code sprint around the problem of aggregating all of the tech calendars for Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding areas. The result? Calagator.
The group made a great deal of progress during the code sprint. A full recap is available via Google Groups. Highlights are available on the Calagator blog. (That’s right, they have the beginnings of code and a blog. These guys have accomplished more in a weekend than I’ve accomplished in the last six months.)
What came out of that initial meeting was more than code, and more than an app. Much more.
Calagator remains one of my favorite examples of Portland ingenuity, Open-Source teamwork, and the underlying culture of Portland’s Web tech community. And I sincerely hope that they continue doing the same kinds of things they’ve managed to do over the past year.
Happy Birthday, Calagator. And thank you. Not only for aggregating the Portland tech calendar, but for providing a shining example of that which this community is capable.
It’s not often I get the chance to sing the praises of The Oregonian, but the coverage of the Winter Coders’ Social is exactly the kind of mainstream coverage this whole Portland open source community deserves.
Because much of the programming work in Portland is of the freelance or consulting nature, gatherings such as these are good for getting job leads or for simply taking a break from staring at a computer screen. But competitive Silicon Valley this isn’t. Here at CubeSpace, partygoers never get more aggressive than wearing shirts to advertise their preferred programming language — “Perl Mongers” or “Ruby Brigade.” And once the party ends at 10 p.m., plans are made to head up the street to Aztec Willies for another beer.
Silicon Florist favorites Calagator, Ward Cunningham, Selena Deckelmann, Audrey Eschright, Igal Koshevoy, and Bart Massey are all mentioned.
“The rate of change can drown you,” Eschright says. “You have to stay on top of things and get involved. Be a co-producer. Technology needs to represent who you are.”
As I’ve mentioned before, this is exactly the kind of coverage people have been asking me to pursue—shedding more light on the activities of the open source development community and user groups in the area. I’m glad to see The O beating me to the punch.
Grab a cup of coffee—or beverage of your choice—and take few minutes to read “Geekathon potlucks unite computer herd.”
