Networking and meeting people is sometimes hard for some of us who are so damn busy. Between work, family, blogging and keeping up with all the new things going on, there sometimes seems like no time left for meeting new people. So we do it online - virtual friends and foes, supporters and detractors. It is a good way to build a digital relationship.
There are organizations that exist simply to help people meet others with the same interests. But they take on a life of their own many times and it can be difficult to come in after it has been established for a while. They are usually held in bars or someone's office and require getting one from one part of a city to another so there is a time factor as well. Face to face is wonderful, but there is a bit of inertia to overcome when we are all so busy.
We are going to do something a bit different in October, and hope to get a bunch of great people in one place and have a ton of fun. There is a forum on Flickr that was started by David Hobby, a photojournalist in Maryland. His blog, Strobist, has really taken off this past year and there is a great interest in the Flickr forum. We are starting to see real relationships forming there and it has been a great source of interaction and thoughtful posting. Flaming is rare... very rare, and the amount of helpful people is wonderful.
So we are taking the online community to a real life meeting. Place: Jerome, Arizona, an old "ghost town" setting with lots of character. Date: October 20, a Saturday when the heat has left and we Arizonan's start to relish the outdoors. Is there an interest? Take a look at this forum posting to see how people start to build an event online. There is a page of information that keeps everyone posted on what is going on, and we even have shirts to wear to identify ourselves as a community.
Online, virtual community comes together in a real world setting to enjoy one another, make alliances, art and memories and, hopefully friends. See you there?
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