Meetup groups in Chicago - coming up for air Aug21 '05
Tim recently mentioned his experience at a "Web Standards" meetup group, in his hometown, and I was inspired to find similar meetup groups in my hometown.
I was surprised to find that there already exists a "Web Standards" group for Chicago, with plenty of members - but currently no Organizer, which means no actual meetings are being planned.
Until there is an Organizer (a fancy term from Meetup.com, which allows you to plan/organize meetings, for a monthly fee), I’m afraid it will all remain static.
Hopefully something will happen soon - but until then, I am just going to look for similar meetup groups, in Chicago - that, perhaps, are a bit more punctual and willing.
So, besides "Web Standards," I am searching for "CSS," "XHTML," and maybe even "PHP/MySQL." I just want to get involved more with physical people, rather than just communicating with others from a computer screen.
Blogs are great, but there is something more rewarding about meeting in person, and being able to talk directly about such topics that matter to me.
Unfortunately, as simple as it sounds - it’s anything but simple to get a group of strangers together, in person. That’s the whole idea of the web, anyway - to be able to talk to anyone in the entire world, at any time - with no constraints.
But, as we delve deeper into this world full of computer screens, email, and web logs - we still have to come up for air every now and again, and actually talk to people in the real, physical world.
Of course, we could get into a deep debate on what’s actually real in this world - and certainly how do we know that meeting with people is any more real than meeting online? - But that’s entirely off-topic, for this post.
The point is... it’s hard getting people together in the physical world - with busy schedules, etc.
So, I’ll just keep looking, and maybe someone will start organizing these meetings - or perhaps I could even begin to organize them, myself.
Categories: Events 
, People , Web Development , Web Standards
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is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
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