Philly Tech Week starts today

NERDS, BRACE yourselves. Philly is in your hands as the inaugural Philly Tech Week gets under way today through Saturday.

Please be gentle with us.

While the majority of events are geared to the technologically inclined, there's also fun to be had for those who don't know CSS from cloud computing.

Tech Week sprang from the minds behind Technically Philly (technicallyphilly.com), a website covering technology and the business behind it in Philadelphia, founded in 2009 and run by Temple grads Sean Blanda, Christopher Wink and Brian James Kirk.

Philly Tech Week "is a continuation of the mission of Technically Philly, which is to encourage collaboration between all these disparate technical groups," Blanda said. "We want to bring them all together and provide exposure because a lot of people don't know this is going on in their back yard."

And our back yard is surprisingly full.

Get local

 

Find out what's all around you firsthand at events such as Switch Philly (6 to 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, Wharton Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut St., $10, reservations at SwitchPhilly.com), where five area startups will give brief demos on their projects.

The Green Tech Showcase (noon to 1 p.m. Friday, WHYY, 6th and Race streets, free with reservation at phillytechweek.com) similarly shows off what five local companies are doing, this time emphasizing eco-friendly projects.

Tech Week's focus on Philly is not just reflected in the companies presenting but in the event themes themselves.

At noon today (WHYY, 6th and Race streets), be the first on your block to know, well, everything about your block as OpenDataPhilly.org is unveiled. The site led by Philly company Azavea organizes Philadelphia-specific statistics from various sources and makes them available in data sets that can be used to create hyperlocal apps or simply teach people about regional trends.

Philly Progressive Thinkers Forum (12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Ballard Spahr, 1735 Market St., free) will look at how laws and policies affect Philadelphia's position as a tech leader.

Freedom Rings helps those Philadelphians who need basic access to technology before they can get to the cutting edge of it. At this kickoff party (3 to 4 p.m. tomorrow, 1233 Locust St., free), the collective of public and private partners will discuss its Freedom Rings Computing Centers and Training Programs and announce more information about Freedom Rings.

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