So, the 10th Gnomedex conference has been scheduled for August 19 – 21, 2010 (and everybody is invited to attend, by the way).

Some of my Seattle-area friends have been asking if they could hold their event during the week of Gnomedex (assumedly, asking out of respect). That got me to thinking: why not string together some kind of loosely-official “Seattle Geek Week” to further make connections between the lot of us?

I started to write this post long before Andrew Hyde and the Startup Citizens of Boulder, CO announced Boulder Startup Week – but that endeavor is very much in the same vein, and should underscore my vision and serve as call-to-action for Seattle Netizens.

“Geek,” as defined by Wikipedia:

A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. Persons have been labeled as or chosen to identify as physics geeks, mathematics geeks, engineering geeks, sci-fi geeks, computer geeks, various science geeks, movie and film geeks (cinephile), comic book geeks, theater geeks, history geeks, music geeks, art geeks, philosophy geeks, literature geeks, historical reenactment geeks, 2012 geeks, video game geeks, and roleplay geeks.

If you want to produce a gathering for your own community in Seattle (or any surrounding city), let’s do it. The Eastside can play, too – since that’s where I happen to live. ;)

This idea is not specific to technology groups – it’s for any one of our communities which have only grown stronger through tools like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and the like. If anything, I’m hoping to create mutual awareness, helping various communities connect with one another – to help them escape their own echo chambers.

1. Any group can participate.
2. Any event can participate.
3. Any venue can participate.
4. Any person can participate.

There are no committees – just communities. I don’t even have a logo for the idea, though I did register the SeattleGeekWeek.com domain the other day.

I’ve set up a Google Calendar for the Seattle Geek Week Schedule (iCal) – but this is just an organizational starting point (Boulder used Plancast):

If you’d like to celebrate your connections and interests in a real-world capacity, why not do something that week? To be added to the calendar, simply submit your event details and we’ll get ‘er included:

All submissions are made public immediately, but many not be included in the calendar until a human volunteer gets to them. I don’t know who that volunteer is yet. :) HELP.

Seattle Geek Week

Despite being a little under the weather, we’re heading to Austin, TX tonight on a red-eye for SxSW (where I hear it’s just as cold as it is here in Seattle).

Gnomedex.com is co-hosting a party with BlogHer.org, Seesmic.com, and Ping.fm – and you’re most certainly invited, even if you can’t be there in person. Why bother registering for a virtual party? Because one of you is going to win a Panasonic HDC-SD100 – but only if you register for the Human Circuitry party as a “I can’t physically come to the party but I WILL watch the live stream, count me in!” registrant. Yeah, that’s probably the WORST ticket title in the history of parties, but it’s appropriately labeled!

• We will give the Panasonic HDC-SD100 to one of our virtual registrants, so you MUST be signed up to qualify. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
• The drawing will be done with a random number generator from the party floor at 10:00pm CST. The camera will be mailed to the lucky person soon thereafter.
• There are 10,000 virtual tickets to be picked up, and we’ll be streaming live from our regular channels (you know where they are). Sign up and then spread the word.

We were trying to find a way to include all those who would love to be at SXSW but just can’t afford to either take the time away from work (or the cost of the trip / conference / hotel / airfare). We are all so very fortunate to be there, and it would be awesome to give someone a tool that could give them the opportunity to create awesome content and get there next year by their own talents!

See you on Sunday night!

Who Wants a Panasonic HDC-SD100 Camera?