I’ve been privileged to help organize Seattle Mind Camp over the past couple of years. One of the main reasons that project started was to bring the Seattle tech community together, to create more opportunities for interaction among local entrepreneurs and other passionate technologists. Events like Ignite Seattle, Biznik, and Lunch 2.0, have helped strengthen this sense of community over the past few years.

But in addition to these well-publicized events, there are dozens of other meetups, workshops, and gatherings going on in our fair city. Despite the appearance of services such as Eventful and Upcoming, there is still no single place on the web where you can discover all these smaller gatherings. That’s why I’m pleased to announce a new blog:

Meet at the Pig, a Seattle events blog for geeks, techies, hackers, and makers.

Meet at the Pig is the brainchild and passion of Justin Martenstein, and I’m happy that he asked me to help work on the site. Each week, we’ll track meetups, workshops, lunches, conferences, and other events of interest to the local geek community. We’ll add as many events as we can to Upcoming, and then highlight some of the more interesting events on the main page of Meet at the Pig.

The title of the blog comes from the brass pig at Pike Market, a popular landmark that’s often used as a gathering point for groups heading out to some downtown restaurant, bar, or event. Eventually, we hope that Meet at the Pig will be the one place on the web where Seattle-area geeks gather to find out what’s happening. Hope you’ll join us there.

Meet at the Pig is a Seattle events blog for geeks, techies, hackers, and makers. Justin Martenstein and I track local meetups, workshops, lunches, conferences, and other events of interest to the local geek community. We post as many events as we can at Upcoming, and then highlight some of the more interesting events on the main page.

Here’s something to look forward to after Gnomedex: an interactive workshop titled, “Humanity 2.0 -where the tech are we going and do we want to go there?” The workshop takes place on Orcas Island on September 9th. The description on the host’s site, Spark Northwest, says:

As technology permeates our daily lives, it helps, and it hurts. How does our increasing use and dependence on tools such as email, cell phones, iPods, or social networking sites effect our desire for human fulfillment and spiritual transformation? We don’t know… Seriously, we don’t. Do you?

In an age of dizzying technological innovation, one rarely has the time to stop and reflect on these changes. It’s clear that our technologies are getting faster, more powerful and more ubiquitous. However, what’s not so clear is: Does the added value outweigh the often unnoticed costs? Isn’t that an important question?

It is an important question, I think, and one that isn’t explored nearly enough. I’m glad to see someone giving a forum to this issue that promises to be both fun and productive.

My buddy Leif Hansen is the owner of Spark Northwest and the workshop’s co-organizer. I’ve found Leif to be passionate, smart, and thoughtful, so I’m sure there will be some stimulating and thought-provoking discussion at Humanity 2.0. At the very least, it’s an excuse to visit Orcas Island for the weekend. That’s never bad.

Check out all the details at Spark Northwest.

I’ll be at Gnomedex 6.0 with my buddies at the Seattle Podcasting Network. We’ll be hitting the convention center, mobile rigs in hand, talking to the most forward-thinking technologists in the world. Make sure to subscribe to the feed at SeattlePodcasting.net to catch all the action.

The best unconference in the Pacific Northwest continues in November.  Check the Seattle Mind Camp blog for dates and times.