I was very impressed with the Flashstarts 2016 Accelerator Class. At the November 30, 2016, Flashstarts Demo Day, the startup founders made their presentations, after which I had a chance to talk to them. I also truly enjoyed meeting other new people and reconnecting to the people I knew who attended this event at The City Club.
This year, it was fun that the Akron Mini Maker Faire was held on November 12, 1016, since this was the week after the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire. This made November 2016 the Maker month in Northeast Ohio!
Today, November 19, 2016, the third Saturday of this month, seems like an appropriate day to formally announce that I will not be running the Web Development Special Interest Group (Web Development SIG -- WebSIGCleveland.org) any longer. I chose today to announce this because the Web Development SIG has met on the third Saturday of most months for the last 10 years.
The main purpose of posting this today is to thank the many presenters who have made the Web Development SIG a success. You will see some of their names listed in historical content below. Thank you to those who have made presentations during my tenure -- January 21, 2006 to March 9, 2016 -- and to those who worked with my predecessors. I truly will miss learning from you.
The 4th Annual Cleveland Mini Maker Faire took place on Saturday, November 5, 2016, and we have attended three out of the four. It was a day for creative people to share their passion with others.
Again this year, the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire was located in the Cleveland Public Library Main Library complex, and was presented by Cleveland Public Library and Ingenuity Cleveland.
We felt honored that the Executive Director/CEO of the Cleveland Public Library, Felton Thomas, Jr., greeted us by name as we entered the library, and invited us to explore this special Maker event.
I want to begin with a BIG thank-you to BVU Director of Communications and Technology Melanie Meyer for inviting me to attend the inaugural BVU Ohio Nonprofit Technology & Communications Summit on Friday, September 30, 2016, as their guest representing the good work of Cleveland GiveCamp.
The mission of BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence "is to promote business volunteerism and foster excellence in nonprofit organizations." This has led Melanie and me to explore how Cleveland GiveCamp can reach out to the nonprofits served by BVU. As a provider of free tech solutions to Cleveland and Akron area nonprofits, it seemed logical that Cleveland GiveCamp be present at BVU's first tech summit. Cleveland GiveCamp has the largest number of tech volunteers of any of the nation's other GiveCamps.
The 2016 IngenuityFest weekend took place on Friday, September 23rd, through Sunday, September 25th. This is the fifth annual blog post I have written about IngenuityFest, plus I have written about other Ingenuity Cleveland-sponsored events.
Every year, I try to live the full IngenuityFest experience by attending all three days and talking to as many exhibitors as possible. It was really great this year to reconnect with some of the artists and techies I met in previous years, and get to know some tech people that I had read about online, but had not met in person. IngenuityFest is like an annual reunion of creative people in Cleveland!
The Mission of Cleveland GiveCamp is to pair creative and technology talent with nonprofits in need.
Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend on July 29-31, 2016, marked the seventh year of serving nonprofits from the Cleveland and Akron areas. I am fortunate to to be part of Cleveland GiveCamp every year.
Cleveland continues to have many creative people volunteering (over 225 registered for 2016). It is believed that Cleveland has the largest GiveCamp in the nation. It is exciting that again this year there were so many volunteers that the tech volunteer tickets sold out, and a waiting list had to be started.
Here it is...
NASA Glenn Research Center Celebrates 75 Years With an Open House
When Stuart saw this headline in a Cleveland Scene article on March 11, 2016, we knew we had to be there! Our first full blog post was about a tour of NASA Glenn Research Center as part of a Cleveland NASA Tweetup in 2012. We were excited to go back for another tour!
We attended the NASA Glenn Research Center 75th Anniversary Open House at Lewis Field on May 21 and 22, 2016. There was so much to see that the two days just left us wanting to see and learn more.
I have attended the grand opening of the Cleveland Public Library TechCentral MakerSpace. The technology center staff at the Akron Public Library gave me a tour during the Akron Maker Faire. Now, I am pleased to be able to write about the Cuyahoga County Public Library's new Innovation Center at their Garfield Heights Branch. I was fortunate to be part of a special orientation tour given to members of the Cleveland Digital Publishing Users Group (CDPUG) for their March 31, 2016, meeting.
Like last year, I want to start by thanking my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her.
It brings me joy to look at the blog posts we did this past year -- great memories of fun times, plus the anticipation of a new year full of possibilities!