I’ve just launched something that I have been wanting for a very, very long time. I had my first attempt at it back in 2019, even announcing it on this blog. Last time it didn’t go anywhere… this time I have high hopes.
I’m an accidental community founder. I never particularly planned for it, but running WorthingDigital and the embryonic meetups that grew into it has been quite a big part of my life over the past 18 years.
What has driven me to grow has been finding interesting people, who are interested in the same sorts of things as me in the local area. Namely technology, science, online and geek culture. I have found that when we come together interesting and sometimes unexpected things can happen.
A big problem is finding your people. Or sometimes it’s they can’t find you. More often than not, this is because they don’t know they should be looking.
I wanted to know what was going on outside Worthing too. I think we have done a reasonable job finding people in the town, around 1000 people are currrently registered in WorthingDigital’s meetup group.
Other people have tried to build networks before me but Wired Sussex and Silicon Brighton are mostly focussed on Brighton. Brighton is pretty well served, I want to find the people, events, groups & coworking spaces in the rest of Sussex.
So, today I am very pleased to announce the rebirth of SussexDigital. It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. I think it will be useful, I hope others find it useful too.
So, what is SussexDigital?
I guess it’s a network or a meta network. It’s signposts. It’s designed to help you find your people, the events you want to attend and places you might like to work. It’s a jumping-off point, not a destination.
In a way, it’s a reinvention of the webring. Really, when you break it down it is using perhaps the most fundamental bit of web technology… the hyperlink to help people find each other.
I’ve spent the last several weeks, building the site, there are probably a number of other posts I could write about that, and gathering information about communities, events and coworking spaces across the county… bringing them together and hoping that people will find the information helpful.
In order for SussexDigital to be really useful, it needs its directories to grow. I’m hoping people will add details of their groups and communities to start with.
I’ll probably add further sections over time, but for now I’m starting with the bits of the community I understand best.
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