CoWorking in Knoxville. Why Not?

Although I didn’t get any work done, this was one of the most productive afternoons I’ve had in a long time. Today I met up with some fine folks to discuss the idea of CoworkingKnoxville. Of course, as the name implies, the general idea is that we actually will get some work done eventually. But today turned into more of a discussion of ideas centered around coworking and its possibilities in this area. For more information on coworking, a great place to start is Alex’s site, but the general idea is a shared space where people with different skill sets and backgrounds can gather to collaborate (or not) on ideas using shared resources, making everyone’s work time more productive and efficient.

The group of five who met today all came from different backgrounds, but without a doubt there is a common thread running through the collective consciousness. Although it’s an idea that all of us have in some abstract form in our minds (ok, it’s pretty firm for Alex), it’s still a little hard for me to get my own mind completely wrapped around at this point. But to me, that shared idea is “why not?

Why can’t a guy who works for a large corporation while remaining a blogging powerhouse out of his home office share workspace with a freelance marketing research consultant recently transplanted from LA? And why shouldn’t they have access to another guy who works a job locally but is tied into the local web development community? And wouldn’t it benefit everyone to sit next to an altrupreneur who is in Knoxville by way of San Francisco and may be here for a month or a year? Why can’t all of these people share internet access, and a conference room, and a big whiteboard?

Why can’t this movement grow to the point that people are actually attracted to come here to be a part of it? Why can’t we make Knoxville a place people flock to looking for this exact thing? After all, Knoxville is loaded with talented people and the cost of living is negligible compared to the West Coast.

Why can’t we make this happen? I think we can.

Really Cool Undercurrent

There’s an event going on today that I think has a lot of potential for the area…CoworkingKnoxville.  Here’s the idea:

We’re a group of free-lancers, Web programmers, self-employed professionals, self-unemployed entrepreneurs, and various independent types who meet once every week in West Knoxville.

Throw me into the self-unemployed entrepreneurs and web programmer categories.  I think there is a lot of talent in the area, and getting together to share ideas and resources is just what we need.  I also like the idea that this is only semi-organized.  If you’ve ever been to Panera in West Knoxville during regular office hours you know that people are already doing this, just not introducing themselves to one another.  But the same folks are there all the time.

If you’re local and interested, stop by.

Local Web Wars

Jack Lail comments on the Golden Age of Web News:

The community will certainly win through more intense and competition-honed news coverage and some damn good local news Web sites.

For those of us on the outside looking in, this is the most encouraging result of competition.  The news organization that can bring us the one fact or caveat to a story that the other doesn’t will gain an advantage, if only for 20 minutes or so until they are trumped by the other guys.

Then again, no one is really completely on the “outside” anymore.  Now it’s more like we all have at least a right leg or left leg in the mix somewhere.  The blogosphere has made news coverage one big hokey-pokey.

Some Suggested Reading

The KNS has an article today about the Young-Williams Animal Center.  The article is a nice, well written local story.  The comments, however, are tremendous.

Billie is amazing.  If the KNS could find space to give Billie his/her own column, or at least a blog, I would be eternally grateful.

If you like to laugh until you cry, it’s a must read.

Big Oops for Former Electrical Engineering Professor

J. Reece Roth was allegedly involved in providing sensitive data to the Chinese.

I had professor Roth for a class.  Here’s how remarkable the guy was–I’m not 100% sure what class it was.  Plasma engineering maybe?  All I remember about him is that he was slightly on the tubby side, the suits he wore included a vest, and he seemed very disinterested in dealing with undergrads.

My class attendance record probably insures that he remembers even less about me.

KTown–Easy to Get To, Hard to Leave

I’m not talking about the City of Knoxville itself. I’m talking about this KTown. KTown just released a line of swag with some pretty catchy phrases, and I think an”Easy to Get To, Hard to Leave” bumper sticker should be added to their line.

I’ve lived here for 17 years now, and although it’s been a while, I’ve been to KTown many times.  But I thought I was in a whole new city when I tried to find my way back to Greenwich West Knoxville last week after driving out to borrow the Ktown paint sprayer.

Is it just me, or should it be possible a little easier to get to I-40 from James White Parkway?  It’s seriously a case of “you can’t get there from here”.  I’m sure people have been complaining about this for a while, but it didn’t affect me until just now, so you can see why the issue now has my full attention.

When I return the sprayer I’m going to pack a couple of ham sandwiches and a jug of Tang for the trip home.  If I don’t make it home, it was good knowing you all…thanks for reading!

Sundown in the City Explained

If you aren’t local to Knoxville, you probably haven’t heard of Sundown in the City. If you are local to Knoxville and haven’t heard of Sundown in the City, I’d make the case that you aren’t really local. The quick skinny is this–it’s a series of outdoor concerts held downtown that features acts that are longer on talent than they are on notoriety. There is no fee for entry–cost is covered by sponsors and the the City.

The music is great, but many of the acts continue to be underappreciated by the KTown crowd. That’s because the social component of SITC is just as big, if not bigger, than the music. The sell beer, so you inevitably end up with pockets of people who all know each other standing around gossiping about their mutual friends who didn’t make it to Sundown that week. The loud music in the background is borderline distracting to them. It also offers the “pretend-we-live-in-Greenwich-Connecticut” crowd from West Knoxville and Farragut the chance to come see how the “pretend-we-live-in-Greenwich-Village” downtown crowd rolls.

One of my friends contends that he is more or less required to go every week since his taxes go to support it. And to him, Sundown in the City and Boomsday are the only two legitimate functions of City government.

Anyway, this year’s lineup has been announced. There are a couple of must sees on here for me (Robert Earl Keen and The Presidents of the United States of America) and a couple of others I’ll go check out if I have the time, which I probably won’t. If I’m lucky there will be a group of people standing around gossiping about me.

April 17: Galactic with Garage Deluxe
April 24: Susan Tedeschi with Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere
May 1: Umphrey’s McGee
May 8: Josh Ritter and the Hackensaw Boys
May 15: North Mississippi All Stars
May 22: The Presidents of the United States of America with Cutthroat Shamrock
May 29: Robert EarlKeen with Jypsi June
June 5: (not yet booked)
June 12: Citizen Cope
June 19: Marc Broussard with Erick Baker
June 26: The Everybodyfields and Amy LaVere
July 3: The Wild Magnolias

A Little Editing Wouldn’t Hurt

Note to Commissioner Paul Pinkston, who released a taped conversation with Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale to the New Sentinel:

Audacity is free and easy to use.

Although I’d rather not hear the toilet flush, I’m at least thankful that you waited until you were “done” to start the tape.

One may wonder why the KNS didn’t edit that out themselves. I’m sure journalistic integrity had a little something to do with it–leaving the recording in tact as they received it. But the toilet flush is probably what will make this thing go viral…it’s just good marketing. Somebody over there knows what they’re doing!

I Can Take a Hint

Either I’m off the radar or my blog design is average at best, which isn’t good enough.  Either way, I’d rather make this list than not.

I’ve got work to do on both fronts.  I’m a little behind on some other stuff right now, but hope to improve on both fronts by the end of Q2.

A Great Story Opportunity

A while back, I wrote a post about a few advantages newspapers have in the market and how they could use them to remain relevant. Using these assets–excellent writing, investigative journalism, and local marketplace branding–newspapers can give us something no one else can.

Today in the KNS, at least on their web site, there is a relatively short piece from the AP about a man who escaped prison 46 years ago and has been apprehended. This is the exact type of story I’d love to see local newspapers tackle. It’s the perfect opportunity for them to give me something no one else can give me.

Leroy Albert Morgan’s crimes occurred in Hamilton County, he escaped from a Nashville prison, and he was caught in East Tennessee, so it is of local interest. Using great writing and investigative journalism, why not tell us this story? Take us beyond, “he escaped in 1961, he’s been using an alias, and he was arrested this week.”

Tell us the story.

How did he escape prison, and how was he able to avoid authorities for so long? Has he been in Tennessee the entire time? Was he assisted by friends and family–how many people were in on it? What has he done in the time since the escape? What did the State do immediately following the escape to try to catch him, and why did these efforts fail? What (exactly) have they done since? How did they eventually track him down, how long did it take to find him, and how long have they known his whereabouts?

Seriously…this is the stuff movies (or at least made for TV movies) are made of. A good great writer can do some investigative journalism and tell us a great story from so many angles–the escapee, his friends and family, the penal system. And again, most bloggers don’t have the time and resources available to cover something like this.