World Wide Web? Sort of.
I'm back in the Current offices after a little over a week in Paris partly for work (Le Web) and partly for play (can you blame me?).
Beautiful city aside (and as far as cities go, I just don't think it gets better than Paris, I really don't), a reoccurring conversation I had with people actually working in the tech sector in Paris is that Paris just isn't a great tech hub. Which surprises me, since being a large metropolitan city I'd just have assumed there would be more of a community there. On the surface it didn't seem otherwise... I observed as many iPhones, wifi-enabled cafes, and general modern goings on that I do here at home in San Francisco, and I certainly felt among "my people" while attending the Le Web conference, one of the largest tech conferences in the world.
Still, I kept meeting Parisian developers/bloggers/etc. at various tech-oriented meetups last week who'd explain how difficult it is to live in Paris and still feel part of the overall energy of the Internet crowd. Which is disappointing to me, because I'd like to have believed that with all the tools available to us just a few short weeks from 2010, it matters less than ever where you physically reside, and more how participatory you are online. What if I want to move to London someday? Or Delhi? Tokyo? Am I going to feel out of the loop of insider-y Silicon Valley?
I do happen to live in San Francisco, so maybe I'm just extra naive about how the rest of the world feels about where all the action is. And don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that amazing ideas are coming from all ends of the Earth on a regular basis and am certainly not suggesting otherwise. It was just slightly heartbreaking to be in a world-class city like Paris and keeping hearing about the lack of a tech community. PARIS!?
So, where do you fall in this debate? Does my experience sound familiar to you? Do you live somewhere that feels squarely outside this silly bubble? Or was I just talking to the wrong people? Weigh in and school me, because I really am curious.
One more thing- my jet lag is at an all-time high, so please forgive any spelling/grammatical inconsistencies in this post. I no longer trust myself to make sense.
Beautiful city aside (and as far as cities go, I just don't think it gets better than Paris, I really don't), a reoccurring conversation I had with people actually working in the tech sector in Paris is that Paris just isn't a great tech hub. Which surprises me, since being a large metropolitan city I'd just have assumed there would be more of a community there. On the surface it didn't seem otherwise... I observed as many iPhones, wifi-enabled cafes, and general modern goings on that I do here at home in San Francisco, and I certainly felt among "my people" while attending the Le Web conference, one of the largest tech conferences in the world.
Still, I kept meeting Parisian developers/bloggers/etc. at various tech-oriented meetups last week who'd explain how difficult it is to live in Paris and still feel part of the overall energy of the Internet crowd. Which is disappointing to me, because I'd like to have believed that with all the tools available to us just a few short weeks from 2010, it matters less than ever where you physically reside, and more how participatory you are online. What if I want to move to London someday? Or Delhi? Tokyo? Am I going to feel out of the loop of insider-y Silicon Valley?
I do happen to live in San Francisco, so maybe I'm just extra naive about how the rest of the world feels about where all the action is. And don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that amazing ideas are coming from all ends of the Earth on a regular basis and am certainly not suggesting otherwise. It was just slightly heartbreaking to be in a world-class city like Paris and keeping hearing about the lack of a tech community. PARIS!?
So, where do you fall in this debate? Does my experience sound familiar to you? Do you live somewhere that feels squarely outside this silly bubble? Or was I just talking to the wrong people? Weigh in and school me, because I really am curious.
One more thing- my jet lag is at an all-time high, so please forgive any spelling/grammatical inconsistencies in this post. I no longer trust myself to make sense.
