About Us
Traveling Geeks is a consortium of entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors, journalists, bloggers, technology innovators and influencers who travel to countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public to educate, share, evaluate, and promote new, innovative technologies. The initiative was founded by Renee Blodgett and Jeff Saperstein in 2008.
Trips are funded by sponsorships from corporations, organizations and governments. The first tour was sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a trip that successfully marked the proof of concept that could expand to other countries around the world.
Read MoreTraveling Geeks TweetUp a Success!
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Joe Neale aka @Joe from Symbian at the London TweetUp #TG2009
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Megan Asha and Craig Newmark, Two of The Traveling Geeks
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Fish and Chips – Yah, I’m a Tourist
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This Week SVW Is In London And Cambridge
This week I’ll be in London and Cambridge as part of the Traveling Geeks tour. We’ll be meeting with various UK companies and organizations.
I’m particularly interested in the startup culture here in the UK and how it differs from Silicon Valley. I’m always looking for what makes Silicon Valley different from anywhere else and why it is so difficult to create Silicon Valley-like regions around the world.
Clearly, to create a sustainable center of innovation it takes more than building a business park around a university and injecting some startup capital. The answer must lie in the culture of Silicon Valley. But can that culture be exported? Do regional innovation centers have unique cultures specific to their particular brand of innovation?
Maybe I can find out some answers during this trip.
Also, I’ll be posting about some of the companies and personalities I meet during this trip. So please check back regularly. Also, you can follow my colleagues on the Traveling Geeks website and Twitter — and if you get a chance, join us at some of the open evening events. Here is our agenda.
Here is a brief overview. We’ll be at…
A NESTA-sponsored conference about moving forward in the new economy, a U.S./U.K. Speed Date with Seed Camp Winners and UK Leaders; eConsultancy Innovator’s Open Discussion; the TechCrunch Europa Awards; University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School Roundtable on Open Innovation; as well as meetings with Nokia Labs, Microsoft Labs, East of England International, Skype and others.
The blhttpoggers will also be speaking and participating at a Reboot Britain event and the Guardian’s first Media Talk Live event, as well as organizing a TweetUp in central London on the evening of July 5, 2009, which is being sponsored by NESTA and The Conversation Group.
My Twitter is: http://twitter.com/tomforemski
My Friendfeed is: http://friendfeed.com/tomforemski
Twitter hashtag for the trip is #tg2009
Fellow Traveling Geeks:
Robert Scoble
Robert needs no introduction. He is a social media factory!
Blog: Scobleizer.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/scobleizer
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer
Craig Newmark
The Craig in Craigslist and a one-man support machine that rivals a dozen call centers.
Blog: cnewmark.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/craignewmark
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/craignewmark
Sarah Lacy
Sarah is an editor at Techcrunch and a prolific writer and book author.
Blog: Sarahlacy.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sarahcuda
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/sarahcuda
Howard Rheingold
Howard used to edit the Whole Earth Review and is one of the leading thinkers of the digital age.
Blog: http://www.rheingold.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hrheingold
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/howardrheingold
Meghan Asha
Meghan is one of the micro-celebrity It girls from the East coast.
Blog: http://www.nonsociety.com/meghan
Twitter: http://twitter.com/meghanasha
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/meghanasha
JD Lasica
JS works with non-profits helping them to use social media tools for social change.
Blogs: Socialmedia.biz & Socialbrite.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jdlasica
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/jdlasica
Susan Bratton
Susan is co-founder and CEO of publisher Personal Life Media.
Blog: Dishymix.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/susanbratton
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/susanbratton
Jeff Saperstein
Jeff is a co-founder of Traveling Geeks. He consults with large corporations on business strategy.
Website: Creatingregionalwealth.com
Blog on Israel: http://www.sapermktg.wordpress.com
Renee Blodgett
Public relations maven and co-founder of the Traveling Geeks.
Blog: http://www.downtheavenue.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MagicSauceMedia
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/reneeblodgett
Jim (“Sky”) Schuyler
The CTO for the Dalai Lama.
Blog: Sky.dlfound.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jimsky7
Ayelet Noff
Aylef is based in Israel where she runs a marketing consultancy.
Blog: http://www.blonde20.com/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blonde20
FriendFeed: http://friendfeed.com/blonde20
Mind The Gap!
Heathrow Express to Paddington.
Hey, didja know they drive on the wrong side of the road here?
Brought to you by the Traveling Geeks
Life Imitates Google Earth (TG2009)
In a stroke of Alice Through the Looking Glass, I arrived in London after an overnight flight, took the Heathrow Express (fast train – 15 minutes from the airpor to central London), then switched to the tube (subway) for a short ride to my hotel. (JD Lasica was with me.) Arriving at the Barbican tube stop, which is where we emerge to walk two blocks to the hotel, I stepped out onto the street. This was my reaction (see video below) – didn’t know which was real, the real or the Google Earth (Google Street View, actually). Kind of deja vu because everything looked entirely familiar to me after having gone around the block many times on Google Street View to try to determine the best walking route to the hotel. You can tell from my excitement that it was a real revelation to discover that I could “go to a place” in the virtual world, use the virtual world to make decisions about a route, and then have it actually play out properly in real life. Amazing!
London’s Tower Bridge is on Twitter, I’ll be on the bridge later today
Did you know that London’s Tower Bridge is on Twitter? What does it say? When it opens and closes. Fun example of an object in physical space using Twitter to communicate to the world. That reminds me of the Canadian border crossing that uses Twitter to tell the world how long waits are at the border. I wonder what other physical objects use Twitter?
I’ll be on that bridge with Rocky Barbanica (Building43 producer) and Rachel Clarke (she works for a web agency building websites) later today to kick off our Traveling Geeks week. We’re here meeting a ton of geeks and getting a look at all sorts of interesting tech companies and events.
Tonight, if you’re in London, please come by the Tweetup and say hi. Everyone is invited and tickets are still available.
The rest of our schedule this week is fairly packed. But I will try to sneak people into our schedule. Give me a call at +1-425-205-1921 and let’s talk.
On my way to London and Cambridge, part of Traveling Geeks tour
Hey, here I go, the next Traveling Geeks tour
(remember, I'm more of a nerd, becoming a bit of a nonk, nerd+wonk)
first up, a Tweetup at JuJu in Chelsea
then, we do Rebooting Britain
Traveling Geeks off to London
Below is the press release of our second Traveling Geeks blogging tour to London this week.
LONDON – July 3, 2009 – Traveling Geeks is sending a group of 12 influential bloggers to the U.K. to collaborate with technology innovators and influencers in London and Cambridge from July 5 to July 11, 2009.
The mission of Traveling Geeks is to connect with technology innovators and influencers in various regions of the world, then share what they have learned through blogging, video, podcasts, meet-ups, Twitter and other social media tools.
Through idea exchange and reporting, both countries can become better informed about how to use new technologies to improve communications and productivity, more effectively promote products and services and strengthen communities for corporations, non-profits and the public sector.
The bloggers hope to learn about how the U.K. is effectively implementing emerging technologies, social media tools and e-government initiatives to better serve its citizens, as well as enhance the way government and corporations work together.
The group is a collection of writers, content creators and entrepreneurs who cover technology, business, innovation and social media.
The U.K. Traveling Geeks team includes: Meghan Asha, Renee Blodgett, Susan Bratton, Tom Foremski, Sarah Lacy, JD Lasica, Craig Newmark, Ayelet Noff, Howard Rheingold, Jeff Saperstein, Sky Schuyler and Robert Scoble.
They will participate in a Greenwich Observatory event; a NESTA-sponsored conference about moving forward in the new economy, a U.S./U.K. Speed Date with Seed Camp Winners and UK Leaders; eConsultancy Innovator’s Open Discussion; the TechCrunch Europa Awards; University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School Roundtable on Open Innovation; as well as meetings with Nokia Labs, Microsoft Labs, East of England International, Skype and others.
The bloggers will also be speaking and participating at a Reboot Britain event and the Guardian’s first Media Talk Live event, as well as organizing a TweetUp in central London on the evening of July 5, 2009, which is being sponsored by NESTA and The Conversation Group.
There will be numerous gatherings that will bring together individuals and organizations in the U.K. who are making a global impact through the innovative use of new technologies and social media tools.
Traveling Geeks was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008, beginning with a blogging expedition to Israel.
News, updates and other content from the tour can be found at tg.planetlink.com, as well as on flickr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking services.
Sponsors include: Intel, Nokia Ovi Maps, NESTA, East of England International, Skype, British Telecom, Rackspace Hosting, Digitrad, Symbian, Flip Video, and ProPhotoRental.
About TravelingGeeks
The mission of Traveling Geeks is to collaborate with technology innovators and influencers in various regions of the world, then share what we’ve learned through blogging, video, podcasts, social media tools and meet-ups. Traveling Geeks was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008, beginning with a blogging expedition to Israel. Our hope is that we can inform, educate and connect on behalf of innovators who are changing the world with like-minded people on the planet. Trips are funded by sponsorships from corporations and governments.
More about Traveling Geeks here.
