From January 27th onwards, the last Friday of every month, at 10.30am at Fudge, we will getting together to hang out, chat, hear about new stuff and enjoy some nice food.

Who’s this for? Anyone from the digital and technology industry in the city, startups, creatives, designers, developers, geeks, gamers, investors… you name it, if you like techie stuff, and especially the web, you’ll fit right in!

Where is it? Once again, Rosie and the team at Fudge are going to be looking after us and have a wonderful selection of food and drinks for us to enjoy. The Fudge website is here with full details of their location.

You can say you’re coming along on our MeetUp site, but actually there is no real need, just come along if you can. I look forward to seeing you!

The format of the next meetup will different to the first as there are not going to be any speakers this time around.  Instead we are hoping to make it a discussion evening, with everyone participating. This should hopefully be  a good way for all the attendees to learn more about each other.

To make the discussions relevant to the majority of developers what we hope to do over the next couple of weeks is gather suggested topics from yourselves, and then ask attendees to vote on the list of topics.  The most popular topics will then be discussed at the meetup.

To get the ball rolling there is a list of topics below.  This list has been created based upon comments from previous blog posts, so thanks to the community for those ideas.

1. Document-oriented Databases (e.g. MongoDB and CouchDB)
2. Testing Techniques and Tooling
3. Continuous Integration
4. The Agile Manifesto
5. The principles of SOLID
6. Outside-in Development

Clearly there are many, many more topics that could be suggested, so please let us know what is relevant to yourselves.  Whether it’s front-end web development techniques, or object oriented programming techniques, please let us know.  Remember you don’t have to be an expert on the topics you suggest, it may well be you know very little and want to talk to other developers to gain a better understanding.

A huge thanks to them for doing this and also putting in their time and effort to do the excellent editing. They were great to work with and the results speak for themselves, so if you need any sort of video / media / film work, they get a big recommendation. You can speak to either Jon or Joe on 01482 667490.

The video looks at why Hull Digital was set up, and gets feedback from members on what they get out of it, and what they think about the local digital scene.

You can watch a superb HD version here.

That was the Hull Digital June MeetUp

Excellent networking event, good presentations, great for the Hull digital community, great venue now I know where it is! – Neil Bant from Kcom.

Great location, was really impressed with the facilities. Was a good chance to catch up with people from previous meetups. Made some useful new contacts as well. Looking forwards to Jon’s BBQ next time – John Polling from the White Agency and one of our speakers.

A really great meeting last night. Met some really interesting people and good to catch up with others. Brilliant venue and really good speakers – Adam Westbrook .. interesting outlook on the future of journalism esp. radio and print. ALT .NET = v. interesting and John Polling very knowledgable. Exciting times ahead! – Delia McNamara from ImaginePM.

It was a beautiful evening, blessed with elusive sunny and cooling breeze, and it was our first time at the World Trade Centre Hull, by the marina, and what a superb venue! A big thanks to Steve Fleming and Julie Dillon from Hull Forward who sponsored the event and kindly provided refreshments too.

Our 2 speakers were Adam Westbrook and John Polling. Adam works at Viking FM as media journalist and spoke about the future of journalis, and John works for the White Agency as a developer in Beverley and spoke about Alt.net.

You can follow them on twitter here >>> Adam <<< and >>> John <<<!

So, without any further hesitation, here are the first parts of their talks! (The rest to follow soon).

Adam Westbrook – June Hull Digital MeetUp from theappleofmyi on Vimeo.

Adam Westbrook – The Future of Media Journalism Part 2 from Hull Digital on Vimeo.

John Polling – Alt.net at June Hull Digital MeetUp from Hull Digital on Vimeo.

Well hello there!

After a mad May which meant no MeetUp, we’re back and better than ever!

In association with Hull Forward, Hull World Trade Centre and Sponsored by huddle.net

Tuesday 23rd June at 6.30pm at the World Trade Centre, Hull Marina

I’m delighted that this month’s Meetup is a joint event with Hull Forward and they are kindly providing the MeetUp venue. A big thanks to Steve Fleming and Julie Dillon for this!

The location can be found on Google maps here >>> click.

We will be organising parking at the venue, and will let you know the details nearer the time, but I have been warned that their is a very “active” (read draconian) clamping operation in some areas of the marina, so please do be VERY careful. Hull Digital and myself take no responsibility whatsoever for any fines you may incur.

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We are also being sponsored by huddle.net!

The World’s Workspace
Huddle combines online collaboration, live conferencing, project management software and document sharing, and I would encourage you to check it out!

If you go here and use promo code 50PERCENTOFFNOW you get 50% off the first month!

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We have 2 great speakers this month, which are:

Adam Westbrook, Broadcast Journalist from Viking FM is speaking about the future of multimedia journalism/video journalism. You can follow Adam on twitter here.

John Polling, an experienced web developer, who currently works for a local marketing agency, and is going to be giving us a brief introduction to Alt.Net and you can follow him on twitter here.

We’ll have some light refreshments and plenty of time for networking!

I’m sure this is going to be a popular Meetup, so please do RSVP soon!

Look forward to seeing you all there,

Jon
www.hulldigital.co.uk

PS We may well have another special speaker, and some news about the future of www.hulldigital.co.uk, so make sure you don’t miss this one!

We are getting excited about the March Hull Digital / Hull Open Coffee MeetUp which is happening tomorrow evening! You can find all the details here, and you need to have RSVPed to attend.

Look forward to seeing you there!

PS We are hoping to record a few small interviews about your thoughts on Hull Digital, and also get some feedback on what topics you would like to hear about – we are actively looking for speakers now, and also would like some more writers for the site.

What a great turn out, better than we ever thought possible, so a HUGE thanks to you all for giving up your time on a Saturday. It was good to meet such a diverse range of people, all with a common interest. We’re delighted we had such a spread of ages, professions and skills, and it seemed by the constant chatter, that everyone had a good time!

The Next Event

The planning  for the next one has started already, and we will soon be posting date and location. We’ve updated the MeetUp page with a few polls to get an idea of people’s preferences, and please do rate the MeetUp too – please be gentle, we are learning as we go along

A Couple of Favours…

• Please do spread the word – the more the merrier!
• Do update your profile on the MeetUp site with a photo and your details / work / interests / skills
• Do vote on the polls
• Do let us know if you would like to speak

Lastly, a HUGE thanks once again to the 25 people who came along – there is going to be a lot more happening in the future and we’re determined to make the Hull Digital group, a vibrant, and useful community.

The time has been flying, and we have our first MeetUp tomorrow in Hull – full details can be found here >>>> click!

This is the first event, so very much a meet and greet. A few items we will want to cover are location for next meeting and also topics for discussion and presentations.

We look forward to meeting you all!

The Hull Digital Team

We’re not aware of any coworking ventures in Hull, but if anyone does know of any, then please do add the details in the comments. Thanks! It certainly seems to be getting more popular and to us, makes a whole lot of sense:

• Share costs
• Work with like-minded people
• Get inspiration and network every day
• Provide a focal point for the design / creative / tech community in the area
• And many more!

What did capture our attention, was no mention of Hull, which to be honest, is not surprising. One of the main objectives of Hull Digital for 2009 is to raise the profile of Hull’s digital / web / tech community, not only locally / regionally, but also nationwide. What was very encouraging, was that Imran has been in touch and looking to come along to January’s MeetUp at the end of the month. There are also some other plans which we will be involved with, and will keep you all up to date on in the near future.

Cafe Nero, Savile Street, Hull centre at 1pm.

We are aiming to have around 20 people get together for the first MeetUp and we will be looking to expand this in the coming months. Our aim is to have around 30 regular attendees by the end of the year, and we really need your help to make this happen!

You may be thinking is this for me… so please read on….

Hull Digital / Hull Open Coffee is all about meeting others interested in any aspect of the digital world, the online world and web technology.

Whether you are a developer, designer, VC, entrepeneur, a digital-lifestyle enthusiast or just love the web, we would like to have you along!

The group is especially looking for people involved locally with a web-based business, or perhaps work for an online agency, or use the web on a daily basis as part of their working day.

A little more info for you….

Who would like this MeetUp?

- Web designers
- Web developers
- Web Marketing Consultants
- Anyone who uses the web for business
- Social Media lovers
- Bloggers
- Technologists
- People who love Web-Apps
What will you get out of attending?

- Meet new like-minded people
- Have an opportunity to talk to people with similar interests
- Learn something new
- Express your opinion on anything digital
- Network for business opportunities
- Hear talks from experts
- Discuss new technologies
- Promote digital culture in the region
- Fathom out how we can get fibre to the home in Hull!

This kind of event becomes a success if it gets the right people, who make an effort and get together every month to discuss topics they are passionate about. At the moment the Hull Digital team are starting to put the word out, but we could really do with your help too. If you know anyone who might enjoy coffee and a chat about any of the topics above, please do give them this link:

http://www.meetup.com/Hull-Digital-Hull-Open-Coffee/

and encourage them to come along. We look forward to meeting you soon!