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What local tech scene?

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales talks to us at what he called an untech tech gala.

By CHRISTINA REXRODE
Published November 10, 2006

Techies across the Tampa Bay area think of him as a legend.

Maybe that's why he's so seldom seen.

Jimmy Wales nursed Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, into one of the world's 50 most-visited Web sites, with 4.6-million entries in more than 100 languages.

He made a rare public appearance here Thursday evening at the Tampa Bay Technology Forum's third annual Industry Achievement Awards Gala.

His wife and 5-year-old daughter accompanied him to the gala, held at the Marriott Waterside Hotel in Tampa, where he was honored in a new category called Visionary Achievement.

Since a keen sense of insight is what earned him this award, we asked Wales, a 40-year-old St. Petersburg resident, for his thoughts on the local tech scene and where it's going.

Tampa Bay's technology community is healthy by many accounts but still has room for improvement. Do you think markets like Silicon Valley where Wikipedia's for-profit spinoff, Wikia, is based think we're second-tier?

I have no idea. The funny thing is, this is going to be the first time I've ever met anyone in the tech community locally.

Does getting this award from TBTF mean you're going to get involved with our area's tech community?

I don't know. I don't know what there is to be involved with. When I look at my contact list for Flickr, which I use for photo sharing with my friends, I realize, 'Gee, I know more people in London than in Tampa.'

You know them through work?

Yeah, there's a whole circle of the Web 2.0 community online.

Well, what would you like to see here?

I don't think there's ever been anything like a BarCamp here.

Huh?

It's called an unconference. You just pick a place and people come and hang out all weekend. They self-organize, and they don't plan anything ahead of time. These things happen all over the place: Boston, Bangalore, Chicago.

It's more like geeks meeting people than a businessy networking conference. I was invited to this thing (TBTF's gala) and was horrified to find out that I actually have to rent a tux. Very untech, to wear a tux.

So what advice do you have for local techies, who probably aren't going to BarCamp?

I think one of the things to think about is that good work in technology, particularly in programming, is more like art than like business. To not be too businessy about it, to recognize that this is about cool people doing interesting things that they appreciate. It isn't about business people networking, it's about tech geeks inventing cool stuff, and having an appreciation around what locally is important.

Did you know you were up for this award from TBTF?

No, I had no idea.

So how did you find out you had won?

I guess somebody e-mailed me.

Christina Rexrode can be reached at crexrode@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8318.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 23:46:52]