beTech :: Evolve Already

To make the University of Virginia safe for forward-thinking Web designers and developers, beTech was launched in 2005. Since then, beTech—an acronym for Bleeding Edge TECHnology—has organized dozens of presentations and networking opportunities for Web professionals and the Web-curious to teach, learn, and collaborate with each other. We’ve successfully raised the level of awareness for Web Standards, accessibility, usability, and findability. And we’re not stopping there.

This Fall, beTech is unveiling beTech Labs—a Web developers paradise. In beTech Labs you can set up your own Web server space to push the bleeding edge and share what you’ve learned with the beTech community. It’s an exciting space that evolves as we speak.

beTech is building a vibrant University of Virginia and Charlottesville Web community one passionate geek at a time. There are at least three ways for you to get involved:

1. Join our mailing list. Our mailing list is a great place to post Web design or technology questions to a brilliant and friendly pool of over 150 Web professionals.
2. Come to a presentation. We meet at 3:00PM on the third Wednesday of every month for presentations on the latest technologies, processes, etc.
3. Come to a happy hour. Our beerTech happy hours take place on the third Thursday of every month. The surprisingly productive gatherings are a great way to share the latest news, ideas, etc. (BTW, beer and nachos are totally optional).

Please join us. We’re low-pressure, friendly, and just plain gonzo about the Web. This is where you belong.

beTech Milestones

• August 15, 2007: beTech Labs is officially launched.
• June 15-16, 2007: the beCamp unconference rocks the Charlottesville Web universe.
• December 7, 2006: Scott Crittenden fires up the beCast community for mediacasters.
• November 20, 2006: beTech Labs gets the official go-ahead and a generous Web server allowance from the CIO’s office.
• November 12, 2006: beTech moves to its new domain: betech.virginia.edu.
• July 20, 2005: Jamie Orchard-Hays kicks off the beTech presentation series with “Ruby on Rails”.
• April 1, 2005: the beTech blog lights up at http://indorgs.virginia.edu/betech (no longer active).
• January 2005: Steve Stedman and Anna Tubbs release beTech into the wild.