Back in April this year, I was introduced to the Multipack, “a community of multi-talented individuals from across the Midlands, UK, that comes together to discuss all things Web�.
The group was six months old then and consisted of about 30 or so members. Since then, it has grown to around 90 members and staged Geek in the Park, a national event featuring Patrick H Lauke and Bruce Lawson.
Part of the Multipack’s purpose is to provide a forum for discussion of standards-based Web development outside London and the south. Other regional groups have also sprung up in the past few months. The rapid growth in size of the Multipack shows that there’s an appetite for this among developers, along with a thirst for contact with like-minded people (and beer, if the monthly meetings are anything to go by…). In time, it’s hoped that the success of the social and discursive aspects of the group leads to collaboration on joint projects and more public events.
I’m not a great joiner of things, but I’ve certainly benefited from Multipack membership, including finding a new client, as well as gaining from the knowledge and experience of group members. Working for myself is sometimes a little isolating, so the Multipack’s IRC channel can be a welcome diversion. Connections like this are invaluable.
Right now, the Multipack is gearing up for its first birthday in October with a competition, Pimp My HTML. Starting with some basic markup, the idea is to spice it up with CSS and maximums of five images and 20kb of JavaScript. Yes, there are prizes! And the judging panel includes no less a Web personage than Jeremy Keith. If I can fit it in between clients, I might just have a go.
