TL;DR: The Madison Blockchain group is getting re-launched; reply to this article if you're interested in helping be a part of that, or just interested in continuing to hear about local Blockchain-related happenings in Dane County, Wisconsin.
Greetings from Madison, Wisconsin!
I've been around long enough to have seen several Madison "meetup" groups about blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies form and eventually disperse, and as I've seen that ebb and flow, I do think an important aspect to keep alive is keeping the lines of communication between interested parties open. Over the last several years, the number of software projects interested in and built upon blockchain technologies has gotten very big. And while the initial implementations of that technology have been cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, and derivative ideas that have evolved since its inception), I think keeping communication between all of them is important. But, the attendance at Madison Blockchain meetup events has greatly reduced over the past year, and with other leaders stepping down or having left town, I'm the last one left.
Hence, I've been working on a plan of what to do in the local Madison area with this community, and I'm kicking it off with this article, to see where people's interests lie!
My plan is to keep the "Madison Blockchain" branding alive, and reshape it into what I think would most help this local community at this point in time. The solution I think would work best is to position "Madison Blockchain" as a communications hub for all local Madison groups interested in the blockchain technology space. I envision this working somewhat like a University structure, where "Madison Blockchain" as a brand will maintain outgoing messages, and help triage incoming requests to the proper people, and then several "Colleges" would exist under that umbrella, to represent more focused program areas. Each "College" would have a "Dean" in charge of organizing and communicating within that College and up to the Madison Blockchain group. Based on the types of users I saw attending Madison Blockchain events in the past, some initial "Colleges" I think would be useful (and some types of events I'd envision that College hosting):
"Business Ventures": Focused on sharing knowledge about blockchain-focused businesses in the local area.
"Technical Tinkering": Focused on the technical knowledge of blockchain products.
"Crypto Investment Group": A group focused on actively taking part in governance of blockchain-related products. This group could be organized by a DAO smart contract, with members staking some crypto assets toward the group (need to have "skin in the game"), which the group would then manage and vote with (but the member could re-claim if they decided to leave the group).
"Welcome Aboard": Focused on introducing new ideas, and an onboarding track to get new members familiar with cryptocurrencies before joining other tracks.
With that framework, events/meetups would be arranged and hosted by members of the different Colleges, with the Madison Blockchain group lending manpower (to set up events, host events, and knowledge share about spaces to have events and share contacts) and helping advertise events from a consistent feed. Initially, I'll take on the role of Communication Coordinator for the Madison Blockchain entity, which I plan to set up several "presences", with an emphasis on utilizing blockchain-based projects:
If you're still interested in receiving communications about local Blockchain-related things, follow this feed, as that will become the main communication feed.
If you're interested in helping organize this group, either as a Dean of a College or as a volunteer pitching in time to help organize and host events, please post a comment here, and I'll get in touch.
If there's not a whole lot of reaction to this message, I'll take that as a sign that the need for local organizing has petered out for the time being, and will let things go into hibernation for a while. But I'm hopeful the new year will bring some renewed interest, and that we can continue to have some great, local discussions!
Thanks!
Brooks Boyd
@midnight426