What we’re about
A group where retired folks who had technical careers or have technical interests can get together to extend and/or enhance their knowledge in technical areas, and chat with people of similar interests. The target participant is a retired person with a technical background living in the close-in western suburbs of Philadelphia. However anyone interested in discussing technology-related topics who can make our scheduled meetings is welcome. We usually meet on a weekday in the afternoon, but other times will be considered, based on participant needs and the availability of a suitable venue when meeting in person. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we met in person at the Ardmore library, but for a while now meetings have been exclusively online via Zoom. Technical focus will be engineering and computer topics, but other scientific/technical topics are welcome, based on participant interests.
Participants can learn by attending and/or preparing to lead group meetups with an announced topic or objective. Participation for a specific event is typically capped at a maximum number of attendees to facilitate active participation and reflecting meeting room size when meetings are in-person.
Illustrative topics for events would include:
- The Raspberry Pi single-board computer
- Linux variant pros and cons
- Linux as the basis for a practical home computer
- Cloud/Google services: Google COLAB & Jupyter Notebook
- The hyped G5 cellular technology
- What does developing smartphone apps entail?
- The Python programming language
- Social Implications of Machine Learning & Other Technologies
- Options for Securing and Backing Up Your PC
- 3D Printing
This group is intended as a learning experience for both the participants and topic leaders, and an opportunity to dialog with folks on topics of common interest. Topic leaders should prepare a presentation or background material to kick off and facilitate an interesting discussion. However, each attendee is encouraged to participate in the exchange of ideas and knowledge, and assess for themselves the value and correctness of what is discussed. While commercial products and services will inevitably be addressed, neither leaders nor participants should sell or market products or services for commercial purposes during group events.
