Brian Oberkirch’s post on the decentralization of technology innovation dovetails with something I’ve been thinking about lately. As I walk along the sidewalks of Chicago I marvel sometimes at the fact that, not only do I have a great job (and family, of course) but that I get to write about things that I love and am interested in without needing to belong to a traditional media organization. That ability is, in large part, neither helped nor hindered by the fact that I live in a big urban center. All I really need is a computer and a fast internet connection and I can publish my thoughts to the world.

A while ago I was taking the train home with Rick Klau from FeedBurner since we both live in the same area. He was listing all the technology companies that call Chicago home and I commented that someone should create a map showing how many “web 2.0” firms were located here. Brian’s list shows that similar maps could be created almost anywhere. The topic of web ventures in Chicago also gets discussed over at Participate Media.

I don’t think many of us sit back and marvel at the truly incredible nature of this platform that we use. Whether this blog or that site has more perceived power is almost beside the point. It’s that we have any power at all that we should all enjoy.

3 thoughts on “Where you are isn’t that big a deal

  1. Absolutely. And to me the entire point of being an entrepreneur is control your own destiny — these tools allow us to work and live where we want.

  2. I couldn’t agree more – despite the negatives of always being connected and always reachable by bosses, clients, co-workers, etc., today’s technology has allowed many of us to be far more untethered than ever before. In one post, The Ultimate Virtual Office, I idly speculated about a cruise ship-based office. That’s not too likely, but even the theoretical possibility shows how far we’ve come.

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