Washington Post’s “The Download” Emerges From “The Down Low”

Several years into writing Washington Post’s “The Download” column, Shannon Henry published an entry in December of 2004 that queried local technology players on what trends might emerge during the coming year. More specifically, Henry addressed how, depending on the prevailing economic and entrepreneurial climate, the region’s tech identity wavered between that of a government town and one pushing to “develop a separate identity for the region built on ventures in software, telecom, the Internet…”

Sure, today you could probably swap out “software, telecom and the Internet” for “SaaS, green IT and social media” but the identity challenge is in some ways still the same: is this a government town or has it tangibly evolved into something more? And if it is going to evolve into something more, does it require a unified effort by industry segments that historically operate in walled gardens? More succinctly, if a tourist asked for directions to the epicenter of technology innovation in Greater Washington, what would you say? Head towards Northern Virginia, hang a right at New York Ave., and then hop on the I270 Corridor?

The latter question was recently brought to light by Washington Post writer Zachary Goldfarb, one that spawned a pioneering July event developed by the NVTC and folks like Peter Corbett at iStrategyLabs known simply as Twin Tech. And unlike the Caddyshack II abomination, Twin Tech’s sequel event (Twin Tech II) that took place last week to the tune of 1,200+ attendees, was a smash hit.

With word (via ExecutiveBiz’ exclusive interview with Washington Post writer Kim Hart) that the publication is resuscitating “The Download” column starting Monday, I am reminded why it was both incredibly popular and infinitely valuable to the Greater Washington technology and government community.

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