Digital Terroir began as a conference talk. In 2018, I was working at an AgTech company and reading plenty of Michael Pollan, and the agriculture concepts I was exposed to began swirling with my deep love of the Hudson Valley (my lifelong home) and my interest in media ecology (which I dove into, quite pretentiously, in college).
By day, I’m a product designer and engineer at a San Francisco tech company, working remotely from my home base near the Hudson River. By night, I’m a chronic tinkerer who’s always working on side projects.
I’ve been considering the thread that unifies all my side projects:
- There was “Hudson Valley Talentbase,” a Dribbble-like network for people in the region to upload the interesting projects they were working on, in the hopes of driving creative collaboration.
- There was Creative Hudson Valley, an online publication where I interviewed creatives doing interesting work here.
- Now there’s ConnectHV, an online directly of creatives and professionals in the Hudson Valley.
The theme is obvious when I write it out, but — beyond “stuff for the Hudson Valley” — my real interest is in software that reinforces a sense of place.
In other words, digital terroir.
The grain of the internet is to drive everything towards growth: bigger, faster, flatter, more global. I’m interested in ways we can use the internet to go the other way: more local, more flavorful, more specific, more niche.
This newsletter/website will be where I explore these ideas in public. Sometimes I’ll write broadly, about the concepts themselves; other times I’ll write about something specific I’m working on, such as behind-the-scenes of my Hudson Valley side projects. Occasionally, I intend to review or respond to some book or article that seems relevant.
If you’re interested in following along, you can subscribe via email or your RSS reader. I always appreciate feedback and discussion, so don’t hesitate to reach out with any thoughts you have.
I look forward to exploring and learning, together, out loud.