When Web designer Jeremy Harrington moved back to Des Moines last year he was happy about the social interaction Twitter gave him, but also interested in the projects his peers were working on. To help facilitate interaction between people working in often isolating fields, the 31-year-old founded Des Moines Web Geeks this summer.

"Agnostic of what the technology is, I wanted to know what cool things people are doing," Harrington said.

So far the group comprises about 45 geeks (their word, not ours), with a core group of 20 at each meeting. They come to talk about tech platforms, their latest projects and gadgets. You know, geeky stuff. Members range from local software developers to IT people to students and people working in banking and insurance.

Harrington went with "geek" in the group name because he wanted to attract a certain type of person without limiting it to a particular field.

"If someone is willing to call themselves a geek, they're probably in the circle I'm looking for," he said. "It was a fun way of phrasing it without getting too specific."

Meetings are structured in two parts. First, a presentation, often focusing on something specific like Web frameworks, javascript, Google Chrome or designing for mobile devices. Then comes an informal chat on whatever people want to talk about. Harrington says some in tech industries are quiet, but he's happy to report that isn't the case with the Web Geeks.

Next up Harrington hopes to organize an after-hours co-working event as an offshoot of Des Moines Web Geeks, to give an outlet to people who like the idea of co-working, but whose jobs don't allow for it.

"It will be a chance to work on projects surrounded by other creative people," he said. "It can be very inspiring."