Rhode Island’s information technology and digital media sector grew into a visible community with political clout in 2007... bolstered by economic-development officials who saw... an opportunity to grow the highest paid sector in the state...

The sector employs more than 15,000 people and accounts for more than $1 billion in annual wages in Rhode Island, according to the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. And yet, IT and digital media was not widely seen as a cohesive sector of the state’s economy in 2006, when a small handful of local industry insiders started Providence Geeks, a social networking group that brings together IT workers from a range of industries for monthly dinners at AS220 in downtown Providence...

...Providence Geeks now attracts more than 100 people apiece to its monthly gatherings, and hundreds more have signed on to RI Nexus, an Internet portal launched by the R.I. Economic Development Corporation in September to support the IT and digital media sector.