Geek vs Pop-culture female role models

The science of Star Trek

Source: Best Computer Science Degree | Via Geeks are Sexy

Baffling Giraffe Weevil of Madagascar

The male giraffe weevil (Trachelophorus giraffa) has an unusually extended neck (used for combat).

Find more stunning pictures and information about the giraffe weevil here: The Remarkable Giraffe Weevil of Madagascar ~ The Ark In Space:

'via Blog this'

A Short Illustrated History of the Nerd

Visit the Kuriositas blog for an interesting illustrated short history of the "nerd": A Short Illustrated History of the Nerd ~ Kuriositas

Star Trek timeline graph

Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Increasing conformity in geekdom

Source: http://myextralife.com/56geeks/

A geek used to be a person who had a strong particular interest (that was often not shared by many others). However, as "geekness" has become more mainstream (and acceptable), the understanding of what constitutes a geek became more uniform (See The Evolution of Geek):


A geek must love science fiction (ALL science fiction, but especially Star Wars and Star Trek). A geek must like fantasy books and movies (ALL of them). A geek must read and collects comics books. A geek must have numerous collectibles in his room and office. A geek must play role playing games (both tabletop and online). A geek must be into cosplay and attend conventions (such as ComiCon and DragonCon). 


Daljeet Singh from the "Geeks are sexy" blog wrote an interesting personal reflection of how the geek community started to outcast geeks who do not show interest for that whole "geek package". Read more here: I’m a Geek…and I Don’t Like Star Wars

I agree with Daljeet's observations. Geeks identify themselves by a particular interest and often had to endure being social outcasts for their passions. It would be ironic if the geek community would outcast fellow geeks for not being geeky enough.

Star Wars universe map

This enormous map shows the planets, regions, and hyperspace routes of the Star Wars universe [Click to enlage].

Source: http://i.imgur.com/TyAi9.jpg

The Jedi Career Path

The Jedi Path (Source: Wookieepedia)

According the book "The Jedi Path", the career of a Jedi is challenging and can lead to many different specializations.

I created the diagram below to illustrate the different career paths of a Jedi (in the time of the Galactic Republic) [Click to Enlarge]:

The Jedi Career Path

If an initiate did not get accepted as a Padawan, he/she could join the Jedi Service corps or leave the order.

If a Jedi Padawan passed the Jedi trials and became a Jedi Knight, he/she could join one of three branches: Jedi Guardian (typically blue lightsabers), Jedi Consular (typically green lightsabers), or Jedi Sentinel (typically yellow lightsabers).

From an educational perspective, the Jedi career path is a good example of apprenticeship learning: An initiate becomes part of a community of practice, mentored by a practicing master who assigns increasingly more challenging tasks, and learns from observing the master in action. Such situated learning is often used in trades, music, martial arts and other sports.

Daily data flow on the Internet

Created by: MBAOnline.com

A vision of the classroom of the future?

Corning is a leading specialty glass and ceramics manufacturer. To showcase future uses of their glass, they created the video "A Day Made of Glass".


This video shows visions for home life, school, and work - all using touch sensitive glass that doubles as computer displays. I found the vision for the classroom of the future of particular interest. I'll break the scene down into separate pictures for further discussion.


The video shows two girls in school uniforms entering a modern elementary school building. Upon entering the classroom, they dock their tablet computers in their desks. [Click on picture to enlarge]

This action automatically uploads their homework and takes their attendance (as shown on the floor-to-ceiling screen in the front). The student's desk automatically opens a digital notebook for note taking, a calendar, a virtual keyboard, and a chat folder with student questions. From personal experience, typing on digital keyboards is cumbersome and slow. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The teacher uses her floor-to-ceiling touch screen to call up today's lesson: A physics lesson on optics. The wall screen also offers room controls (e.g. light dimmer). The teacher's actions on the main screen are mirrored on each students' screen. I don't know what the mirroring function serves: It seems it would distract students from looking at the main screen. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The teacher uses an interactive mindmap diagram to search through different topics. Through a drag-and-drop motion, the teacher transfers a physics activity to a multitouch table. I wonder if all the activities are created and scripted by for-profit education companies. This would leave the teacher hardly any creative freedom in which she could apply her expertise. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The students gather around the multitouch table for an optics activity. The students drag-and-drop color circles to explore additive color combinations. I found it noticeable that the class consists of only ten students. This optics activity could easily be achieved using real coloured glass and a light beam. Physics is about exploring the natural world, for which a computer activity provides no physical evidence. Computer-enhanced activities can be useful when showing phenomena that are too large/small or too fast/slow to experience directly. The goal should not become to replace all real-life experiments with computers simulations, but to carefully decide when which activity is more effective. [Click on picture to enlarge].

In a later scene, the students are seen on a field trip to a forest where they use their tablet computers for an augmented reality activity. [Click on picture to enlarge]

The Corning video makes no mention of the costs or durability of these glass-based tablet computers. Given the current financial situations of many public schools, such technology seems only affordable by wealthy private schools (as implied in the video).


The Corning video resembles Microsoft's vision of the classroom of the future:

Big Bang Theory Network Diagram

The popular CBS TV-show "The Big Bang Theory" presents a complex network of characters. I created the diagram below to illustrate the various types of relationships.

Big Bang Theory Network [Click to Enlarge]

For other entries on geek culture, see for example Geek hierarchy chart and Evolution of geek.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Big Bang Theory Wikia

The Meta-Geek

Copyright Scott Johnson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottjohnson/1190004360/ 

With geek culture becoming more mainstream, a novel form of geek emerges - the meta-geek.

A "meta-geek", or "geek geek", is fascinated with geek culture without being deeply involved in any one sub-culture. Meta-geeks are geeks about geek culture itself.

For example:

• A meta-geek can follow geek-related blogs and watches videos from geek-related events (such as Comic-Con, Dragon-Con, or Star Trek conventions) without going there in person.
• A meta-geek can be knowledgeable about comic characters without reading comics themselves. 
• A meta-geek can blog about other geek cultures (for example, see Geek hierarchy chart and Evolution of geek) or read geek-related blogs (for example Geeksaresexy.net or Geekosystem.com).