The Geek Networking Evolution

You know, it used to be hard for us geek folks to do this crazy thing called “networking”, or, as I like to call it, playing mental chess at social gatherings. Before there was any internet at all to speak of, were were correspondences over letter mail, by carrier pigeon, or by publication. Rare was the feasibility of gathering  like-minded geekery in one place, and those that did somehow organize such meetups (such as those running conventions when I was but an infant) were only able to create fleeting, short-term collaboration.

Even when the internet was young, geeks found it difficult to connect with one another. Not everyone had email, and public chatrooms run by software that a 6 year old could hack to their own amusement were an insecure, yet real time method of doing things. Old BBS boards (the kind you used a modem to access) were clunky, and mailing lists in general were a rarity.

Oh yes – those were hard times for geeks looking to make a connection to other geeks. This is why these days, we should really be counting our blessings. The advent of instant messaging allows for real-time communication with friends all over the world at the click of a mouse. Anyone can run a mailing list or group if they have the inclination or desire, and forums have replaced BBS’s as the premiere method of archived, threaded discussion. In the last year or two alone, the rise of social networking and real-time updating via sites like Facebook and Twitter not only connects geeks with geeks, but geeks with old friends and nemeses that stuffed them into a locker in high school. It’s a new, massive, explosion of geekery-fueled connections.

Now, some technophobes and Luddites out there will decry this kind of online-exclusive communication and connection as the death of actual face-to-face communiques and society going down a road of amoral anonymity. They think it’s an overall bad thing. Not so, says this blogger with the handful of readers. For one thing, communications of most any sort that you would expect face-to-face can be simulated to great effect. Webcams and calling software like Skype can make an online conference call as personable as an actual one, without the danger of your neighbor’s coffee spilling into your lap. Desktop sharing software like WebEx and LogmeIn allow geeks to see what their compatriots are doing on the screen, so that embarrassing moments of hiding porn on one’s laptop in the middle of a business meeting are simulated quite nicely. Footage and media for geek gatherings, once hampered by one or two people’s ability to get up out of bed and do hours of scanning and editing, are now as instant as being up right after you turn away from taking pics of a creepy crossdressing cosplayer.

Yep, everything that a real networking effort can do, technology can as well – and in some cases, better. The real trump card for this new age of geek networking is the ease. Anyone can network. Anyone can connect with people without having to worry about what they look like, or what they’re wearing, or whether or not they’ve rambled on too long about their Transformers collection. And to be perfectly honest, this kind of networking is just a means to an end, for those that know how to use it. Smart geeks know that even they have to get up, get dressed normally, and go out and talk with people. But the geek networking evolution makes it infinitely easier to do that due to the nature of sharing information.

Here are just some of the people I have access to, because of my tech-crazy networking:

-Game developers in at least three different studios

-Five different lawyers in varying areas of law (copyright, real estate, media, etc.)

-One of the best .lua modders around, for all my stupid user interface issues in MMOs.

-Two people who work for US government agencies

-A linguistics student in Europe who knows more about English than most English speakers

-Six musicians

-Four teachers on the elementary, high school, and college level

-A pilot

-Multitudes of parents

-Three police officers

I could go on. The point is, having access to that many resources is a powerful thing. Something that would be infinitely harder for me, if I didn’t have the tools that we had today to network. So enjoy the networking tools, and get yourself out there, geeks – you never know what connections you’ll make!