Comments on: What Sparked the Birth of Geek Culture? http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:46:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Geek Studies » Blog Archive » Link Pileup http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture/comment-page-1#comment-227 Geek Studies » Blog Archive » Link Pileup Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:17:21 +0000 http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture#comment-227 [...] who like to swear more in print and give away PDFs of their magazine online. Includes yet another potential ancestry for geekdom: [...] [...] who like to swear more in print and give away PDFs of their magazine online. Includes yet another potential ancestry for geekdom: [...]

]]> By: Jason Tocci http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture/comment-page-1#comment-100 Jason Tocci Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:52:13 +0000 http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture#comment-100 Thanks for the comment. Just to follow up: as I wrote about elsewhere, a <i>Wired</i> writer tracing the history of the Transformers also places the <a href="http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-07/trans_toy" rel="nofollow">"dawn of the modern nerd era"</a> in the rise of sci-fi action figures; Ron Eglash (<a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/social_text/v020/20.2eglash.html" rel="nofollow">2002</a>) goes even further back, suggesting that the first nerds were amateur radio enthusiasts in the 20s, based on a comment by an SF author. Thanks for the comment. Just to follow up: as I wrote about elsewhere, a Wired writer tracing the history of the Transformers also places the “dawn of the modern nerd era” in the rise of sci-fi action figures; Ron Eglash (2002) goes even further back, suggesting that the first nerds were amateur radio enthusiasts in the 20s, based on a comment by an SF author.

]]> By: Sarah Elkins http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture/comment-page-1#comment-93 Sarah Elkins Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:18:40 +0000 http://www.geekstudies.org/2007/06/what-sparked-the-birth-of-geek-culture#comment-93 "the seed of what we mean now when we talk about geeks existed much earlier ... Now, I don’t mean to imply that digital media aren’t central to geek culture, just that I wouldn’t say they caused its “birth” so much as its blossoming." I agree. Science fiction conventions have been going on since the 30's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_convention#History -- I'm not sure how well-documented this is online, but I've seen old photos and programs (in a glass case), and it's clear that the first WorldCon was in 1939). I would have looked to pulps (it wasn't all detective thrillers) rather than comic books for geekdom, but I'm not sure about the timeline. The Men of Tomorrow book looks interesting, at any rate. “the seed of what we mean now when we talk about geeks existed much earlier … Now, I don’t mean to imply that digital media aren’t central to geek culture, just that I wouldn’t say they caused its “birth” so much as its blossoming.”

I agree. Science fiction conventions have been going on since the 30′s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_convention#History — I’m not sure how well-documented this is online, but I’ve seen old photos and programs (in a glass case), and it’s clear that the first WorldCon was in 1939). I would have looked to pulps (it wasn’t all detective thrillers) rather than comic books for geekdom, but I’m not sure about the timeline. The Men of Tomorrow book looks interesting, at any rate.

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