There was once a time when “geek” was a four letter word. In the nasty sense. Now it’s a decent salary and moderate job security (for those blessed with a clue stick, at least). No longer are geeks the social outcast they once were. No longer are they “obviously” single, substituting hex life for sex life. In my inner social circle, consisting of around ten geeks, five are married and most of the rest have girlfriends or partners. And we’re not alone. So the old “single” stereotype doesn’t fit.
Geeks have formed their own social networks and met each other in real life. What may have started as an experiment in social software, resulted in genuine in human interaction. That is, meetings in pubs between geeks. And consequently between geeks and non-geeks. The proliferation of computers in the workplace has required the sysadmins to come out of the server room and make themselves known to the staff. Those that are still in work are there because they can interface with non-geeks. So the old “anti-social” stereotype doesn’t fit.
Geeks have opened up their software. Through the benevolence of sharing, be it Free Software under the GPL, Open Source (through one of the ever increasing licenses), or plain old shareware, others have benefited from the geeks work. Public web forums allow non-geeks to interact with geeks as never before. And the non-geeks probably don’t realise. So the old “sad” stereotype doesn’t fit.
Ok – so most of us are still male. But the social aspect of geekdom has meant an increased visibility, if not a true increase, in the female contingent. But still, the stereotype of “single, anti-social, sad, male” no longer applies so I say it’s time to reclaim the word. I have been self-promoting myself as a geek at user groups since 1999. In the beginning there were a few raised eyebrows, as if I were invoking an ancient curse on the group by summoning a demon by mentioning the word. The following month, however, no curse had befallen the group, no members had been squashed to death by an Egyptian dung beetle, and society hadn’t protested or demonstrated against us. So I used the word again. It is only word, after all.
I am a geek.
Say it loud.
I’m geek and I’m proud.