geek culture

Geek Downshifting Idea List

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OK money-where-my-mouth-is time.  I talked why we geeks should look into downshifting – and here’s a list of things I’ve tried, looked into, or heard about.  Might be a good start.

As for how geeky this is, well it comes from a geek and involves use of planning, tech, strategy, and hacking our tools and ourselves.  So it fits – well, I think it fits.

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Fan I Am #8: Own Our Fandom

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keys

Now we come to the end of our journey. Well, so far, you know me.

So my conclusions from all my analysis were:

  1. It’s understandable why people identify with fandoms – it’s a core expression.
  2. There are several forms of fans.
  3. Identifying with a  fandom primarily isn’t appropriate for some people as it may be disconnecting – but for others it makes perfect sense. Those cases are those who are highly active in fandoms and/or have professional involvement.
  4. Fandom pathologies often originate from disconnection, over-identification (including with irrelevant demographics), over-investment, and unexpected interruptions.
  5. “Fandom” is best understood as being a broader phenomena than we may think.

Now all this is well and good, but beyond analysis what does this mean? What do we do?

Fortunately I have an answer.

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Fan I Am #6: Fandom And Larger Culture

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Scientist Scope Technology Science

I’d like to take a break from my deeper musing on Fandom to look at how having a Fandom as an identity and as a culture really isn’t that different from non-fannish stuff.

Its probably easy to think of those that identify heavily as Fandom as different. After all most people, say, are not obsessed with “Sleepy Hollow”* Ergo fans are “different” from “other cultures,” which of course is basically bollocks because people are people. We’re just different people.

But when we step back from Fandoms we realize they really are their own culture, albeit embedded in a larger culture. Now, as I’ve argued, identifying primarily with that culture is not always a healthy or positive thing. But cultures they are.

Consider what they have.

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