p2pnet - rss feed: Are geeks dumb?
p2pnet.net News:- “They’re geeky, but they don’t know what to do with their geekdom.”
Wa?
That’s what Sacramento State communications studies professor Barbara O’Connor says about some students with pocket computers.
And, “They’re very good at typing in and using the Internet, but they don’t always understand what they get back,” says Linda Goff, head of instructional services for the California State University, Sacramento library.
Both are quoted in an E-Commerce Times story which goes on that in a recent nationwide test on technological “literacy,” when it came to students’ ability to use the Net to complete class assignments, “only 49 percent of the test-takers correctly evaluated a set of Web sites for objectivity, authority and timeliness” and, “Only 35 percent could correctly narrow an overly broad Internet search.”
CSU is now considering adding a mandatory assessment test on technological literacy for all freshmen, much as it has required English and math placement tests since the 1980s, adds the story.
A geek is someone who’s, “chosen concentration rather than conformity,” says the Jargon File, “one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
“Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia. Most geeks are adept with computers and treat hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves - and some who are in fact hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because they (quite properly) regard ‘hacker’ as a label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed.”
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Also See:
E-Commerce Times - Generation M’s Surprising Struggle With Tech Literacy, December 23, 2006
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December 26th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
the problem is that the term geek is getting to much used, now a kid using msn and posting on myspace, and playing computer games is a geek, i mean W T F
with this definition it’s obvious you’ll find lots of dumb people ..
December 27th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
… and you could be one of them. It’s “getting used too much”, not “getting to much used”. Also the correct definition of “dumb” is an inability to communicate verbally as in “deaf and dumb”, not as most Americans would have you believe that dumb means stupid. You can be stupid and articulate and dumb but really clever.
Of course I’m probably the biggest geek myself and am not making and friends with this post and will probably start a flame war and all the rest of it, but I just had to comment on the delicious irony of the post on “Are geeks dumb?” with the very first reply quite eloquently proving they might be geeks, they might be dumb, but one thing you can rely on, they cannot type or have any idea of grammar.
/in two minds about whether to hit the submit button. Oh well, I’ve written it now, please don’t take this post personally, you’re all fine, fine people! I like you all, honestly!
December 28th, 2006 at 2:32 am
sorry for not being a native english speaker..
December 28th, 2006 at 3:18 am
In that case all is forgiven!! I didn’t realise and am sorry too if I caused any anxiety.
Actually your English is quite good, so good luck to you I say!!