Save the Geeks Author(s): Joseph Tobin Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol.

44, No. 6 (Mar., 2001), pp. 504-508 Published by: International Reading Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40013561 . Accessed: 13/03/2012 12:40
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?eek$ Tobin Joseph

Geeks (2000, RandomHouse), by Jon Katz,tells the storyof Jesse and Eric,a couple of small-towncomwhose profound puterenthusiasts lonelinessand unhappinessas high school studentswas ameliorated by a "geek" club begun by Mr.Brown, theirsympathetic Englishteacher. Jesse and Ericand the two other and membersfound companionship a sense of identityin the club. but Intelligent, fartoo alienatedand to school-spiritless be model stuthe boys earnedsome grudgdents, ing respectfromschool officialsby the helpingto maintain school's computers. I suspectthatat high schools acrossthe UnitedStatesteachers and principals makingsimilar are use of the computerknowledge of theirgeeky students.Giventhe scarcityof up-to-datetechnological knowledge on the facultyof many high schools, it makes sense to take advantageof the expertiseof the studentswho not only have state-ofthe-artknowledge,but are also on site and work for free (or rather, for such as Internet hall access, perks passes, and occasionalexcused absences fromgym class). But the argumentof this columnis thatthese studentgeeks have somethingeven more valuableto offer schools than device conflicts,introuble-shooting harddrives,and downstallingnew loadingthe latestversionsof Geeks have a Netscapeand Eudora. lot to teach us educators,not only about computersbut also about pedagogy. I preferthe Japaneseterm otaku to the American termgeek.Both termsrefermostlyto males and both carrymostlynegativeconnotations. A geek, in its originalmeaning, is a carnival hanger-onwho earnshis keep by bitingthe heads off chickens.In contemporary parlance, a geek is a young man who is pasty,badlydressed,poorly groomed,has few friends,and loves violentvideo games,and, StarTrek, most of all, computers.InJapan, otakuare very similar figuresof scornwho are victimsof the same But unkindstereotyping. the word otaku,unlikegeek and hacker,conveys less of a sense of an obsession with computersthanwith the informationthatis exchangedvia computers.Forthe otakuthe computer is a deliverysystem,whereasfor geeks and hackersthe mediumis the message. The termotakuusuallyfollows a or hyphen, as in "anime-otaku" "Star or Wars-otaku" "idoru-otaku" (anime is JapaneseEnglishfor animation, idoruforpop idol- think BritneySpears).Forexample,a would spend hoursa Britney-otaku day trawlingthe Net not only for unauthorized (thatis, as close as to nude) photos of his idol possible and bootleg recordings her unreof leased songs, but also for such precious chunksof arcaneinformation as whetherBritneyprefersa window or aisle seat, the name of the sound engineeron her last video, and her sophomoreyear gradepoint average. varies Althoughthe terminology fromcountryto country,I suspect in high schools in the UnitedStates, in Japan,and elsewherearoundthe globe there are lots of geeks and otaku;thatis, lots of unpopular, alienated-from-school-and-society kids who are mostlyinto either the computers, exchangeof obscure or information, both. And I suspect thatthe world over,these nonkids are sufferingin normative

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school where they are teased, harassed, feared, and misunderstood. Katz'sbook carries a pointed moral message: We educators should put less energy into trying to come up with ways to keep our students from watching R-ratedmovies, surfing sex sites on the Web, and playing violent video games and more energy into connecting with our geeky students, whose passions are popular culture, the Internet, computers, and video games. While schools go out of their way to serve students who are into football, proms, and pep rallies, geeks and their related tribes (otaku, Goths, hippies, gays, skaters) are falling through the cracks of our high schools, which they find fascistic and uncaring. As Katz argues, Weneed to begin the work of restrucAmerican schools barely changed turing in generationsdespite the ongoing Revolution andtheirfreInformation quently warped structures, procedures,and value systems.At the very top of the agenda: Freedom from and Geeks, abuse,humiliation, cruelty. nerds, and oddballshave the rightto attendschool in safety.Teachersand have an obligation to administrators make dignityfor everybody not just the popularand the conventional an concern,(p..173) urgenteducational Clearly,we should heed Katz's call and do what we can to make the lives of geeks and their fellow travelers less hellish. We might begin, like Mike Brown, by sponsoring clubs and creating courses organized around gaming, the Internet, sci-fi, film, music, and computersclubs and courses that invite students to bring their interests, passions, and prior knowledge to school rather than to check them at the school door. Such clubs and courses can help by conveying to alienated students that they have teachers who share some of their passions and by providing these students with inviting, safe havens at school.

described as self-taught. Otaku and geeks acquire their most valuable skills and knowledge outside the formal school system, but I think the term self-taught is misleading; it blinds us to the co-constructedness of their learning. I would suggest that otaku and geeks are self-directed but not self-taught, and that their learning, far from being individual or private, reflects the functioning of a loosely structured and yet sophisticated and efficient learning community. Otaku have a reputation for being asocial and for spending all day and night in front of their monitors at home - one meaning of the word otaku is "home,"leading to one translation of otaku-zoku as "the athome tribe."But the truth is that otaku spend a lot of time in face-toface interactions with fellow otaku in and around gaming arcades, hobby shops, and electronic stores. Even when they are physically Otaku pedagogy alone, at home at their computers, their learning is profoundly social; Japan, the world's vanguard postindustrial, information-and-technology- they freely and generously go online based economy, has, compared with to exchange information about both the United States, relatively few com- computers and their hobbies. Much the same is true for geeks puters in classrooms and little media education in the curriculum.To put and otaku in the United States. Katz this observation in the form of a Zen points out that just as technically koan: How can a country be among minded working-class kids a couple the world leaders in cutting-edge of generations ago learned to fix cars (not so much in vocational edutechnology and new media when media education is not part of its cation classes as by hanging around regular curriculaand its classrooms garages, reading hot-rod magazines, are not full of computers and and exchanging tips with friends), modems? A possible answer is that so geeks today acquire knowledge of computers and the Internet less Japanese geeks don't wait until they graduate from high school or college in computer classes at school than to become computer and media litby reading magazines, searching for information on the Web, and hangerate; instead they learn outside school, outside the formal education- ing out with like-minded friends, al system. Young people in Japan both face to face and online. with this out-of-school knowledge of Most of what I know about and interest in computers and popu- geek/otaku pedagogy I learned as lar culture are called the otakuthe father of an American otaku. zoku- the otaku tribe. When my son Isaac was an early Where do otaku learn to use adolescent his life revolved around Warhammer40K, a game played computers to manipulate information? Otaku and geeks are usually with miniature figures and dice,

Creating clubs and classes for alienated high school students is a good place to start. But I would call for a more radical change in the way we teach. Some geeks and otaku do well academically in school; others do not. But even those who do well find school an enormous waste of time, energy, and opportunity. One thing geeks and otaku have in common is a set of pedagogical beliefs and practices that are the antithesis of those of the typical U.S. high school. Geeks and otaku know a lot, not just about computers and popular culture but also about learning and teaching. Geek/otaku pedagogy is not something that is taught in schools of education- but it should be, for their style of learning and teaching has the potential to improve the education not just of geeks and otaku, but of all students.

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based loosely on Wagnerian plots and cosmologies, the writings of Tolkein,and the game Dungeons J.R.R. and Dragons.Isaacspent many hours a week molding and painting figures. He occasionally got together on Saturdayswith other to Warhammer-otaku play a game and compare miniatures. But the largest chunk of his time each week out of school was spent on the computer and online. Isaac spent a couple of hours a day reading and posting messages to the Warhammer listserv, keeping up with his e-mail, and working on his various WarhammerWeb sites. Much of this time was intensely pedagogical. Most of the exchanges of information between Isaac and his fellow involved seeking Warhammer-otaku and giving advice and engaging in collaborative problem solving. The Warhammercommunity was highly diverse- members of the list ranged from 10-year-old "newbies" to adult men with families and real jobs in such fields as accounting and aerospace engineering. Isaac (who is now a 20-year-old student in graphic design) has given me permission to make use of his old e-mail archives, which show that otaku are highly motivated learners and generous teachers. They disseminate informationgenerously because such sharing is part of the ethos of the computer, Web, and otaku cultures and because it gives them a chance to show off. Unlike most school settings where students compete for grades and teacher approval, otaku tend to be lavish in their praise of work they admire, direct in giving constructivecriticism,willing to admit their ignorance when they need advice, and generous about helping one another. The following examples are composites of e-mails between Isaac and Warhammer fans (pseudoare used). nyms From: Alice To:Isaac@aloha.com Re:Warhammer e-mail

DearMr.Tobin... Justcall me Isaac.I'monly 15. I'm 9- This is my firste-mail so sorry if it's a bit dodgy. Don'tworry.It'sfine. I thinkyou'reWebpages are brilliant. Thanks.Whatarmiesare you playing? I've got Space Marinesfor 40K and for SpaceMarines Epic.Sad,innit? It'snot sad, it shows your devotionto Is BTW, your nameAlice? your army! No that's me mum's name. I'm Ian. How did you know her name? You mustbe writingfromyour mother's account. Youre-mail programis automatically puttingher name in the line. You should type in your "from" line namein the "from" so people will know the e-mailis fromyou. From: Isaac@aloha.com To:Fred Re:backgrounds Greetings. I just came across your Warhammer site. Great background art!I makeWebpages myselfand I'm having trouble coming up with the rightbackgroundand I'mwondering if you could give me some advice.My Dune motif, page is a sortof Lynchian on It's withan emphasis the grotesque. tough to find a backgroundfor this content.Any ideas? I'dbe glad to help. Whatgraphicprogram(s)do you have?I make all my backgroundsin Photoshop.I usually startoff with a squarefile, about1"by inch,at 72 dpl. ThenI paintin the image. The best way to makesomething tile is to use the filtercalledoffset,and thento blendthe edges withthe smear I tool. Forthe HPL background would with somethingvery dark.Maybe go an almost abstract black and dark greenmassof tentacles. From: TheKMan To:Isaac@aloha.com I justsaw your Warhammer and I site thinkit is veryfine work.You'vegiven me some ideas I can apply to my armies.I'man electrical engineerwho has been into 40Kfromthe very start. I'm currently workingon chaptersof and Genestealers, with a Tyranids bone and crimsoncolor scheme. Are

you doing all of your painting with You mightwant to consider brushes? effects. for airbrushing some different Thanksfor the nice commentsand for I've never the tip about airbrushing. How muchwould a triedairbrushing. setup cost? You can find a single action airbrush for 50 dollarsor so. Thereare cheaper ones out there,but they aren'treliable. Checkout the Badger200. We can see from these examples that otaku tribes are genuine learning communities: The Web sites and user lists make clear to all who among the group has the most advanced knowledge in particulardomains (game rules, paintingtechniques, e-mail conventions,Web programming). When the expertise is present in the group, the members turn to one another for help. The Warhammer-otakulearning community embraces a great variety of ages and levels of knowledge and expertise. People help one another learn, crossing boundaries of age, education, and geography. This otaku learning community requires no principal, no curriculumcommittee, no registrar,no attendance sheets, no grading or testing. This learning community was not self-sufficient. When the expertise was lacking in the group, someone would go outside, get the knowledge needed, and bring it back. Isaac served as an important node in the Warhammercommunity because he had access to a computer systems specialist- our family friend, David Michaels. Isaac and David regularly exchanged e-mail messages, and the following excerpt is from an extended dialogue thread in which David gives Isaac tips on how to maneuver around his school's harsh restrictionson student use of the Internet. IsaacTobin<isaac@aloha.com> From: To:DavidMichaels aloha <dmichaels@ .com>

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and it talkedsome aboutimagemaps, Areyou going to do a good Webpage html you use to insert them, but it for them? never talks about how you designate If I couldwork out some monetary or which areaswill act as whatlink.I unthen I would make 'em an gradedeal, derstandthat it uses x/y coordinates, awesome page, but for now I don't but do you just move your mouse have enough "schoolspirit" stomto over the doc, and read the littlecoorach a school page. SorryI'm signing dinatefigureson the bottom? there Is off without a .sig, cuz I gotta delete a way to "draw" over the imregions when I am done. this program age, and say "okay,thatrectangleis a Putyour .sig on the flop you'reloadlink to page x"? from.Actually, now thatI ing Eudora You're really startingto branch out thinkof it, you could buildthe sucker into the more esotericaspectsof Web into so thatyou loadeda self-extractor a sub thatyou createdvia batch, exdesign, eh?I thinkthe map is a good idea. It will be reallyhot. You'reright pand it (with your .sig in the .exe), about the co-ordinatedisplay (as far run Eudora,then when you log out as that's the only feedback the user delete the batchwould automatically sees) so most people use some visual for everything you on the e. Something clues on the map (signs, buildings, else to think about:by doing a Web etc.). This is a bit more complicated forthemyou couldget awaywith page than I can explain via e-mail from a lot of junk!Is there anyone around work. How about I call you in the there who would know what you Or evening and we talk it through? I REALLY to supporta Webpage, need could come by and do it in real time toolwise?Get the drift? Man,Diane is if thatdoesn'twork. right.I AMa bad influence!RememX-files tober, "Question Authority!" In this, as in all Isaac's exchanges night,Dude. with David, the learning/teaching You'renot a bad influence. You'rea cycle began with a problem defined rebel! by Isaac. He tries to get the computer to do something, struggles to find n addition to learning computerto his own solution, and then writes to ock jargon and strategies for how David when he gets stuck. David alnaneuver around his school's draways plays the role of helpful but re:onian computer rules (rules that luctant (because he's busy) teacher. nake it necessary for Isaac to hide A key element of David's teaching races that he has used his school style is that he is simultaneously :omputers to check his e-mail), generous and stingy with his time: saac has learned from David inhe will make himself available only :reasingly sophisticated aspects of when he feels the problem Isaac is sveb programming. For instance,in struggling with is one that Isaac is he following exchange Isaac seeks unlikely to be able to figure out on lelp from David on image mapping, his own. Image mapping was one of vhich he needs to understandin these problems. David comes across )rderto allow users to click on images on e-mail as a busy knowledgeable than on words or buttons as ather professional, as well as a friend. hey navigatethroughhis home page. Isaac is careful not to waste David's one time- he I want to dramatically reorganize struggles to solve probof my pages, my Necromundapage, lems on his own before turning to usingan imagemapas the basiclistof David for help because, like the internallinks. The image is a map of of a magic lamp, he doesthe city in which the game takes possessor n't want to waste any of his allotted place. I have the image all scanned and cropped, and most of the sub- wishes. In other words, David and Isaac's pages made up. Now I just need to make the image map and tie it all to- teacher-student relationship is the gether.I checkedout the Netscapesite antithesis of most high school

teacher-student relationships. Isaac sets the problem. Isaac decides when class is in session. Isaac decides the scope and sequence of what he learns, although David sometimes gives him advice about setting a long-range course of study: I've been thinkingabout your situation and if I were you I'd take some time to teach yourself some C++ or because it will put you in betPERL, ter shape for when you get into Java down the road. programming Unlike high school, David never sets due dates. He never grades. He never tries to teach Isaac anything Isaac doesn't want to learn. He never initiates a lesson.

Where does all of this leave us media educators?How about with another Zen koan and answer: How do we professional educators teach young people to use cutting-edge media? By not teaching it. We can teach students to master cyberculture by getting out of the way in the classroom and inviting them to teach us and one another. We can best teach our high school students to become producers rather than just consumers of cyberculture by letting them out of high school sooner, and more often, into apprenticeships with people who really know what they are doing. We media educators need to accept that we are not the key players in media literacy. Schools, with their budget problems, cumbersome purchasing procedures, technophobic staff, and morally panicked parent groups, can't keep up with the new technology. Inevitably, the equipment and textbooks in schools are made to teach last year's new media. It is not just a problem of equipment and books, but of professional knowledge as well. Most teachers know best what they learned when they were in college.

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Witheach year of tenurein their schools, they riskfallinganother This is year behind professionally. even more of a problemfor computerand mediainstructors. Thereare instances,of course, where studentslearnto use the Internet computersat school. and hunchis thatin these situations My much teachersand studentsinteract as Davidand Isaacdo. The students pose the problemsand pursuetheir and The teachersfacilitate interests. learnalongsidetheirstudents.They don'tstickto an orderlycurriculum. time, dragThey don'tfill students' ging out lessons. I suspectthatsuch not teachersare rare,but certainly nonexistent.Mypoint is not to criticize teachersor to suggestthatit is

theirfaultthatthey aren'tdoing more and bettermediaeducation. I've Rather, triedto explainwhy I believe thatmost teachersare neitherwell suitednor situatedto be learning. key playersin cyberculture of the To understand acquisition we mediaand computerliteracy, need to shiftour focus to nodes and networksof learningthatfunction and outsidethe parameters vision of formalschooling. In closing I would suggestthat we educatorsshould thinkabout

employingotakupedagogynot only for mediateaching,but throughout Couldstudentslearn the curriculum. history,languagearts,and maththe way geeks and otakulearnabout and Webprogramming Warhammer? of with teaches theCollege Tobin ofHawaii atthe Education University and Education ofTeacher (Department 1776 Curriculum Wist Studies, Annex, HI Honolulu,96822, Avenue, University USA).

Reader comments thiscolumn welcome. on are E-mail: cynthia-lewis@uiowa.edu. Mail: of Division Curriculum of &Instruction, N276 Lewis, Cynthia University Iowa, Iowa IA USA. Center, City, 52242-1529, Lindquist

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