Jan 25

To Geek Or Not To Geek: questions de positionnement

Geekeries, Journal d'une Rêveuse 4 Comments »

Ce billet aurait pu être titré De l’importance d’avoir des amis geeks. Plongée comme je le suis en semaine dans mon petit quotidien – métro, boulot, métro, Facebook, Twitter, Blog post, Twitter, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Facebook, Maxime Chattam, Twitter, etc. jusqu’à ce que mort neuronale et dodo s’ensuive – j’en oublie presque ce que ça fait de passer du temps avec des gens qui ne baignent pas dans ce flux incessant d’informations.

Ce week-end faisait donc parti de ces moments que je passe en compagnie de personnes exclusivement non-geek (la famille ne compte pas: on fait preuve d’indulgence; fracture générationnelle, tout ça; et beaucoup de mes amis travaille dans la communication et le web). De ces gens de notre âge (disons, moins de 30 ans) qui n’ont pas de Twitter, pas de console, ne connaissent pas “mer il et fou” et certains n’ont même pas de profil Facebook – mon Dieu mais que font-ils de leur temps libre?

Blague à part, je me suis sentie, en quelque sorte, presque seule: moi qui tends vers un idéal de geekitude cool (lorsque “geek” ne signifie pas “sans amis” mais “2.0 fluent”), moi qui complexe car j’ai le sentiment que je n’en connaîtrai jamais assez sur ce domaine et travaille d’arrache-pied pour combler mes lacunes, je me suis rendu compte que finalement, aux yeux du béotien 1.0, je faisais partie de cette communauté sans avoir même à faire d’effort. Au début, c’est presque une revendication identitaire (pour moi, ça l’est: je ne suis pas la pétasse à diplôme en marketing que tu croises tous les jours: je suis une pétasse marketing qui lit, écrit, a une vie sociale et ne gère pas trop mal sur un ordinateur, pour une fille). Les 25 premières blagues et remarques ironiques sur Twitter et autres sont marrantes, les 25 suivantes sont un peu plus lourdes à porter, surtout lorsque tu entends pour la cinquième fois dès que tu sors ton iPhone pour checker un mail “Tu parles à tes vrais amis?” (NDLR: sans rancune).

Ce week-end, j’étais la geek de service, et j’ai eu du mal à assumer. Honte à moi.

Puis j’ai réfléchi (cela m’arrive, parfois) et je me suis rendu compte que le mot “geek” avait perdu de son sens et ne signifiait, au final, plus grand-chose. Question de point de vue. Il y a 20 ans, un geek était un mec qui savait envoyer un e-mail. Aujourd’hui, ça veut dire quoi? Les deux tiers des français ont internet. 80% des jeunes ont un compte Facebook. Où est la frontière entre la geekitude et la non-geekitude? La détention d’un compte Twitter (9% des internautes, donc)? Un métier dans le web? …Des lunettes?

Ou alors faut-il se positionner: tout ou rien, réfractaire à toute forme de technologie ou asocial linuxien? Non, je ne suis pas d’accord. Michael Porter, père du marketing stratégique, peut se retourner dans sa tombe (enfin pas vraiment, puisqu’il n’est pas décédé), mais j’aime et revendique cette polyvalence et je ne choisirai pas l’un ou l’autre extrême. Je ne joue pas aux MMORPG, je sors le week-end – OU PAS, je lis des hors-série Les dossiers de la science spécial Internet, je lis des vrais livres, j’écris sur Twitter – OU PAS. J’observe le web tous les jours, et je vois surgir de plus en plus de gens comme moi, des gens in the middle. Vie sociale et web 2.0, c’est possible.

Un peu de curiosité, et stop aux clichés.

Nov 28

Why Twitter Is Cool

Geekeries No Comments »

twitter-logo.1254908788I have been on Twitter for about six weeks now and thought I would share my beginner’s experience. I used to think that Facebook was largely enough to keep contact with friends and acquaintances, as well as knowing what they are up to – and frankly, I don’t need to know they are having coffee or feeding the cat or going to the bathroom. Because this is how Twitter used to advertise and position its service: “keep in touch and know what you friends and families are up to”. Now, it is gradually changing to “instantly know what it going on in the world right now”. And actually, that is exactly why Twitter is so addictive.

I started as a noob on Twitter, only with experience from other social media in my luggage (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Second Life…) and discovered a whole new world and way of expression. Because they can only express themselves in 140 characters, people have invented their language, just like texters before them: abbreviations, “hashtags“, shortened links… It took some while to get used to the etiquette ruling Twitter.

But coming to my point. I read this article where the guy complained that Twitter was made cool by a small community of elitist journalists and bloggers who created a buzz around it because they were the ones transferring the information. I actually agree with him but would not complain. True, most people who really use Twitter are journalists and blogger, butthat is what makes it so interesting. If you start spending a little time there you realize (if following the right people) that you have access to so much information, and live most of the time!

So I began exploring the links posted by all of those people: because the real interest of Twitter is not knowing what strangers are doing right now at an individual level, but the information they post about trands, live news, interesting facts and articles. Because that information is passed on through retwitting, it spreads like a bush fire and reaches the whole community within a couple of minutes.

Twitter is awesome for people for work in journalism, PR, advertising, marketing, and in the Web. And also, for curious people who like to learn. And people who want to look cool because they are so 2.0. But, like with all other social media, careful with addiction…

Nov 23

Southparkize Me

Geekeries, Trucs utiles 2 Comments »
Sometimes I wonder why I leave the agency a half-hour later even though all my work is done – truth is, it’s one of the the magical effects of having a computer at work when you are addicted to (very) silly websites such as the South Park Studio.
And when it’s the end of the day and you have been reading financial – among others – newspapers all day and writing about private banking, well, you lose a few brain cells, which leads you to this kind of things (yes, that is meant to be me, and it’s from last Friday, around 7PM, which explains the eyes – but not the laser saber and the bikini. Hum.):
Oh come on, you know you want to try it too.
Oct 20

Should you find a Death Note…

Geekeries, J'aime, j'aime pas 1 Comment »
…what would you do?
Here’s another one of my weird addictions I am willing to decipher as Takeshi Obata’s (also author of Hikaru No Go) Death Note phenomenon has so far made more that 20 million “victims” all over the world. The manga series was a best-seller, several adaptation were created between 2006 and 2008 (anime, three movies…) and more are expected.
The story is about Light Yagami, a 17 year-old student who finds a notebook dropped on purpose by a bored-to-death Death God. Light discovers he has the power of killing people by writing their names in the Death Note and decides to use it in order to rid the world of criminals. However, he slowly falls into a spiral of death and murders, blinded by his own power and somehow trapped by the rules of the Death Note. Keeping his identity secret, he gets known around the world as Kira (“killer”, with a Japanese pronunciation), and is searched by Interpol, and in particular, a brilliant detective only known as “L”, who becomes his nemesis.
An interesting character is the previous owner of the notebook, Death God Ryuk, as he generally remains impartial. While L and Kira are intellectually battling to death, like the two players of a lethal chess game involving the whole humanity, Ryuk is hardly involved himself and kills his boredom thanks to the disturbances created by his Death Note. This amusing character leads me to think that death is considered as natural; in the manga: neither good nor bad, if decided by the Death Gods; however, it becomes controversial when decided by a human being.
Indeed, one of the crucial issues raised during the story is the legitimacy of Kira’s power to decide who gets to live or die, even if his initial motive is a quest for justice in this world. He first writes in his notebook the names of murderers who are either searched by the police or already in prison. A few weeks after he begins his “mission”, the crime rate has fallen drastically over the world and especially in Japan, which raises a powerful debate among people and even those who are searching for him: is he right to do so or is he a criminal himself? Is he the saviour of humanity, bringing peace to the world, or a deranged psychopath obsessed with power? I am pretty sure that part of Death Note‘s success is due to such a controversy (added to breathtaking suspense and charismatic characters) which brings us all to wonder what we would decide in Light’s situation. I know I do.
(For absolutely no spoilers, watch the official trailer here. If you are more curious, here‘s a non-official but pretty good trailer – in my opinion. )
Oct 17

48 hours a day

Geekeries, J'aime, j'aime pas 5 Comments »
Now Second Life is a tricky place. I have known it for about 9 months now and still can’t figure it out.
I tried it out last February; I had seen its name in several marketing articles and decided to have a look – pure professional curiosity (honestly). And did become addicted for several months, just enough to experience the true nature of it and see what it can do to people. Now I’ve grown passed it and gained some perspective about it, I tend to wonder what it is about this this place that makes it so addictive to some people (and from the very first days).
The principle of the game (“oooh, it’s not a game!” some might say) is about creating a character – called avatar – customizing it and evolving in this alternative world, meeting other avatars – behind which are also real people. You can get stuff (clothes, hair, eyes, but also cars, houses, pretty much everything) for free or pay for them if you want to look cool.
OK, first thing. Look cool. What is that supposed to mean? It’s a game, it’s all fictional, why does it matter so much to look cool when you are but a bunch of pixels? Well you might say the avatar you create – and not only its appearance but also its personality – is not a mirror of who you are but who you wish you were. Somehow I believe what an avatar looks like really does say about the person behind it. So when you think about it, it is not so stupid to find some of them attractive and some others… regular.
OK, second thing – did I say attractive? Boy, that’s crazy. Again, how is a bunch of pixels supposed to attract anyone? There lies to power of the human mind and imagination. The sex industry is just huge in this place. I will never get it. If your female avatar is “attractive”, I can guarantee you will get hit on. For sex. (oh yeah, you can do that too on Second Life). That’s right. But this is not the only aspect of it. I keep thinking of that woman who divorced her husband because he had another partner on SL. The tricky thing about a virtual world is the notion of right and wrong, when is it harmless flirting or friendship and when does it become cheating? When you fantasize about another person and do nothing about it, is it considered as cheating? When you dream about another person, is it considered as cheating? Unfortunately, this kind of logic is stretched out and you will find a lot of married people who are partnered to someone else in the game. Kind of like “If I cheat on him/her in another country, it doesn’t count” or “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. And then, “everyone does it here so it’s not so bad”. But it is all virtual. I still don’t know what to think about it. I am puzzled. It is so easy to judge when you have never experienced how messed up your mind gets in this ideal world where almost everything is controlable.
Last thing, Second Life is about social interaction. I said it was about who you wish you were but the second dimension is the role of your friends. Question: why are there so many bloody vampires on SL? The answer is simple. Ok, Twilight fans might have invaded the place. Ok, people like a challenge but it’s not great role-playing to be honest. A pair of fangs and gothic clothes, you belong to a clan, you convert other people to gain their soul and the more souls you get, the higher your status is in the clan. Quite simple. Ha! Clan. Status. Interesting. The first thing about that vampire phenomenon is belonging to a clan. Coven. Family. Pack (if you are a werewolf). Whatever you call it. And gaining status, evolving among a group of people, becoming someone.
My theory is that in most cases SL is not really about meeting people and having fun. Well, yes, it is about that too, and I know you do experience real feelings, powerful emotions, and make real friends there. But the main point is to be that someone you want to be, and have this “idealized you” reflected in your virtual friends’ (family? contacts? strangers?…) opinion of you. It’s all egocentric. Not judging, since this last statement is also based on my own experience of it. But I am being honest about it.
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