Comments on: Because We Are Geeks

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bah! That means I’m not a proper geek then. My work mug says “Happy Father’s Day” an has my older son’s hand print on it. It never goes in the washing machine and no-one else drinks from it (on pain of death).

(But then I can count up to 31 on the fingers of one hand, so I suppose I’m not completely average yet.)

Why do non-geeks buy things? Because they meet a need, same as with geeks. It’s just that non-geeks have different needs (fortunately, otherwise 75% of the UK economy would be in coffee and pizza production). Geeks needs are often for toys, particularly complex, hackable etc. toys that present an intellectual challenge.

Non-geeks needs? Errrr that’s rather huge, but’s it’s generally NOT complex hackable toys.

By: Andrew Brown

Andrew Brown — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

when it coems down to softare, you ask them. Sometimes I think that Microsoft’s great discovery was the usability lab, a way for geeks to notice — to be forced to notice — what ungeeks want from software which always turns out to be stuff that the geek cannot imagine. The trouble is that we tend to think the difficulty is all one way: that it is hard to figure out how something works when we only know how it looks. In fact, as any software designer will tell you, it’s almost as hard to tell how something looks to the ignornant when we understand how it works. But it is the ignorant for whom it should be designed.

By: Dan Moore

Dan Moore — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Let me get this straight. You’re asking the folks who read your blog (who are a bunch of geeks, given the content of your blog) to tell you “why … non-geeks buy things”? Aren’t you looking in the wrong place?

Seriously, this is what market research firms are for. We can theorize all day about why Aunt Millie has 300 beanie babies and is still buying more, but the only way to find out is to ask the Aunt Millies.

By: David Engel

David Engel — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t want to try ursurping a phrase, but a friend recently told me of a common phrase in her mountain biking club, and I think it fits for a lot of geeks.

We all have G.A.S. — Gear Acquisition Syndrome. The need to get more stuff.

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll add to that. Theres GAS, and then theres MMS
Make More Stuff. I think thats a sign of a geek. He likes to make his own Website, his own string handling function, his own geekys stuff.

I have M.A.S

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Actually, if you want to know why the two sides think differently and how to overcome that in your products, read Alan Cooper’s excellent book, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum[0].

He lays out an incredibly simple “persona” system for designing products that is very logical, even to an admitted geek like me. If you read this book and really understand it, you’ll never look at design the same way again.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672316498/102-8247511-7713769?v=glance

By: lucy

lucy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Not everyone reading this site is a geek I’ll have you know! and not everyone working in IT is either…some of us just want to be able to translate between ‘average’ users and developers. It’s bloody difficult sometimes but possible. To understand how to develop for non-geeks you need to get one of those rare people who can see what tech can do for organisations and consumers but isn’t sidetracked by extra features etc. Like me!

By: clock -- watching time, the only true currency

clock -- watching time, the only true currency — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Links4Me
Because We Are Geeks [via Simon ] Disrupting the News Industry – webcast of UC Berkeley Journalism panel I missed, but I’m listening now Switching from Movable Type – WordPress is listed as a competitor, and Eric Meyer has switched Rich Internet Applicati

By: Canned !! -- my Atropine

Canned !! -- my Atropine — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

u a GEEK??
Via Simon, Meri Williams has keyed a great post which goes by the name Because We Are Geeks, in which she tells what sets GEEKS & Rest of the World apart. What I get from it is that GEEKS are those who’ve been fascinated by technology just be…

By: KyleM.xwell

KyleM.xwell — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What makes a geek?
Meri Williams asks (via Simon Incutio) why some of us are attracted to technology for its own sake. There are a lot of potential answers, but I think that the real answer goes deeper than that: it’s the search for real, hard knowledge. Not that coffee mug