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The Geek Renaissance: The Revival of an Identity

The term “geek” is a word previously reserved for ridicule. Today this is changing and a new culture is taking back this label in a positive way. We recently sat down with Center for Talent Development (CTD) associate director Eric Calvert to discuss this shift and how it can affect a student’s overall talent development.

Prior to delving into a conversation about the recent “Geek Renaissance”, a term coined by Dr. Calvert and a colleague, Ola Skyba, we wanted to get a better handle on how a talent development model works. Calvert explained that talent development models are very comprehensive, but it is important to note that development of early potential and interests into high-level accomplishments depends on many factors. Calvert added, “To reach high levels of accomplishment, people need to connect with peers who encourage and challenge them, coaches who can help them acquire and practice critical techniques, and mentors who can provide guidance and help open doors.”

Calvert and Skyba recently gave a presentation at the Ohio Association for Gifted Children (OAGC) annual conference, titled “Geeking Out Online: How Tech Savvy Youth Use the Web to Develop Talent.” We asked Calvert to expand upon the new meaning of the word geek, how it has developed a new appeal, and how the Internet has played an integral role. “In the past, geeks were seen as ‘weird’ because they were into things that often weren’t considered cool or popular,” Calvert explained. “Today people are using the web to connect within communities built around shared interest. So we see kids who a generation ago wouldn’t encounter people in their local community to encourage their interests in niche or (then) uncool topics, now being able to find people who are just as excited and interested in the same topics”. As a result of this shift we aren’t seeing students have to choose between a love for a certain topic and having friends, nearly as often. Calvert adds that this “Geek Renaissance” refers both to the emergence and rapid growth of traditionally “geeky” fields, as well as a more fulfilling and happier era for those individuals now connecting with others just as passionate about these fields.

In their presentation, Calvert and Skyba provide insight into the term “geeking out” by tying the activity to an affinity for some topic or field. This goes beyond passive interest to developing an identity around the interest itself. We were interested to learn more about how this new identity can aid student development. Calvert sited three important factors:

  1. Providing access to greater expertise, mentors, ideas, and resources
  2. Providing social reinforcement—interests not valued locally may be prized and praised within a virtual community
  3. Developing practices that that encourage talent development, such as persisting through challenges, pursuing learning on their own, and seeking feedback and guidance from others.

It is clear the definition of geek has changed and we can see how access to communities of like-minded thinkers can enhance a child’s education and experience. We closed by asking Dr. Calvert how this trend will affect curriculum moving forward and asked him to further describe his vision for, as he puts it, geek education. “We should do more to help students become aware of the cultures that all living fields have. We think there could also be benefits to deliberately bringing students, potential peers, and mentors into the same spaces. For example, here at CTD we’re building online communities for our students who are spread all over the world, creating interest-based group activities for students with similar abilities and interests to allow them to come in contact with one another. The point isn’t to deliver a structured, sequenced curriculum as we do in our courses, but rather to create potential for networking, which will help students begin to organically learn the culture and vocabulary of people within their talent domains and forge some ties that will encourage them to geek out now and perhaps find a pathway for the future.”

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