There’s always room for Jelly

Prelude

“Stand not between the dragon and his wrath”

King Lear, Act 1

What do you mean

What do you mean non-commercial internet?

(Shock! Horror! Incomprehension!)

NGO Stuff…?

Open Source- Creative Commons Stuff…?

Periklis reminded me he’d like me to say a few words despite my not being sure of what I’d like to say (Photo of Periklis Vanikiotis)

He said: Whatever catches your fancy on the web. Just keep it Non-commercial

What caught my eye, in a non-commercial sense, was an irritant.

Specifically,

The near dreadful, in my eyes, state of the web in Greece.

Therefore the title of my presentation is:

“Why we need to corrupt a Generation”

State of the situation: Allow me to start with a cab driver level rant.

Greeks consume the web

We’re not even great consumers. Just spent 2 days in Europe getting depressed by seeing elderly Portuguese run around with iPads and Kindles

Are there exceptions?

• Of course!

But not even close to making a dent in the statistical curve and reality.

The internet for most Greeks is…

“The Greek National LAN” (trademark Eric Parks 2010)

What’s to blame?

A billion things.

Starting from 1453 (if not before) onwards. Everybody has his theory. Pick one. I’m not touching the Why here.

One thing though… One observation…Look around you. This web savvy crowd

we have.

What’s missing?

Dwarves, elves and wizards are missing. (as per Neal Stephenson)

We’re missing in Greece

A strong subculture of coders who not only code but “Speak Code”.

Who Live the Code of the Code.

Whose culture is code. NOT necessarily programmersThis is a cultural thing.

I submit this is a problem

This is doubly a problem because even here most of us are in reality…

«Παπάδες»

There’s nothing wrong with having Παπάδες

It’s necessary. It provides a conduit and a frame of reference for technology to go ahead.

It provides guidance. Leadership even.

But Παπάδες will not change the culture in Greece

Παπάδες will probably not shake the world.

We need to “Corrupt” a generation

We need to help a new subculture take root.

We need to assist “Geeks” and “Nerds” with all of our might.

The Japanese have a word:

OTAKU

Otaku is not a kind word.

What is missing in Greece is a subculture that that is vibrant elsewhere –if shunned- in the world.

Our society needs Bohemias, subcultures because…

“Bohemias/ subcultures are where societies go to dream” (William Gibson)

Our society needs to dream.

Subcultures that have- Different music- Different clothing- Different –challenging authority-

morality.

We already have a couple of weird subcultures anyway.

Κάγκουρας.

We need to encourage geek culture.

Period.

So we need an OTAKU revolution? You can’t order up a subculture

Correct. But we can encourage themSo here we take a page from:

The Catholic Church – “Give them young and I will make them mine”

Big Brothers, Big Sisters - Mentoring

Let’s find them where they are.

Role-playing games festivals LARPingDrawing stuff in deviant artAt manga shopsMaking up clans in WOW

Being –seemingly- unproductive in their lives.

And let’s encourage them. Provide a focus.

Mentor them

Mentor themMentor themMentor themMentor themMentor them!

Let us provide a safe haven for geekiness to grow.

If we do this,

If we corrupt them by encouraging a new subculture to grow…

They will change everything.

And since the only direction is up as Παπάδες, it’ll be good for the Soul.

Thanks!