Geek Centric States: The beginning

A recent survey of geekiness was made by Estately, a map centric website. I posted it to a forum for friends to laugh at. They brought up good questions, and I think it is worth discussing.

The first question was why not use some other forms of geekery, or nerdiness than the ones shown. For example schroedingers cat, pi, and the Elemental Chart could just as easily be researched. One of the big complainers was an Engineer living in a state that is considered decidedly ungeeky. I told him that he was just being a sore loser -because he is- but in all honesty, it does deserve another bit of research.

It also shows that perhaps the known geek items are moving slowly inward in the country. As an example, the same website that talked about nerdiness, also did Douchebags. If you look at that chart, you realize that many of the geeky spots, are also not represented by douchebags. Those who have ever had to deal with A-Hole Hipsters would beg to disagree. A commentor on the douchiness of his state said that much of the music being played, and style being promoted where he lived fit the stereotypical douchebag things. The reality was that the other cultural items hadn’t entered in yet.

Just because a place is considered geeky, does not mean it is smart. For example, Washington, where I live right now, has just lost its waiver from No Child Left Behind. There could be people who love Doctor Who, but are illiterate. This goes against the Washington cultural promotion, of someone writing/reading a book in a coffee shop.

What is also interesting, is that within another search, many of the same states with the most geeks, also have the most pride. The Top states in fact are about even. Utah and Alaska are the first two, just switched. Could it be that Geekiness may have a connection to pride in the stereotyping of your own state? Once again, look at the bottom of the list, and then see the correlation on geekiness.

I actually went out today, to find places that would attract geeks, and nerds. I found people dressed up as their favorite characters, playing games, and chatting with each other. Heck, I met a fellow anthropologist in a comic shop. She studies female identity in comics culture, which is something I only claim to understand. That was awesome.

There are a lot of problems, and questions about the survey, and I suspect there will be many more articles on it. To be honest though, I need to do some catching up with other articles I have been working on. Also, while doing my research today, I saw some troubling signs. I will explain them a bit later. The short answer is that the North Town Mall, where many a geek store lives, seems to be suffering a bit. The geeky shops are doing well, while others are closing up.

Needless to say is to first explain Utah, and how it can be so geeky. Then go into Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to explain how they are so nerd friendly. Then an attempt to find similarities. Finally, I will be asking folks in the non geeky states if they have such things. I suspect they do, but in specific spots. Sort of like having 2-3 coffee shops in a town, instead of having one at every corner in Seattle. That’s not an exaggeration by the way.

Either way, I have to go make curtain call. Ciao!