So what are we?

[mattx]

@Mattx

 

Have you read Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet: Amazon.co.uk: Katie Hafner, Matthew Lyon: Books ? A good read if you fancy it.

 

Read that twice !! A good read - loved the story behind E-mail.

 

Some other good ones:

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Steven-Levy/dp/0141000511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260313499&sr=1-1]Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution: Amazon.co.uk: Steven Levy: Books[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp/0887306292/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260313156&sr=1-5]Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire: Amazon.co.uk: James Wallace, Jim Erickson: Books[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Culture/dp/0749924896/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260313195&sr=1-6]Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture: Amazon.co.uk: David Kushner: Books[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smartbomb-Quest-Entertainment-Videogame-Revolution/dp/1565125452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260313226&sr=1-1]Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution: Amazon.co.uk: Heather Chaplin, Aaron Ruby: Books[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-History-Video-Games/dp/0761536434/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c]The Ultimate History of Video Games: Amazon.co.uk: Steven L. Kent: Books[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joystick-Nation-J-C-Herz/dp/0349107238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260313265&sr=1-1]Joystick Nation: Amazon.co.uk: J.C. Herz: Books[/ame]

 

And just to break that up - last week I read:

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rude-Kids-Unfeasible-Story-Viz/dp/0007190964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260313409&sr=1-1]Rude Kids: The Unfeasible Story of "Viz": Amazon.co.uk: Chris Donald: Books[/ame]

 

Which is pant wetting funny.......[ I grew up with Viz ]

Edited December 8, 2009 by mattx

[mattx]

Mattx , your posts are entertaining, controversial, and at times unreal, these are things that keep forums ticking chap , IT or ICT is not just the problems in technology but also the fun in technology which I think you harness bud once thats gone IT becomes boring

 

Unreal posts ? Me ? Naaaaaaa....

[GrumbleDook]

Ok ... one I missed of my list ... EG is also a Book Club.

 

Really EG is a community that get together to share, discuss, advise, heatedly discuss, develop and primarily via online means such as the forum, wiki, IM, PM but also by phone, F2F, conferences, and local meets. The main areas are relevant to IT support and Management, mainly in the education sector but relevant to many others (including banking, health care, HM Forces, etc). Although based and originally targeting the UK, it now covers anywhere in the world that has a net connection (and can read or translate from English I suppose).

[vikpaw]

@Dos_Box:

 

What about "The IT Oracle" a fountain of professional IT wisdom in a box.

 

that a definition of Grumbledook, not the whole of EduGeek, the collective is even better than that!

[vikpaw]

@mattx / grumbledook et al - read Underground ? free ebook, really good history of the origins of hacking.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_(book)

[vikpaw]

 

What i said to some people at BETT:

 

"An online IT community working specifically for educational professionals, providing support and expertise completely free of charge."

 

It might be good to add, something about ' over 20,000 users representing x thousand schools in the UK and overseas and y of the top 20 IT companies '

 

That should capture anyone's attention.

Edited December 9, 2009 by vikpaw
apostrophe

[leco]

@Vikpaw

That does explain EduGeek certainly, but to marketing/sales people doesn't explain that the service is for and by members of the community. Which then deepens the perplexity of just why those members should give so freely of, what is a chargeable and marketable commodity, namely their expertise and experiences.

 

Me, I'm just glad it's here, the community strap line says it all - but then I would say that:D

[vikpaw]

@leco - granted, but, succintly that should be enough to encourage anyone interested party to ask for more info along whatever lines they are thinking. a sales person is going to suffer from tunnel vision and not be too bothered about who it's for or by, but you can get their attention by mentioning the other top names, and the sheer numbers of users they can access.

 

perhaps we could add in a word like "co-operative", even though we don't all own a share.

[witch]

Well, that's mrwITch's Christmas presents sorted!

What is Edugeek?

Magic!

[featured_spectre]

Educational

Dynamic

Unprejudiced (towards non IT folks)

Glorious

Esoteric

Eccentric

Knowledgeable

[dalsoth]

The sales side of things or how the sales/marketing people relate to the site is not really something i worry about. I guess that is for the guys who run the site to do the worrying in order to pay their bills and wages. On the other hand though, the commercial deals also add options for some who like to communicate with their suppliers through the forum. Not how i work myself but definitely works for some on here by the rave reviews about certain sales people.

 

I think Edugeek is a success because the access to like minded technical people is freely available and would not work under a subscription based approach. The beauty of it is that people come here with no strings and can contribute or not. The site will prosper because even lurkers will pass on details to friends and colleagues.

 

I guess i am saying there is an Edugeek from the school techies point of view and how they see it and also an Edugeek from a commercial point of view. I like the techies side myself. I do not think of it as an organisation or something that i work or belong to. To me it is a great place to read some moans and grumbles when you are feeling stressed yourself and it makes you realise you are not alone. Problems shared and all that.

 

Strapline is good though "The educational IT professionals life line".

[elsiegee40]

Ok ... one I missed of my list ... EG is also a Book Club.

 

... GD... where else do we come for advice about ironing too!

[alan-d]

As Winston Churchill once said;

 

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in Classrooms,

we shall fight in the corridors and passages,

we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the server room, we shall defend our network, whatever the cost may be,

we shall fight in the ICT Suites,

we shall fight on the offices,

we shall fight on the playing fields and in the playground,

we shall fight in the forums;

we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this web site or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the classrooms, armed and guarded by the IT Technicians, would carry on the struggle, until, in Edugeeks's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

 

 

and of course the famous;

 

Never in the field of IT conflict was so much owed by so many users to so few technicians.

 

[GREED]

"The hidy-hole for people who should be fixing computers..."

 

 

 

 

 

... where's my prize?

[john]

We are actually catching them up in the net rankings! They are 24,547 and we are 39,287, we were 120,000-ish this time last year.

We're actually now at 39,244 so Firefox tells me Go growth!!

 

I must admit I found it hard to explain to my place what it was, we are so many things, but all I know is were great (oh rats thats taken already ) I know that I wouldn't be without Edugeek its certainly a life line on many things.

[contink]

Members come to seek IT advice and help re: education

They stay to provide advice and help on stuff they know

They keep hearing this weird hotel California tune every time they try to shutdown the browser

 

Rinse and repeat.

[mac_shinobi]

Could be wrong but I think the real question is what aren't we ?

 

I would say that its for educational IT people to exchange information / knowledge through a forum hence edugeek ( for the most part ) as obviously there are people like myself who don't work for edu sector anymore.

 

How's that ?

[Domino]

I thought we made mugs with humorous phrases on....?

[bossman]

I thought we made mugs with humorous phrases on....?

 

Nah "we are mugs" who have a notion to write "humorous phrases" to expel the myth that all computer geeks are "Humourless" hehe!!

[Dos_Box]

Playing devil advocate for a moment though. If you were to take the forums out of the equation what would be left of interest on this site?

 

Good question, and one that you in the US don't get to see much of. EduGeek is far bigger than just the forums and the site. We provide advice and guidence on educational IT matters toi the UK govt via various departments and quangos, we host free evenst throughout the year for our members and we write magazine articles to help our fellow professionals. We provide a valubel link between industry and the education sector with close links to all of the major IT companies. You are quite new to EduGeek, and you will find after a while that we work in subtle ways over large areas. The forums are just a front end to this, and with teh BETT show coming up it allows us the opportunity to buy our members pizza, meals and beer as well as just saying 'Thank you' to them when they pop by the stand.

We hope to be getting more involved in the States over the coming year, but boy! Is it a hard place to get people to interact with us from. With over half of our international traffic coming from there it is just so hard to get regulars on the site! It seems that they are suspicious of free things and sites that don't pimp their personal info to the highest bidder!

[ahuxham]

Good question, and one that you in the US don't get to see much of. EduGeek is far bigger than just the forums and the site. We provide advice and guidence on educational IT matters toi the UK govt via various departments and quangos, we host free evenst throughout the year for our members and we write magazine articles to help our fellow professionals. We provide a valubel link between industry and the education sector with close links to all of the major IT companies. You are quite new to EduGeek, and you will find after a while that we work in subtle ways over large areas. The forums are just a front end to this, and with teh BETT show coming up it allows us the opportunity to buy our members pizza, meals and beer as well as just saying 'Thank you' to them when they pop by the stand.

We hope to be getting more involved in the States over the coming year, but boy! Is it a hard place to get people to interact with us from. With over half of our international traffic coming from there it is just so hard to get regulars on the site! It seems that they are suspicious of free things and sites that don't pimp their personal info to the highest bidder!

 

Or they just don't like our sense of humour!