Wonderosity

(From original “GeekingOutLoud.com” site)

“Next please.” “Hello, my name is Leif Hansen and I’m a geekaholic.” Have been for about 25 years. Throughout those years, technology, particularly computers and the net, has been something I’ve taken great pleasure in and yet deeply struggled with -more on that confession later. I’ve been involved in the tech industry off and on since 1993, primarily as a one-on-one “computer coach”, but also consulting with companies ranging from RealNetworks to various non-profits like my most recent social-media consulting with Interfaith Youth Corps. I’m involved in other geeky projects as well, like my most recent passion -podcasting. Portals to all of the projects in my Geekdom can be found at www.wonderosity.com (Ad Voice: “Where curiosity turns to wonder…”)It seems like a good idea to state straight up why I thought I’d start this blog:

1. I love to research, explore and test out new technology. Why not share what I’m learning with others? I primarily tend to test out information and communication software (usually free), but you never know what you might find here. There are many blogs with this emphasis, so I think the following two ‘blogoals’ will make Geeking Out Loud a little more unique. Category = Tech Reviews
2. By staying true to my struggle between technophelia and neo-luddism, friends and clients have helped me to realize that I’ve gained a fair amount of knowledge and *some* wisdom about using technology. I’d like to be able to freely share some of those helpful tech-tips with others (the most powerful tips are ones that I am actually living out, not just theorizing about.) The idea here is technological empowerment in both personal productivity and wise technological choices that can help us to be better stewards of our time, energy, relationships and planet. Category = Tech Tips.
3. Lastly, I’m a pretty honest and transparent person. I figured that if I journaled some of my thoughts and struggles publicly, others might be able to relate, feel a little less lonely, and perhaps even find some help. Unintentionally, this has already naturally happened quite a bit in the past, like when I shared about ’screen addiction’ on a Pocket PC forum, or when I talked about it during a podcast. So, I hope my public struggling comes to help some of you as well. If not, at least it will still be an opportunity for me to do some good thinking about technology and how to best use it. Category = SkepTech

A little more on the aforementioned confessions of struggling with technology: Its amazing, if and when you think about it, how much has changed in our culture in the past 10 years (such a *tiny* piece of human history!) Yet imagine daily life today without something like the net! We have become radically dependent both personally and societally on technology -from the simple morning alarm that wakes us to the ipod-synchronized podcast story that lulls us to sleep. The state of technology’s present primacy in human life is where most of my concerns have arisen: Can technology maintain such a dominant role without eroding core aspects of what it means to be human? I won’t explore that question more now, but if your curiosity or conscience is feeling a tug, then check out my paper “The Ring, The Stone & The Pool: Exploring nature of technology through the magic within Tolkien’s myth” and it’s bibliography, containing authors like Jacques Ellul, JRR Tolkien, Neil Postman, and Wendel Berry –each of whom has profoundly effected my thinking. However, I must add that I read Steve Johnson’s “Everything Bad is good for you:How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter” this summer and it challenged and changed some of my beliefs enough to make we wonder how many of my other technological concerns are misfounded: perhaps we are simply in a technological adolescence. If so, I hope that my geeking out loud can play a small part in helping us to grow up, while, of course, having fun in the process.