Nxt Blog Index
April 25, 2008
ROFLCon: Get Fame, Get Paid?

First session of the afternoon just wrapped up and I'm still digesting all the geekery and chumminess around this place.
Although I know almost no one here, walking around feels like you're at a party with a bunch of friends or acquaintances.

And I'm sorry I can't keep typing, "Chocolate Rain" just started playing somewhere though the halls and people are singing along.

"They're rainrolling us," says a guy next to me.

Also, as I type just a few feet away from someone is filming a segment for Geek Entertainment TV with David Weinberger.

The earlier panel on Interweb Fame with Kyle MacDonald, Joe Mathlete, Ian Spector, Andrew Michael Baron, and Andy Ochiltree, was candid, funny and strangely deep for a short period.

While most of the discussion centered on the different paths each of the panelist took to where they are today, the discussion got more sociological and less geeky after someone asked whether the web is "the great leveler" and communications tool since all the guys on the panel were young white dudes.

After a few uncomfortable can-we-maybe-change-the-subject jokes from the panel, they actually addressed it.
While some said people other than young white guys have better things to do with their time, others said young white guys are the ones with high speed Internet access and spend a lot of time online.
Others said it may be early to make judgments as online culture is just starting to take off.

But the biggest applause line came from none other than The Tron Guy (in costume of course) who said:

"On the question of Internet fame skewing to white males, it is the distribution of age, gender and race in the geek population" that is the cause, he said. "As more and more women become geeks and realize it's OK to be a geek, will see it even out as time goes on."

So sayeth The Tron Guy.

Any one care to venture some guesses or theories on the diversity of web culture?

Keep checking in and don’t forget the Twitter feed.

Also I've got a Flickr stream of ROFLCon up.

Posted by at 02:41 PM

E-mail this entry to a friend

Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?








Blog Index

Justin is a former newspaper intern and has the scar tissue to prove it. Justin has been a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram since 2003, and in 2004 began writing a weekly column in the Monday Magazine.

If he had to pick a label, the column would fall under "youth culture," covering everything from high school dance etiquette, dealing with college debt, the resurgence of Roller Derby and Portland's one-of-a-kind music scene. This of course has not stopped him from answering letters to Santa Claus or writing about his experience riding shotgun in a drift car.

Justin is an export from the Midwest. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and is originally from Minnesota. He enjoys bacon, cheap beer, redheads, Burt Reynolds jokes and wondering what the soundtrack to his life would sound like.

When he grows up he wants to be an international art thief. Or Captain America.

Until then he'll be bringing you dispatches about "the young people" and what they do.






WAYS TO LISTEN
1) Use the player above

2) Subscribe
ITUNES other podcast client

3) Direct Download
IE: Right-click select 'Save Target As
Mac: Control-click select 'Save Link As'.mp3
Bring on the Tights: Free Comic Book Day
Celebrating Vinyl at Enterprise Records
The NXT Roundtable: The economy & doughnuts
South by Southwest Interactive: Talking with Jay Smooth
The Night at Greendrinks
The NXT Roundtable
Day at the Newseum
Subject Bias: How to Feel
ROFLing with "Stuff White People Like"
Geekspeak with Pop Candy
A Green Eye for Fashion
Not My Job
What's next for Justin Alfond
Sittin' down with Stew n' Crew
Lessons with the Portland Music Foundation
Catching up with Opportunity Maine
Discussing Freedom Space
Spinout's Class of 2007
Free for All in Space
Flipping Records: WMPG's Annual Record Sale
An evening at the MECA art auction
Beats, award shows and life with Mike Clouds
The NXT Halloween Special
Chat with Davy Rothbart of FOUND Magazine
When Turtles Make Love *Warning: mature material
Derby night in America
The debut of Halo 3
A sit down with Santiago




Updates
Sign up to be notified when there's a new entry
RSS
Subscribe
Most Recent Comments
SOUND OFF: Time Warner Drops Plan to Put a Meter on the Internet (UPDATED) (2)
David Rooker wrote: I'm against metered internet usage. It's trying to get more money for a se...

New Podcast: Celebrating Vinyl at Enterprise Records (1)
Jim wrote: Vinyl is one of the remaining beautiful things from a pre-Twitter world. ...

Shirt Party - Meet Local Ink Tonight (2)
Sharky wrote: Local Ink's t-shirts are listed at $80 - $92 on their site. Man, those shir...

The Monday Fix: DIY Funerals, AmazonFail and bacon-infused bourbon (1)
Dad Is Dying wrote: Speaking of DIY funerals: http://www.homefuneralmanual.org/...

Press Play with Videoport Jones - Yes Man, Doubt and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1)
Videoport Jones wrote: Justin, I am shocked, shocked I say, that you (or someone in the shadowy c...

Bracketstravaganza Winners and Losers (2)
JEB wrote: There is that Justin Bobble Head again! I want one!...