Geek As Citizen: To Warn

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As this series has gone on, frankly it’s been a bit surprising. I explored areas I didn’t expect, found a few areas (like experimentation) that needed more depth, and think this may be a permanent column on “geek citizenry.” But most of it has been just plain fun, as I think of the issue of geek as citizen.

I love being a geek, being both an enthusiast and a tinker. Of course that’s what I’m inclined to do through whatever forces shaped me. But I have a blast doing it.

However, there’s also less pleasant sides of geekery, that I think come to the fore in using our inclinations to be good citizens. I’m going to cover what I consider one of the core ones.

Namely, we’re the ones who need to raise the red flag when stuff goes wrong.

My basic theory, which I’ve gone on add nauseum, is most geeks fit the “applied” category here at Muse Hack; we have a body of knowledge we’re interested in that in turn we apply and experiment with in a personal way. We thus stand in the middle of both academic and activity, and we in turn often see a lot of information, even if it may be rather narrow due to our inclinations.

Thus, informed and active, passionate about information, connected, we’re also going to be the people to see when there are problems or that problems are on the way. We’re people who stand on the crossroads – in some cases we design the crossroads – so we just see a lot.

We’ve got to shoot our mouths off. Lives may even depend on it.

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The Fourth “R” of Reporting – Reveal

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I’ve been going through the seven R’s of Reporting for Project and Program Managers. So far we’ve had:

  • Report – always keep the reporting running.
  • Research – Figure out what’s actually going on.
  • Relate – find how the data ties together.

We’re on to stage four new – Reveal.

OK you’ve run the report. You figured out the parts. You determined how they connect together. You know, in short, how the whole reporting system runs. Or doesn’t run. Or runs incomprehensibly. Either way, you know how you get from point A to point B.

So now you reveal it. You figured it out, you documented it (you did, right?), now you show it to people.

First, you reveal it to yourself. You should look over this reporting system you were handed and look it over. Analyze it. Get to know it. Understand the repercussions of it (some of them can be pretty weird)

Now as you examine it you’ll quickly have ideas of what to do and what it means – write those down. Make records. Because as people find out what you know, you’re going to be asked how to fix things and so forth; have solutions before there are questions.

Next, after you reveal to yourself? Reveal to everyone possible.

I’m not saying tell everyone-everyone. THere may be issues of security, dignity, or avoiding causing a panic. But frankly, I believe in making a reporting system and the information about it as widely available as possible to all those who care.

You do this because you do want reactions, you do want feedback, and you do want people to know how it works. Wether it’s appreciating how great it is or freaking out over the potential issues, people should know.

Now this may not make everyone happy. It does require some thought. But you want it as public as possible.

I’ve found few downsides to a “revelation” and many upsides – those usually being good feedback. Besides, since you already thought over some solutions, you’re ready to jump in.

(And why wait this long to go to Reveal? Because you want to have your story right. Sure any major crises should be brought up, but I’ve found quite a few times that early panic isn’t helpful.)

But not everyone reacts well to these revelations. In fact you may not. This is a vital part of the reporting process, and we’ll get to the Fifth R next . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Seventh Sanctum Update 10/23/2013

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Thanks for the feedback people sent in – and it turns out a few genertors DID have a formatting bug.  Any generator with a single dropdown-box control was apparently prone to a formatting malfunction.  I think I’ve corrected it at this time.  Be sure to take a look at the beta site, http://www.pageofgenerators.com/.

So now the next question is when to launch and I’m targeting November.  I just have to figure out when because things are a bit busy – and the holiday season makes it both easier and harder to do.

Now with this out of the way – unless someone finds anything else (do let me know) – my next concern more before/in the new year will be a community.  Disqus is fun and all for one-offs, but right now I’m debating a mailing list, a message board, and http://elgg.org/ which I saw at Trilobyte studios.  The Disqus comments are nice, but also have their issues and aren’t as intimate (I’m not planning to get rid of them).

Oh and new generators?  Yeah, I seriously have to revive some of my ideas it’s been ages since I did one – and the new framework makes them easier to do – and easier since I just reviewed a lot of code.

So thanks to everyone for the feedback and help.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.