Metro Moncton a haven for geeks

Times & Transcript | Metro Moncton
Article published: Mar 27, 2006

Metro Moncton a haven for geeks
City Hall Report
BRENT MAZEROLLE

Moncton - it's all geek to me.

There was a time of course when being a geek seemed like a bad thing.

And I'm not necessarily talking about the original meaning of geek - a circus performer who bit the heads off live chickens.

I'm talking more recently than that. A geek was a computer-loving nerd, a dweeb, someone who never set foot in a hockey arena, let alone actually got on the ice and played. And yet that is precisely what geeks have become around these parts, hockey playing, socializing leaders of Metro Moncton for today and tomorrow.

To wit, there's the Geeks on Ice hockey tournament that brings IT people from around the Maritimes to Moncton for a bit of fun and old fashion wirless networking, i.e. actually standing around and talking to people in face-to-face encounters.

There are Moncton's Cyber Socials, another series of gatherings for people in the area knowledge industry. and in a couple weeks time there will be the 24 hour Lanvasion '06 at Festival Hall in the Moncton Market.

"A Lan Party is a large grouping of people who gather in order to play today's and yesterday's hottest PC games. Players play both casually as well as compete for prizes." says a news release from the event's organizers.

I believe they do that by linking their computers in networks so they play video games against each other, but what would I know? I've never eaten a chicken head either.

If all this is baffling to you, you're probably not alone, but I suspect we'll all be hearing about more stuff like this soon.

It's the goal of the City of Moncton to bring and keep young educated professionals here. And one of the ways the city hopes to do that is to create a critical mass of high tech and knowledge industry firms to build on some of the really credible inroads Metro Moncton has already made into the cyber-present and the cyber future.

As you may already know, the city has enlisted some high profile help in its goal in the form of IC2, a renowned institute dedicated to commercializing technology which is connected to the University of Texas at Austin.

IC2 can surely help the city find its way through the chicken and egg dilemma of economic development - you can't get the industry if you don't have the skilled workers and you won't have the skilled workers if you don't have the industry.

The beauty of many tech industries is they can be run from anywhere, so our location out at the edge of North America need not be the handicap it can be in industries like manufacturing. We can do this. All we need is individuals and innovation.

What grassroots events like Geeks on Ice, Cyber Socials and Lanvasion '06 can do is create the environment and lifestyle here that knowledge professionals will find attractive . Moreso, such events can create the vibe, something no amount of policy documents can do.

Geek power is living among us. Perhaps it's time we all embrace it. It's good for Moncton. It cna be good for us.