Think back to 1994. You're in junior high. Remember that one kid, who always spent lunchtime in the library programming games onto his calculator? He had neatly parted hair, wore a dress shirt with a pocket full of pencils, and sported thick black glasses held together with tape. In other words, a card-carrying nerd. Flash forward now, back to 2002. The very same kid now does web design and that's considered "cool." Or, perhaps he works for Pixar, creating the next "Toy Story" movie. Times have changed, and now our computer nerd is the subject of awe and even envy when he says he's an expert at 3D animation. When and how did this transition occur? Why did our concept of a computer person change? To understand this transformation, we must first understand what made an individual a computer nerd in the first place. One of the earliest computer activities was programming -- esoteric, boring and about as interesting as green text on a black screen can be. Furthermore, one had to enter elaborate commands just to run a word processor, one of the simplest programs ever. It is not hard to see why most people were turned off by early computers.

Programming was, and still is, a very time consuming and involved process that can secret you away in your room for hours, not exactly good for a social life.

As time passed, however, technology improved, and computers became faster and more sophisticated. Those little gray boxes were now capable of creating fancy graphics and playing games. But, that alone wasn't enough to dispel the negative image associated with computers. Something more was needed to draw the attention of the masses, a practical reason to own a computer.

Enter the Internet. Although it had been around for many years, it wasn't until the advent of Windows 95 that the Internet became easily accessible to the general public. From web-surfing, to personal ads, to file sharing and MP3 trading, the Internet offered something for everyone. Computer use was no longer restricted to boring things like writing papers, or, god forbid, programming. People could now look over your shoulder while you sat in front of the computer screen and see something that would make them say, "cool."

To participate in all those things required computer knowledge: How to download a song, how to install a program, how to find a file and attach it to an e-mail. Also, people weren't satisfied with merely surfing the web; they wanted to take part in this new phenomenon and make their own web pages for their friends to see. And, to do that, they had to learn even more about computers.

This new interest, spurred by the Internet and compounded by the fact that nearly every job required some degree of computer knowledge, created a newfound respect for those who could solve the everyday problems that came with computer use. Since everyone was now familiar with and dependent on computers they began to appreciate the skills required to use them.
So, where are we now and where will things go from here?

Computers are everywhere -- in the office, the library, the auto shop and in your home. They've invaded every aspect of our lives and there's no escaping them. The truth is, we're all a little nerdy now. Think about it --online chatting is actually the preferred means of communication on college campuses. We actually spend more time talking on Instant Messenger than we do talking on the phone! When was the last time you called someone before you IMed them? And, while certain computer activities are still not mainstream, (such as, well, programming) the stigma has eroded. That said, while computer knowledge may not be something you'd brag about on a date, it nevertheless commands a little respect.

-- Jonathan Melenson '04 is a UNet consultant. Feel free to send questions, comments and marriage proposals to him at
techcolumn@brandeis.edu