PR 2.0: "I AM A GEEK!" Unites Geeks to Improve Education in Underprivileged Countries

Monday, May 11, 2009

"I AM A GEEK!" Unites Geeks to Improve Education in Underprivileged Countries



If you don't know Shira Lazar, you should. She is by far one of the most intelligent, creative and passionate people that I know and I'm proud to have her as a friend. During Demo09 in March, I had an opportunity to sit with Shira to discuss new ideas and opportunities to collaborate and concentrate those efforts towards something more meaningful than self-promotion.

The lobby at the JW Marriott in Palm Desert was buzzing with the latest news from startups, celebration among those founders who already presented, and anxiety surrounding the entrepreneurs who actively rehearsed their six minute presentations for the next day. Shira couldn't contain her enthusiasm and suddenly as she began to speak, the room went quiet, "I have a great idea and I need your help to make it happen."

The idea was to humanize geek culture and unite some of the most visible and vocal online personalities to have a positive impact on our society in real life (IRL). And that was the beginning of the "I Am a Geek" video which I'm proud to help debut today.



Presented by The Society For Geek Advancement, "I AM A GEEK" brings together some of the biggest personalities and celebrities in the online space to proclaim their geek pride. “I AM A GEEK” also urges viewers and the community to “be the geek who keeps on giving”, and for the launch, has partnered with the non-profit Room To Read, building schools and libraries for children in developing countries around the world.

The video features:

Shaquille O’Neal (The Real Shaq), Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-founder), Kevin Pollak (Actor), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jason Calacanis (Internet Entrepreneur), Samm Levine (Actor), Felicia Day (Creator of The Guild / Actress), Kevin Rose (Co-Founder Digg, Revision3), Alex Albrecht (Co-Host Diggnation), Leo Laporte (Technology Journalist and Broadcaster), IJustine (Internet Celebrity / Lifecaster), David Karpe (Founder of Tumblr), Veronica Belmont (co-host of Revision3's tech-centric show, Tekzilla,), Sarah Lacy (Sillicon Valley Journalist and Author), Randi Zuckerberg (Marketing Director Facebook), Pete Cashmore (Founder of Mashable), Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com), Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV), Jonathan Coulton (Famed Singer-Song Writer), Kevin Pereira (The Cable Television Darling), Tay Zonday (YouTube celebrity), Julia Allison (Internet Celebrity, Lifecaster), Julia Roy (Blogger), Marina Orlova (HotForWords, YouTube Internet Celebrity), Shira Lazar (On-air personality, blogger), and yours truly.

Get your Geek Badge.

Give.





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2 Comments:

Blogger Art Aiello said...

Beautiful. You had me at JavaScript!

7:23 AM  
Anonymous Jonathan McCarver said...

I'm verry happy with whay you are doing, but I have to say that these people aren't geeks. Being a geek and being a celebrity are mutually exclusive. Either you're not cool or your not - not cool.

Still best luck and wishes on improving education!

7:41 AM  

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