Nerd, geek, dork, age old terms typically used in a demeaning and sometimes derogatory sense to offend a rather eccentric group of individuals; yet there exists a global demography of people that open heartedly identify themselves with said words.
Just what is it about being a nerd that’s so special?
Simply defined, the terms nerd, geek and the likes collectively mean an individual that is in all ardor of/ enthusiastic about something –so much so, you can almost say they’re obsessed (but like, in a healthy way lol..); however, in modern times these terms are most likely to flash a mob of star wars or MCU fans in your mind, every time you hear them.
Here at ONN, we like to define a nerd as an individual passionate about yielding to the wilds of an imaginative mind; cutting across a variety of fields and interests, a nerd can be ardent about anything from tech, to poetry, to sci-fi comics, anything at all as long as it is genuinely imagination stimulating.
We believe in the power of a bubbling mind, yearning to appreciate creativity and appropriate it as a way of living.
Nigeria needs that, Nigerians need that, the mentality of imaginative thinking and creative expressions must be emphasized, to help liberate us from the inhibitions of our present circumstances and environment and actively contribute to the quest of nationwide refurbishment.
It may seem overly profound to say, but in being a nerd, there’s much for one to come into, so much to be if we encourage ourselves to stretch beyond present conventionalities and embrace the curiosity of imagination –It all starts in the mind.
The coined term “Nerd-culture”
Nerd-culture is an umbrella term for everything that traditionally associates itself with nerd-entertainment or “obscure media” (eg: anime, gaming, comic books etc). As the article “a psychological exploration of engagement in geek culture” (published by the plos one blog) puts it, “…it is a subculture of enthusiasts...”; reinforcing the idea that nerds are of a demography that is utterly devoted to an interest.
Nerd-culture can be observed from two major angles, the industrial angle and the community angle;
The nerd-entertainment industry is a presently vastly appreciated line of business –world wide– comprised of publishers, writers, filmmakers, merchandising, event hosting etc.
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An industry heavy on commercializing works born of the imagination, nerd entertainment takes creative properties and makes them lucrative. In the past decade plus, comic book movies have become increasingly more mainstream than iconic blockbusters along with ani-manga and video games becoming multi-billion dollar industries, so from the industrial angle, we see nerd culture as an evidently eccentric and active part of modern day media and entertainment.
As a community, nerd-culture is a solidarity of like minds, a network of creators and major part of pop-culture –I there say, it’s a catalyst for overall unanimity, establishing itself as no ordinary community but a global one, in the sense that everybody is allowed to appreciate any and every aspect of it, irrespective of their race, religious belief etc.
About ONN
Omni-Nerd Network is an NPE (New Pryme Entertainment) initiative created for the sole purpose of accentuating nerd-culture in Nigeria. It's no news that Nigerians are becoming increasingly accepting, enthusiastic and open about their interests in comic books, anime and the likes, as a result, ONN is targeted at fanning the already existing flames of nerd entertainment in the local community and industry.
We want to keep you informed, educated and invested in a variety of nerd-culture oriented activities happening locally and internationally, aspiring to fill the vacuum of media-press, community engagements and mediums of promotion in the realm of all things nerdy.
ONN is not an organization in itself, but rather an organized movement of New Pryme to contribute to nerd-entertainment awareness on a local scale.
How does ONN intend to accentuate nerd-culture here in Nigeria?
ONN has a nice line-up of mediums it intends to employ in the quest to draw emphasis on the industry. The ones being launched now is the ONN blog and the Omni-Nerd community discord server.
About the blog
The ONN blog amongst other means is a medium the initiative intends to use to communicate unbiased observations in the industry, as well as enlighten and inform readers on a variety of subjects and activities happening in the community and industry –locally and internationally. Our present categories of blog posts are;
Exposés: We get extensive and talk about important things that need elaboration and sufficient light on, in the quest to properly magnify all things nerdy in the growing industry and community
Uncharted Reviews: Capitalizing on mostly local works (indigenous comic books and the likes), critique/constructive criticism is given to good stories and creative works that aren’t getting enough attention in the local nerd-culture community.
RORs (Reviews on Reviews): Instead of giving our two cents on popular published/released works, we give our perspective on how every body else is rating and reviewing them, examining the manner and nature of media/fan criticism/praise
Rating grounds: From an accumulation of reviews and official rankings, we give a detailed cumulative analysis on the leaderboard on different creative works, pointing out the characteristics of a work that places it on a said designated position.
and subsequently a special category we call
“Community Talk” : in vogue with our evident agenda, we've made a discord server to hear from different people, their opinions and perspectives on all things nerdy. We blog the much we can on discussions, conversations and activities that go down in the server.
About the community on Discord
I believe the heading in itself explains everything . We’ve started a discord server with hopes of pulling in people with the common idealism we have and creating a forum of not just nerds, but nerd-culture accentuation enthusiasts (i.e. people that want to see the industry and community grow); so if you feel a sense of kinship to the cause, come on down and join the community.
Possible future works
ONN is currently working on a YouTube channel that will house a podcast segment, nerd-news segment and segments of general entertainment. Though details aren’t set in stone yet, we’re working hard to bring this into actualization before the end of the year, as such we entreat you to keep tabs on our endeavors and be a part of our growth.
The movement (i.e the growth of what we’re doing) is as much an individual thing as it is collective, nerd-culture is a function of our unison, so whether you’re a writer, animator or fan, you make-up an important portion of the community and industry, so get involved.
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