The Jakarta Post
October 15, 2006
Contributor, Jakarta |
Loose-wired guide to digital era
By Jonathan Dart
Despite the nature of his work and the fact that many of his friends say otherwise, Jeremy Wagstaff insists he's not a nerd.
Since 2000, Wagstaff has been writing a technology column for the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), and has just published a compilation of his work in a new book, Loose Wire, launched on Oct. 7 at the Kemang Icon, South Jakarta.
He openly admits that he spends hours of his week sitting in front of a computer studying the latest technological contraptions, and when his friends cannot figure out how to use their DVDs or lose a file on their computer, he's the man they call.
Outwardly, he appears to have fallen into the mentality shared by computer geeks worldwide: denial.
But if this is true, he's also managed to do something which few technology writers -- or species nerdus to be exact -- have managed, a feat which is quite possibly a world first: He's built a loyal fan-base of readers, many of whom would be comfortable in a social environment.
This is the key to Loose Wire. The book itself is an honest attempt to explain simple technology in simple terms to, well, simple people (in technological terms, of course).
To achieve this, Wagstaff continually identifies himself with the underclass of the digital divide, and laughs when asked about his status as a computer hack.
"I'm really not," he said. "I bought out a book this morning that I had kept in the bathroom in the vague hope that I might learn something from it called Science Matters. I read the first few paragraphs of each chapter and get completely lost, so it's still a very dark area for me."
This is both the major strength and weakness of Wagstaff's book. It is full of useful tips and insights -- but an advanced manual on modern technology it is not.
Once you get past organizing your emails and a handful of more complicated applications, such as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), there's not a lot Wagstaff can offer.
If the past decade can be described as a technological revolution, then Wagstaff is hardly a Che Guevara techie. In this sense, his approach is aimed at the uneducated proletariat -those people who still think Google is a type of bowling action in cricket.
The strengths of this style? In short, Wagstaff is a damn good writer, and a funny one at that.
His background is not that of a technology expert, but a journalist who has spent almost 20 years in Southeast Asia, filing stories for the BBC and Reuters.
Wagstaff's story is similar to those of so many in modern workplaces: His simmering loathing of new technology gave way to a realization that it would soon radically change his entire profession, and so he made a concerted effort to keep up with the times.
Admittedly, this was a slow process, which would start with uneasy baby steps -- such as learning how to use his Dictaphone properly.
But all the while, he never forgot how tell a yarn, and this is perhaps the most striking characteristic of Loose Wire.
"With a lot of technology writing, there's not care taken with the way that it's written," Wagstaff said. "You've got to know your subject well enough to write competently about it, but then you have to try and stand back and think about it from the point of view of the user, who may not be fascinated about the subject.
"I think as long as you put a lot of effort into the writing, then people will read it."
Essentially, Wagstaff is still coming to grips with the various functions of the modern world, and so his writing is less an explanation than it is an adventure.
He does simple things on the Internet that many people still have yet to master --from buying books on Amazon.com to navigating chat rooms.
At one point, he makes contact with someone running a "Nigerian scam" -- an automated spam message that goes out to people in the hope of luring them into revealing their credit card details.
In the end, Wagstaff didn't give away his bank details, but he did start what was potentially an online romance with someone purporting to be the former Nigerian first lady, Maryam P. Abacha.
"I was perhaps fortunate who got onto somebody who either was just in it for the joke or was really so desperate to get some business that they played along," he said. "And actually, I did get a few emails from people who weren't perhaps familiar with my writing style who took it literally."
The stunt itself has been republished throughout the Internet, and it serves as an insight into the appeal of Loose Wire.
At best a schoolboy prank -- a computer buff's version of Jackass -- Wagstaff has probably protected more people with this offshoot of his research than even the most sophisticated anti-virus program.
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