1GyAp2x

Media Ecologies 73Profile Production), described the process he goes through to downloadsoftware:Federico: Like if I don’t want to try to pay for a software that costs ahundred dollars and some, I just go to the website and then I downloadit. Probably like Nero. There’s a new version. I’m like . . . I just look for iton Google or something and see the whole name, what’s the name. Andthen just go over there to the other website and . . . then press okay. Thenthey’ll take you to another website and then they’ll go like, you got todownload part one, part two, part three . . . whatever. Right after that I goover there and then it takes you to another website and you press “free”and then it takes you whatever minutes, depending on your Internet. Andthen it opens up and it tells you if you have to put a code. Right after thecode you got to put a [inaudible]; that’s like another code. And you got tofind it in another website. And then right after that you’ve got to find theserial number that I’ve got to download. And right after the serial code Igot the software.Dan: How much time does that take . . . the whole process?Federico: Depending. If I’m trying to download a good software,sometimes I’ve got to download six parts . . . that’s like two, three days.Getting around the copyright rules and software market is, in this case,quite an intensive exercise, but acquiring the software for free is an incentivefor this interviewee to put forth the effort. The commitment to geekingout pays off in this ability to navigate and exploit alternative media ecologiesthat are counter to the given, mainstream consumer logic of newmedia.Having What It Takes The intensive commitment to new media that ischaracteristic of geeking out clearly requires access to new media. However,in many of our cases, we have found that technological access is just partof what makes participation possible. Returning to the concept of mediaecologies, it is important to emphasize the interaction of different resourcesin determining access. Family, friends, and other peers in on- and offlinespaces become particularly important to facilitating access to thetechnology, knowledge, and social connections required to geek out. Justas in the case of messing around, geeking out requires the time, space, andresources to experiment and follow interests in a self-directed way.