Friday, July 18, 2008: 8:00 pm (Engressia): The one thing that sets a nerd apart from a hacker, a dork, or anyone else for that matter is simple. Nerds seek to quantify every facet of their lives. From baseball statistics to Star Trek trivia, there's a little nerd in all of us. But true nerds pursue the quantification of everything. The idea of this talk is to quantify successes and failures within the New York City community. By utilizing modern information theory and simple statistics, we can isolate the key factors that have both positively and negatively influenced the culture in our region. Why have specific projects succeeded? Why have others failed? What are key factors in the success of a community? This talk will have fun exploring a roller coaster of statistical exploits on what may be one of the coolest and difficult to quantify datasets our planet has ever known. Learn how to get down with your nerd self in a fun and educational foray into the hacking culture, and the numbers that comprise it.

Hosted by Matt Joyce