Hessian Day 2014 in Bensheim has begun. Some classics can be played at the MEGA tents in midsummery temperatures. You can find us in the Children / Education / Family area until sunday 15th of June (daily from 10 AM to 7 PM) .

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The framework program to the MEGA exhibition NERDIFIED? provided content excursions to specific nerd topics through lectures and workshops. Mareike Gloess (Uppsala university) explained in her opening lecture the changing nerd culture in relation to the so-called digital natives. Dominik Schrey (KIT) spoke in his final lecture about the impact of media and society in the context of technology development.

Special highlights in the accompanying series were in addition to the program offered by Bernd Ulmann, Philomena Höltkemeier and Franz Stradal, a programming workshop for children. This unprecedented offer sparked such great joy and enthusiasm among the participating students of Joseph Heckler-School Bensheim that now a permanent workshop is getting established. A graphical programming environment allows children to learn the basics of programming. The creative use of media and in particular the development of computer programs is an important element in the promotion of media literacy. Further reading on this topic in “ZEIT ONLINE“.

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After nine weeks on 21st of April 2014 the exhibition NERDIFIED? ended. The topic computer, culture and society attracted several hundreds of visitors. The exhibition was designed as a chronological tour with unique pieces from the early days of hobby-oriented and academic nerd culture to commercial milestones that show how nerds shape our everyday culture. A short video by the Electrical Reporter about nerds provided a first introduction to the subject. At the nerd-workspace Basic and Assembler programs could be written and a humorous nerd-test checked the nerd knowledge of visitors. A series of interviews rounded off the exhibition.
Press reviews of the exhibition can be found in Morgenweb. Also, the science blog SciLogs of Spektrum der Wissenschaft reported about MEGA in this context. A podcast about the exhibition can be found at HR Online.

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The Atari 2600 demo “Bang!”, coded by SvOlli of the Chaos Computer Club Hannover (Leitstelle 511) and co-produced by MEGA, was awarded first place at Revision Demoparty 2014 in the “oldschool” category. This demo moves the boundaries of the historical Atari game console. A fact that was recognized by the international audience of around 1000 people. Bang! cites artists, artwork and technology from the last decades. You can find explanation by the artists here. The demo can soon be ordered on cartridge at AtariAge.

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The exhibition opening of NERDIFIED? on Saturday 22nd of February 2014 drew large crowds. After a short speech by head of the city council of the town of Bensheim Carola Heimann Canan Hastik gave a short introductory speech, presented the project MEGA eV and the team and explained the motivation behind this exhibition. The idea for an exhibition about nerd culture was developed by three students of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Myriam Göttisheim, Teresa Boenisch and Catherine Meyer in winter semester 12/13.

Until 30th of March first developments of the hobbyist and academic nerd culture are on display, for example a model railway and Tennis for Two. The beginning of commercialization, shaped by technological developments such as the Commodore 64 and the Apple Macintosh, as well as mainstream products from the fields of movies and games are on display. The exhibition makes clear on how our daily lives would look without the developments of the nerds. It also becomes clear that nerds are creative designers. How much nerd’s in each of us can also be tested.

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Exhibition opening
Saturday, 22 February 2014 at 5 pm

Museum Bensheim
Entrance: Marktplatz 13 – 64625 Bensheim
Navi: Platanenallee (Car Park, Exit Marktplatz)

Keynote
Nerds and geeks 3.0: From stereotype to subculture to mainstream

General program

Lectures:

• Analog Computing with Bernd Ulmann Thursday 6th of March 7 pm
• Quo Vadis game development with Franz Stradal Friday 21th of March 7 pm
• Retromania and nostalgia in digital media culture with Dominik Schrey 27th or 29th of March

Workshops:

• Z80 with Bernd Ulmann Thursday 6th of March 4:30 pm
• Learn to scratch – Learning to program with no knowledge (fully booked)
• Think Hollywood with Philomena Höltkemeier on 27 th or 28th of March

Tours on request.

Sign up for guided tours, workshops and lectures: Contact form

In 1990 SONY brought the first eBook reader to the market, the Data Discman. The “Electronic Books” were small 8cm mini CDs that were used in a cartridge (caddy). To produce EBG-standard books it was necessary to use the authoring software from SONY which imports the data as plain text and then converts it to the SGML format that looks a little like HTML. To learn more about the origins of the eBooks MEGA has studied the EBG format and converted the brochure EMERGENT<IMG> into a historic eBook. If you are interested in this eBook please use the contact form!

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