What do you gift someone for their hundredth anniversary? A diamond ring? 100 one-hundred dollar bills? An Olive Garden gift certificate? Well, all we want for our 100th Nerd Nite is to see your smiling faces in the crowd at LIVE (102 S First St.), July 10th at 7pm–doors open at 6:30. This centennial Nerd Nite A2 will be chock-full of insightful and delightful presentations and at least 100 reasons to come back in August!
We’ll kick things off with Why do 17th Century Violins Sound Amazing with Steve Cheng. Science and music intersect as Steve walks us through the golden age of violins!
Some of his first memories include holding a violin, which he started playing at the age of three. Steve was raised in the shadow of Dow Chemical where his parents worked. He got a history degree from the University of Michigan, then worked in Silicon Valley for a large fruit company and as a paramedic for the University of Michigan. For the past seven years, he has taught middle school world and US history. On off days, he nerds out about medicine, space science, music, Star Wars; and of course, the Roman Empire.
Next, Christina Liu will give us 1 New OpenStreetMaps Change + 1 Old Wikipedia Bug = A Rebranded… Manhattan?. Inspired by the month and half period in 2024 where maps of Manhattan became Serbian, we’ll take a walk through the Rube Goldberg machine that is Wikipedia and examine how the transparent philosophies of both Open Street Maps and Wikipedia made it possible for strangers on the internet with no fancy credentials or logins to spectate the inner workings of open source communities.
Christina is a ceramicist based in Ann Arbor, with a background in pastry and web development. She finds open collaboration systems on the internet very, very fascinating, and hopes that this talk will encourage people to peek under the hood of the websites and applications we use every day!
What do memes, mirror neurons, and grassroots organizing have in common? Turns out—everything. To round out our evening, community engagement consultant and former elected official Kymmburleigh Clark unpacks how digital language—like GIFs, memes, and internet culture—can be used to build empathy, mobilize people, and literally rewire our communities for connection. Backed by neuroscience and real-life case studies, Kymm shows how emotionally intelligent content can activate civic engagement, build social trust, and train emerging technologies to reflect the world we want to live in.
Kymm Clark is an artist, entrepreneur, activist and former legislator. As the founder of LullCo Design Studio, Kymm blends creativity, activism, and tech to build community through unexpected mediums. Her work centers around visual language, accessibility, and rethinking how we connect, teach, and mobilize and restructure community in the digital age.