Let me add my voice to those who've suggested paper/print as the medium of choice for this type of project. I teach digital preservation at a library school, and one of the key points we make to students is that while it is possible to preserve digital information in the long term, doing so requires a much more active curation of the information than is necessary with traditional printed material. You can leave a book on the shelf for 15 years and come back and reasonably expect to find the book in usable condition. You can't make that assumption with digital information. Format, software and hardware obsolescence all conspire to make digital information unreadable unless someone is actively working to combat them. Time capsules guarantee that you can't engage in the necessary curation of the data. If I was going to try to do a time capsule approach anyway, I'd probably say get a cheap laptop and put all of the data and software necessary to view it on there, seal it up in a ziploc bag with a packet of desiccant, and pray that the thing boots up after 16 years. That way, you only have to worry about the hardware dying. If it lives, you'll have a complete environment for examining the data.

There isn't a huge academic literature specifically on nerds, but it does exist. A quick scan of SocIndex gives me the following:

# 1. Nerd, Thug, or Player? Group Membership and Adolescent Identity. By: Andriot, Angie. Conference Papers -- American Sociological Association, 2007 Annual Meeting, p1, 27p, 1 chart

# 2. Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds By: Mar, Raymond A.; Oatley, Keith; Hirsh, Jacob; dela Paz, Jennifer; Peterson, Jordan B.. Journal of Research in Personality, Oct2006, Vol. 40 Issue 5, p694-712, 19p; DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.002

# 3. Black Mexicans, Nerds and Cosmopolitans -- Key Cases for Assimilation Theory. By: Smith, Robert Courtney. Conference Papers -- American Sociological Association, 2006 Annual Meeting, Montreal, p1, 15p;

# 4. Jocks, Teckers, and Nerds: The role of the adolescent peer group in the formation and maintenance of secondary school institutional culture. By: Brady, Patrick. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, Sep2004, Vol. 25 Issue 3, p351-364, 14p

# 5. Why We Harass Nerds and Freaks: A Formal Theory of Student Culture and Norms By: Bishop, John H.; Bishop, Matthew; Bishop, Michael; Gelbwasser, Lara; Green, Shanna; Peterson, Erica; Rubinsztaj, Anna; Zuckerman, Andrew. Journal of School Health, Sep2004, Vol. 74 Issue 7, p235-251, 17p, 2 Charts, 5 Diagrams, 1 Graph

# 6. Battling the Image of 'a Nerd's Profession' By: Field, Kelly. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/9/2004, Vol. 50 Issue 44, pA15-A17, 3p, 2 Color Photographs

# 7. Web Use and Net Nerds: A Neofunctionalist Analysis of the Impact of Information Technology in the Home. By: Gershuny, Jonathan. Social Forces, Sep2003, Vol. 82 Issue 1, p141-168, 28p

# 8. 'Populars', 'Nerds', and 'Normals': Peer group categories and adolescent social identity processes By: Tanti, C.. Australian Journal of Psychology, 2003 Supplement, Vol. 55, p64-64, 1p;

# 9. Race, Sex, and Nerds. By: Eglash, Ron. Social Text, Summer2002, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p49, 16p

# 10. Hipsters & Nerds: Black Jazz Artists & Their White Shadows By: Gabbard, Krin; Pomerance, Murray. Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls: gender in film at the end of the 20th century, 2001

# 11. 'OH NO! I'M A NERD!' By: Kendall, Lori. Gender & Society, Apr2000, Vol. 14 Issue 2, p256-274, 19p

# 12. Nerd theology By: Kelly, K.. Technology in Society, Nov99, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p387, 6p

# 13. Nerd Nation: Images of Nerds in US Popular Culture By: Kendall, Lori. International Journal of Cultural Studies, Aug99, Vol. 2 Issue 2, p260, 24p

# 14. Jocks, Nerds, Babes and Thugs: A Research Note on Regional Differences in Adolescent Gender Norms By: Suitor, J. Jill; Carter, Rebecca S.. Gender Issues, Summer99, Vol. 17 Issue 3, p87, 15p, 2 Charts

# 15. "The Nerd Within": Mass Media and the Negotiation of Identity Among Computer-Using Men. By: Kendall, Lori. Journal of Men's Studies, Spring99, Vol. 7 Issue 3, p353-369, 17p

# 16. Nerd's corner. By: Hugo, Anne. Youth Studies Australia, Mar1998, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p49, 1/5p

# 17. Nerd's corner. By: Hugo, Anne. Youth Studies Australia, Jun97, Vol. 16 Issue 2, p51, 1/4p

# 18. Nerds, normal people, and homeboys: Accommodation and resistance among Chinese American students By: Goto, Stanford T.. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Mar1997, Vol. 28 Issue 1, p70, 15p, 2 Charts