Hi Tom I couldn’t resist trying to trace the origin of this geat qote. I guess in vain, but the text “Sensing the virtual, building the insensible” by Brian Massumi at http://brianmassumi.com/textes/Sensing%20the%20Virtual.pdf is kinda close. The year of publication is actually 1998. Perhaps the references may prove helpful?? It appeared as the second hit at http://scholar.google.dk/scholar?start=10&q=+virtual++really+transparent+&hl=da&as_sdt=0,5 Best - Anker Anker Helms Jorgensen http://uihistory.wordpress.com<http://uihistory.wordpress.com/> http://ankervejleder.wordpress.com<http://ankervejleder.wordpress.com/> http://ankervejleder.wordpress.com/materialer<http://ankervejleder.wordpress.com/> Associate Professor, PhD IT University of Copenhagen Rued Langgaardsvej 7 DK-2300 Copenhagen S Denmark anker@itu.dk<mailto:anker@itu.dk> +45 72 18 50 00 +45 31 59 00 50 Room 3E10 On 30 Oct 2014, at 00:00, Thomas Haigh <thaigh@computer.org<mailto:thaigh@computer.org>> wrote: Hello SIGCIS, I am trying to locate a quote I remember reading circa 1998. It is something along the lines of “Something virtual isn’t really there but looks as if it is. Something transparent is really there but looks as if it isn’t.” That is of course the computer science sense of transparency as making the work of software invisible a user or process – for example how the network stack shields applications from whatever network media the data is travelling over to present the illusion of a connection. Google is not helping me. Does anybody know the source and correct wording? Thanks, Tom _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members