Oh, those “Rock Stars of X” are just embarrassing. First that they are so obviously not rock stars, but second that it’s been so long since actual rock stars had broad appeal to the young. Here’s something I posted on a rare visit to Facebook a few months ago. IEEE sent me an email promoting the "Rock Stars of 3D Printing." Are these people really beloved of millions and chased down the street by screaming teenage girls? Do they smash their equipment on stage and die of overdoses? Do they, collectively, own a single pair of leather trousers? And, even if they did, would that make me trust them to deliver what the IEEE calls "real actionable information" from "serious people"? Oooh, that's rock and roll. <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computer.org%2Fweb%2Frock-stars%2F3d-printing%3Flf1%3D3541232265b149716111447a37468365&h=XAQFCXf5K&enc=AZNSLaGrl5XVHcIUrftpPTFITmg8p8o7hvSlGjDM8v9pUsQDJ_lNceW1Zz1NfKiuZAuNQk7dIkvoIgPuMU0RLjSZR_a664Os9xyjdVFZMIS6VJi0h4GvOQdhp2PPwgf-ip-5qkWGaFgr0ExsRZVT2Wr4Faf_6giCwUO-nhS6G02KJS_P-JkBxLxpcJr8v8qWvJA&s=1> <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computer.org%2Fweb%2Frock-stars%2F3d-printing%3Flf1%3D3541232265b149716111447a37468365&h=XAQFCXf5K&enc=AZNSLaGrl5XVHcIUrftpPTFITmg8p8o7hvSlGjDM8v9pUsQDJ_lNceW1Zz1NfKiuZAuNQk7dIkvoIgPuMU0RLjSZR_a664Os9xyjdVFZMIS6VJi0h4GvOQdhp2PPwgf-ip-5qkWGaFgr0ExsRZVT2Wr4Faf_6giCwUO-nhS6G02KJS_P-JkBxLxpcJr8v8qWvJA&s=1> https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQC4Q-qlNW-gii02&w=158&h=158&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computer.org%2Fcms%2FComputer.org%2Frock-stars%2F3d-printing%2Frs3dp-speaker-greenbaum.jpg&cfs=1&upscale=1&sx=0&sy=2&sw=100&sh=100 Rock Stars of 3D Printing • IEEE Computer Society <http://www.computer.org/web/rock-stars/3d-printing?lf1=3541232265b149716111447a37468365> Every company needs to prepare and implement 3D printing in order to remain relevant in their industry. No one can sit this phenomenon out. computer.org Of course, I am just jealous that nobody is promoting the Rock Stars of the History of Computing who would clearly keep things 4 Real in a suitably rockist manner. Plus IIRC the Pauls (Edwards and Ceruzzi) can actually perform musically. Um, but seriously. Maybe a paper on these weird appropriations of identity in the tech world would be a fun thing to write from an historical perspective. Tom From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Ceruzzi, Paul Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2015 1:23 PM To: 'Matthew Battles'; members Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] So, about these "unicorns"... Also Rock Stars, Masters of the Universe, Rocket Scientists, and who can forget: Geeks. My Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “geek” as “…a performer of grotesque or depraved acts in a carnival, such as biting off the head of a live chicken.” That is the only definition it gives. From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Battles Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2015 1:48 PM To: members Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] So, about these "unicorns"... ..and angels! On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 1:26 PM, Marc Weber <marc@webhistory.org> wrote: It’s a magical, magical world. On Apr 8, 2015, at 10:17, Paul N. Edwards <pne@umich.edu> wrote: long before unicorns, dragons, and trolls — in the late 1950s there were IBM and the Seven Dwarves (Sperry Rand, Control Data Corp. (CDC), RCA, Honeywell, GE, Burroughs, NCR) On Apr 8, 2015, at 13:13 , Marc Weber <marc@webhistory.org> wrote: Don’t forget that we have trolls too…. On Apr 8, 2015, at 09:39, Henry Lowood < <mailto:lowood@stanford.edu> lowood@stanford.edu> wrote: Tom, Quick response from the Valley: From what I have read and heard, the "unicorn company" concept is mostly attributed to TechCrunch. I believe the article you cited was the unveiling of the term, but TechCrunch has put out a series of posts and articles since then. And there are dragons, too: <http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/14/unicorns-vs-dragons/> http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/14/unicorns-vs-dragons/ This one ends, "All things being equal, I would rather back a dragon than a unicorn." Henry On 4/7/2015 9:23 PM, Thomas Haigh wrote: Dear SIGCIS, To raise a question that may or may not turn out to have an explanation within our domain of expertise, I’ve been struck recently by frequent references to “unicorns” in the business press. This crystalized over breakfast last week when I noticed an article “Stockholm: The Unicorn Factory” in my usually reserved Financial Times. Apparently the consensus definition of a “unicorn” in this context is a newish company worth more than $1 billion. Stockholm has more per capita than anywhere but Silicon Valley. A total output of five sounds more like an atelier than a factory, and unicorns probably come from unicorn farms rather than assembly lines, but that’s not really the point. The point is: unicorns are not just vanishingly rare. They’re mythical. Until recently, if someone told me I was pursuing a unicorn I’d have assumed they meant I was wasting my time. So where does the metaphor come from? Something that’s very rare but very valuable might be worth pursuing. Something that is flat-out imaginary seems a bad goal for investment dollars or public policy. Is this something to do with the popularity of fantasy literature in the tech field? Did it start as some kind of joke and get out of hand? A quick Google search suggests that it was popularized with <http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/02/welcome-to-the-unicorn-club/> http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/02/welcome-to-the-unicorn-club/, which offers no particular justification for the term beyond “to us, it means something extremely rare, and magical.” Tom _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at <http://sigcis.org/> 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://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/> http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at <http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org> http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org -- Henry Lowood Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections; Film & Media Collections HSSG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall Stanford University Libraries, Stanford CA 94305-6004 650-723-4602; <mailto:lowood@stanford.edu> lowood@stanford.edu; <http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood> http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at <http://sigcis.org/> 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://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/> http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at <http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org> http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org <http://www.computerhistory.org/staff/Marc,Weber/> Marc Weber | <mailto:marc@webhistory.org> marc@webhistory.org | +1 415 282 6868 <tel:%2B1%20415%20282%206868> Internet History Program Founder and Curator, Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043 <http://computerhistory.org/nethistory> computerhistory.org/nethistory Co-founder, Web History Center and Project, <http://webhistory.org/> webhistory.org _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at <http://sigcis.org/> 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://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/> http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at <http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org> http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org ___________________________ Paul N. Edwards Professor of <http://www.si.umich.edu/> Information and <http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/> History, University of Michigan A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming <http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/vastmachine/index.html> (MIT Press, 2010) Terse replies are deliberate <http://five.sentenc.es/> (and better than nothing) University of Michigan School of Information <http://www.si.umich.edu/> 4437 North Quad 105 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285 (734) 764-2617 <tel:%28734%29%20764-2617> (office) (206) 337-1523 <tel:%28206%29%20337-1523> (fax) pne.people.si.umich.edu <http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/> Marc Weber <http://www.computerhistory.org/staff/Marc,Weber/> | marc@webhistory.org | +1 415 282 6868 <tel:%2B1%20415%20282%206868> Internet History Program Founder and Curator, Computer History Museum 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View CA 94043 <http://computerhistory.org/nethistory> computerhistory.org/nethistory Co-founder, Web History Center and Project, webhistory.org _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at 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://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org -- matthew battles associate director, <http://metalab.harvard.edu/> metaLAB (at) harvard fellow, <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu> berkman center for internet and society twitter = @matthewbattles <http://twitter.com/matthewbattles> Image removed by sender.
