If I may, Christina has done great work on the keyword geek <http://culturedigitally.org/2014/05/geek-draftdigitalkeywords/> (and elsewhere!) on its evolution from circus freak to male tech nerds applying the label to themselves. A stretch, there's also the zombie (compromised computer) and the gremlin (a programming language) to add to our growing (and undifferentiated) list of computer tech world fantasy creatures: angels, dragons, dwarves, geek, gremlin, rock stars, trolls, unicorns, zombie. Ben On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 2:03 PM, Thomas Haigh <thaigh@computer.org> wrote:
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.
[image: 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] <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>
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 <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 <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/ 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/, which offers no particular justification for the term beyond “to us, it means something extremely rare, and magical.”
Tom
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