O’Reilly Radar > “Hacker” Term misused again

the end, a word means whatever the white rabbit of popular usage says it means.

Not sure what the “white rabbit” reference is (is it a common idiom in English?) but the sentence is quite similar to the classic Humpty Dumpty quote:

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less’

Still, the general idea is quite on the target. Words mean by “convention” in that people agree on different meanings for different words. This type of agreement can and does change quite frequently. Some words are more typical of these transformations, especially those words that come to be associated with strong connotations (such as “cool,” “hip,” “queer,” “fresh”…). This runs contrary to the idea some people seem to have that a given word “really means” something very specific and that “improper use,” even in normal conversation, is an error on the speaker’s part. These are people who take a dictionary definition as a fixed association of word and meaning. Thing is, in many cases, the “error” is as much that of the listener who interprets specific words from a specific framework. And that’s staying at the lexical (word-based) level of language, which is rather fluid and only constitutes a fraction of verbal communication. But still…
Contrary to most arguments of “they stole our word,” this piece is much more subtle. Despite the misleading title, Tim O’Reilly seems to accept that journalists and geeks simply have different uses for the same term. What’s particularly interesting is that, as the editor of a book series with “Hacks” in the title (“Google Hacks,” “Podcasting Hacks”…), O’Reilly is actively pushing the geeky acception of the term. As more people buy those “Hacks” books, it’s quite possible that the positive/neutral connotation of “hacker” in geek culture will be more widely understood. Well, as these books are primarily oriented toward the geekier crowd, chances that the propagation would be minimal. On the other hand, as one commenter mentions, the risk is that would-be buyers for these books are put off by the word hack and will likely not benefit from this “campaign” to “clear the word” from negative connotations.

Another interesting thing seems to be that the word “meme” is finding its way in different publications these days. Sure, it’s been popular in some circles for a while, with or without references to The Selfish Gene. It’s just always funny to notice how some words suddenly become part of a micro-trend. Sometimes, it surfaces for a couple of days and then goes back in our passive vocabulary for a while. In some cases, the origin of the micro-trend is very obvious as when one can see everyone has read the same text. And, as everyone knows so well, it’s pretty much impossible to push the propagation of a given word. If it were, marketers and advertisers would have a rather easy job.

Well, to combine these last two things. It does seem like Tim O’Reilly and other participants in the Web 2.0 conference use “meme” to refer to word use in a type of “viral marketing.” A term which takes a life of its own. Or some such.
So, it sounds as if word use, memes, and “hacker” were discussed at Web 2.0. Was Penenberg at Web 2.0?

Wired News: Google’s Boycott Misses the Mark
Penenberg often has insightful things to say about journalism though he does seem to be, perhaps appropriately, “on the side of journalists” in many respects. In this case, it’s hard to take Google’s side, despite all the favourable light shining on Google.
Plus, it’s probably quite true that the privacy concerns won’t go away and that Google needs to address them. Given the importance of privacy for most members of the geek/hacker culture with which Google plays so well, one would think that very clear and explicit statements about privacy would be a priority for Google as a tech company. Maybe they’re just clumsy with public relations…

[As a disclaimer of sorts. Been interested in cultural and social aspects of online activities for a while (since 1993). Never really did in-depth research on any of these issues. Started this blog for fun. Haven’t been trying very actively to attract readership to this blog. Haven’t been involved in the “community” as much more than a casual observer. Can’t really be called an “outsider” but haven’t really tried to become an insider.]

Many-to-Many: the biases of links
Interesting piece of trendspotting on blogging.
Many assumptions. Some are explicitly acknowledged (looking for the gender angle). Some are quite general (“bias” is a bad word). Some define a framework (seeing “power” as measure). And yet some, perhaps the most interesting, come from “blogger culture” itself. In terms of ethnography, some would say that danah has “gone native” in the blogger world. Some comments to the blog entry allude to something similar. Interesting embedded evaluations of blogs (not necessarily as good or bad but as successful and unsuccessful).

An effect of these assumptions and the inside-looking perspective is that blogging is restricted to one specific model. In that model, one’s reasons for blogging are assumed to be “the same as everyone else’s,” namely to attract readership. Other bloggers seem to make similar assumptions in giving advice to would-be bloggers.

A large part of those assumptions can be seen in concepts and ideas that are left undefined. For instance, the “blogroll.” Anyone involved in blogging is familiar with the concept and it’s definitely an essential part of many blogging practices. To some people, it might in fact distinguish “real” blogging from things like corporate weblogs or blog-like “content management systems” which are not to be confused with real blogs. A real blogger is one who reads other blogs, links to other blogs, knows other bloggers, sends links to Technorati and Del.icio.us, lives in the blogosphere. There’s a large number of these in different parts of the world. It does seem that the links between blogs in a given language are stronger than across languages but there are very dense networks of bloggers who seem to represent “The Blogosphere.”
Still, most people are outside this sphere. It includes people without Internet connections, of course, but it also includes people who write blog entries once in a while. Danah’s entry is meant for the members of the ‘sphere, not for the occasional weblog writer or reader.

This isn’t meant as critique or criticism. Just noticed that part of another trend. A trend in blogger identity. The “us/them” of blogging isn’t necessarily between reader and writer (as there’s a large overlap between the two). It seems to be mostly between “real bloggers” and “mainstream media” along with pseudo-bloggers (like corporate blogs).

The Onion | Podcast A Cry For Help

BOZEMAN, MT—The few people close to Mitch Delomme say that he doesn’t realize the implications of his new podcast, an agonizingly personal 40-minute digitally recorded capsule of news, information, and trivia about the chronically lonely pizza-delivery man. ‘I wanted to share something about myself,’ said Delomme, 48, who in the course of his life has been heavily involved in ham and CB radio, personal home-page construction, and participation in late-night community-access cable. Delomme’s podcast is currently available on all major subscription links, where it has attracted no attention.

Well, considering some aspects of podcasting, this spoof isn’t completely devoid of clue.

’05 Annual Performance Review: Albert Einstein
The obvious question: would Albert Einstein be given tenure? It might depend on the location of his appointment. Swiss universities are rather strict in terms of faculty positions.

Wired News: Science Labs Don’t Measure Up

The review amounts to the latest warning over the state of U.S. science. Business groups representing tens of millions of workers recently announced a campaign to prod the nation into improving its math and science education, wary of slipping U.S. competitiveness.

Do schools in, say, Eastern Europe and South Asia need a tv-show like CSI to motivate students toward sciences?

CBC Arts: Apple to give levy back to iPod owners
The levy still applies to cassette tapes and blank CDs, right?

Open Source: Blog Archive: Hyperlocal Journalism
Some interesting ideas from the show, especially on social issues, the power of the local, connections between local and global spheres, changes in mainstream journalism.

Yahoo Announces Total Size Count
Also here.
Bragging rights, information overload, needle in haystack.