Digerati

Digerati

The digerati (or digiterati) are the elite of the computer industry and online communities. The word is a portmanteau, derived from "digital" and "literati", and reminiscent of the earlier coinage glitterati (glitter + literati). Famous computer scientists, tech magazine writers and well-known bloggers are included among the digerati.

The word is used in several related but different ways. It can mean:

  • Opinion leaders who, through their writings, promoted a vision of digital technology and the Internet as a transformational element in society;
  • People regarded as celebrities within the Silicon Valley computer subculture, particularly during the dot-com boom years;
  • Anyone regarded as influential within the digital technology community.

Contents

Term history

The first mention of the word Digerati on USENET occurred in 1992, and referred to an article by George Gilder in Upside magazine. According to the March 1, 1992 "On Language" column by William Safire in the New York Times Magazine, the term was coined by New York Times editor Tim Race in a January 1992 New York Times article.[1] In Race's words:

Actually the first use of "digerati" was in a Jan. 29, 1992 New York Times article, "Pools of Memory, Waves of Dispute", by John Markoff, into which I edited the term. The article was about a controversy engendered by a George Gilder article that had recently appeared in Upside magazine. In a March 1, 1992 "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine, William Safire noted the coinage and gave me the honor of defining it, which we did like so:
Digerati, n.pl. -- people highly skilled in the processing and manipulation of digital information; wealthy or scholarly techno-geeks.

Members

Some people who have been named as members of the digerati, particularly in the first sense of the word, with their title in John Brockman's Digerati: Encounters With the Cyber Elite (1996) in parentheses when they have one, include:

EFF/WELL

  • Mike Godwin (The Defender) Counsel, EFF
  • David R. Johnson (The Judge) chairman of Counsel Connect, codirector of the Cyberspace Law Institute.
  • John Perry Barlow (The Coyote) -- cofounder, EFF, ex-lyricist, Grateful Dead
  • Howard Rheingold (The Citizen) was the editor of Whole Earth Review and the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, coined "Smart mob", involved with the WELL
  • Stewart Brand (The Scout) founder Whole Earth Catalog, cofounder, WELL

Publishers

Authors and columnists

Executives

  • Ted Leonsis (The Marketer) President, AOL
  • Steve Case (The Statesman) founder and CEO of America Online
  • Greg Clark (The Physicist) President, News Technology Group, News Corporation.
  • John Doerr (The Matchmaker) Venture Capitalist, microprocessor
  • Bill Gates (The Software Developer) founder, Microsoft
  • Steve Jobs (The Alternate Software Developer) founder, Apple
  • Doug Carlston (The Thinker) cofounder, Brøderbund Software
  • Scott McNealy (The Competitor) cofounder and CEO of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
  • Nathan Myhrvold (The Chef) chief technology officer at Microsoft
  • Doug Rowan (The Curator) president and CEO of Corbis
  • Linda Stone (The Catalyst) was an executive at both Apple Computer and Microsoft Corporation. She coined the phrase, "continuous partial attention." See her personal Web site for current biographical information.

Academics

  • David Gelernter (The Conservative), professor, Yale University.
  • Cliff Stoll (The Skeptic) astrophysicist and the author of Silicon Snake Oil (1995).
  • Sherry Turkle, (The Cyberanalyst) MIT professor, studies people's relationship with computers.

Developers

ARPANET/Internet

Miscellaneous

  • W. Daniel Hillis (The Genius) vice president of research and development at the Walt Disney Company, cofounder/chief scientist, Thinking Machines Corporation
  • Brewster Kahle (The Searcher) inventor and founder of Wide Area Information Servers Inc.,
  • Jaron Lanier (The Prodigy) writer, musician, artist, virtual reality developer
  • Jacob Villines (Jxke) Creative influence for many underground Visual Basic coders to come out into the mainstream with their programs for chat services such as: AOL, AIM, Compuserve, MIRC, and many BBS formats.
  • Stewart McBride (The Maestro) Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of United Digital Artists
  • John McCrea (The Force) manager of Cosmo, Silicon Graphics's next-generation Web software product line.
  • Kip Parent (The Webmaster) founder of Pantheon Interactive and is former electronic sales manager of Silicon Graphics.
  • Paul Saffo (The Oracle) director of the Institute for the Future
  • Bob Stein (The Radical) founder of the Voyager Company (CDROM)
  • Lew Tucker (The Evangelist) former director of Advanced Development at Thinking Machines Corporation and is the director of JavaSoft's Corporate and ISV Relations for Sun Microsystems, Inc.
  • Dave Winer (The Lover) software and blogging pioneer
  • Richard Saul Wurman (The Impresario) chairman and creative director of the TED conferences. He is also an architect, a cartographer, the creator of the Access Travel Guide Series

References

  1. ^ Markoff, John (January 29, 1992). "BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Pools of Memory, Waves of Dispute - New York Times". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4DE103EF93AA15752C0A964958260. Retrieved May 1, 2010. 
  • Digerati: Encounters With the Cyber Elite by John Brockman, Hardcover: 354 pages Publisher: Hardwired; 1st ed edition (October 1, 1996) ISBN 1-888869-04-6

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Digerati — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El término digerati (combinación de las palabras del inglés digital y litterati), se refiere a las personas que hacen un alto uso de las tecnologías digitales para expresarse como individuo; es decir aquellos… …   Wikipedia Español

  • digerati — di‧ge‧ra‧ti [ˌdɪdʒəˈrɑːti] noun [plural] informal JOURNALISM COMPUTING people who understand computers well and who are confident about their skill in using them compare computer literate * * * digerati UK US …   Financial and business terms

  • Digerati — Die Digerati sind die Elite der Computer Industrie und der Onlinecommunitys. Das Wort ist ein (englisches) Kompositum aus „digital“ und „literati“, und bezeichnet also (sinngemäß) die „digital Wohlbelesenen“ oder „digitale Elite“. Das Wort ähnelt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • digerati — /dɪdʒəˈrati/ (say dijuh rahtee) plural noun Colloquial 1. the, those who work in or are knowledgeable about the fields of digital and information technology. 2. (construed as singular) a person who is one of the digerati. {dig(ital) + (lit)erati} …  

  • digerati — {{＃}}{{LM D46226}}{{〓}} {{［}}digerati{{］}} {{■}}(ing.){{□}} {{《}}▍ s.com.{{》}} Persona especializada en el campo de las nuevas tecnologías, especialmente si es su profesión. {{★}}{{＼}}ETIMOLOGÍA:{{／}} Del inglés digital (digital) y la terminación …   Diccionario de uso del español actual con sinónimos y antónimos

  • digerati — noun plural Etymology: digital + erati (as in literati) Date: 1992 persons well versed in computer use and technology …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • digerati — /dij euh rah tee, ray /, n.pl. people skilled with or knowledgeable about computers. [1990 95; DIG(ITAL) + (LIT)ERATI] * * * …   Universalium

  • digerati — noun Collectively, people who are considered the elite (for whatever reason) in information technology. See Also: glitterati, literati …   Wiktionary

  • Digerati — pretentious elite of the IT world ( digital + literati ) …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • digerati — Australian Slang pretentious elite of the IT world ( digital + literati ) …   English dialects glossary

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