Words of the Year

Lately I have been recording the Silicon Valley-ese I have been hearing around campus. These are special words that I collect like gems. You don't run across them often, but when you do, the sparkle (sometimes so much it hurts my eyes).

Combinatorics

Said in a lecture on optimal image placement in art. It means there are a finite set of combinations, but is often used in situations where there are too many combinations to comprehend.

Viewser

Viewer - user. Used to describe people who use your web site. We can't call them readers because they may not be reading and we can't call them viewers because we want them to use our site in a less passive way.

Crowdsubjecting

Leaving it up to viewsers of your site to source information for your stories.

Intervents

I think this is a shortening of interventions.

Nag agent

When you have a cellphone that sends you an email to tell you to go to a meeting at 4 p.m. -- then you have a nag agent

Panopticon

The concept of a prison in which one guard can see all the prisoners from one position withing the prison. The theory was that even though the gauard could not see all prisoners at any one time, as long as the inmates thought they could be under surveillance, they behaved better.

Macrosuasion

Persuasion on a very large scale.

Kairos

The best moment in time to make a decision or act.

Frenemy

Both a friend and an enemy

Froe

Both a friend and a foe

Offline media

This would be newspapers and magazines. I like how the tech guys make traditional media the "other" and web's online media the "default" media.