ThoughtCast® » neologism

Griefer, Google Cooking and other Neologisms

Jenny — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Note: This piece was broadcast on Word of Mouth on New Hampshire Public Radio and on WCVE in Richmond VA.

been there - done that

Today’s online world is in overdrive. Think of it as a novelty factory – spewing out new ideas, products, and neologisms – new words, or phrases. Take the word blog, for example, or broadband. These are now old-hat neologisms even my mother would recognize. But neologisms can also be existing words that acquire new meaning, like the term spam. Or the word friend – that’s now a verb! People friend each other on social networking sites like Facebook all the time!
So what better place to look for neologisms than at a conference devoted to the “Future of the Internet”, held by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
Click here: to listen to Esther Dyson, Jimmy Wales, Tim Wu and Judith Donath (4 minutes). Or check out this 1 minute video with MIT Media Lab assoc. professor and Harvard fellow Judith Donath…

Ethan Zuckerman’s homage to homophily

Jenny — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:40:57 +0000

Ethan Zuckerman (credit: Esther Dyson)

Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices waxes lyrical on the term homophily, which isn’t actually a web word, but it’s a phenomenon playing itself out on the Internet. Click here for clarification!

(2:20 minutes)

And to listen to a discussion with Ethan Zuckerman on the Forum Network, click here!

More Neologisms with TPM’s Josh Marshall

Jenny — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:34:19 +0000

Josh Marshall (credit: NY Times)

Here are a few more thoughts on new words gleaned from life online — gathered at a Berkman Center conference on The Future of the Internet!

Joshua Micah Marshall, who founded the influential site Talking Points Memo discusses the term “blogger”, a now old neologism that may have outgrown its usefulness, at least to him!

Click here: (2:30 minutes) to listen. And let us know if you agree!

And here on this YouTube video, Josh Marshall tells Jenny Attiyeh how he came up with the name “Talking Points Memo”…

Plus:

Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices waxes lyrical on the term homophily.
MIT Media Lab’s Judith Donath explains the jolly online world of social networking!

Tim Wu’s neologism: Network neutrality!

Jenny — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:34:18 +0000

NOTE: Tim Wu has a new book out, called The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires!

The term network neutrality was the brainchild of Tim Wu of Columbia Law School. So what does this term mean, and what power does it have?

Click here: (2:23 minutes)

Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia – the word!

Jenny — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:27:05 +0000

Jimmy Wales

Jimmy Wales, the founder of the free online encylopedia Wikipedia, shares his thoughts on the power of one incredibly successful neologism – that amazing name! Wikipedia is a name he’s “stuck with” — in a good way, of course!
Click here: to listen. (2:13 minutes) And hear what else “Jimbo” had to say that day, to the Chronicle of Higher Education!