Backgrounding The practice of not giving someone your full attention while multitasking. Occurs frequently during phone conversations when one party is reading email or surfing the Net. Dead giveaways: quiet typing, modem dialing.
Backhoe Day The information industry's equivalent of a snow day, or what happens when employees are sent home after a network outage blamed on careless backhoe work along the buried fiber line. From the older "backhoe-induced deep fade."
Brandalism The increased "defacing" of schools, libraries, and other public spaces with logos, advertisements, and corporate slogans.
Issue Microspeak for "technical problem." Allegedly, Microsoft employees are instructed not to use the word bug. Acceptable terms also include "known issues," "intermittent issues," "design side effects," and "undocumented behaviors."
Slashdot Effect When a Web site is brought to its knees after being mentioned (and hyperlinked) on slashdot.org, the popular "News for Nerds" site. "The Forbes site fell victim to the slashdot effect after a story was posted about Linus Torvalds being on the cover."
Tip o' the Bula Coolmax to Bruce Dykes, Brian Maggi, Mark Noble, Jonathan Shambroom, Bruce Sterling, and Tim Tate.
- Gareth Branwyn (jargon@wiredmag.com)
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