The digerati (or digirati) are the elite of
digitalization
Digitalization or digitalisation may refer to:
* Digital transformation, the increasing adoption of digital tools to market your product.
* Digitization, the conversion of non-digital or analog information into a digital format.
* Medical use of ...
,
social media,
content marketing,
computer industry
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progra ...
and
online communities. The word is a
portmanteau, derived from "
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
" and "
literati
Literati may refer to:
*Intellectuals or those who love, read, and comment on literature
*The scholar-official or ''literati'' of imperial/medieval China
**Literati painting, also known as the southern school of painting, developed by Chinese liter ...
", and reminiscent of the earlier coinage ''glitterati'' (glitter and literati). Famous
computer scientists
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (including th ...
,
tech magazine writers, digital consultants with multi-year experiences 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
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
, particularly during the
dot-com boom years;
*Anyone regarded as influential within the digital technology community.
Term history
The first mention of the word ''Digerati'' on
USENET occurred in 1992 by
Arthur Wang, 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 ''
The New York Times'' editor
Tim Race in a January 1992 ''New York Times'' article.
In Race's words:
:''Actually the first use of "digerati" was in a January 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.''
See also
*
Californian Ideology
*
Netocracy
References
*''Digerati: Encounters With the Cyber Elite'' by John Brockman, Hardcover: 354 pages Publisher: Hardwired; 1st ed edition (October 1, 1996)
External links
{{wiktionary
Digerati talk on costs and benefits of the InternetCoinage attributed to Tim Race
Who are the Digerati?*
Wiktionary definition of digeratiWhy Digital Maturity Matters – MIT – George Westerman
Internet culture
Neologisms
1990s neologisms