- Egoboo
Egoboo is a
s _co. public recognition of voluntary work.The term originated in
science fiction fandom , originally simply used to describe the "ego boost" someone feels on seeing their name in print. As a reliable way for someone to get their name in print was to do something worth mentioning, it became caught up with the idea of voluntary community participation. As a result of this, in later years, the term grew to mean something akin to an ephemeralcurrency , e.g., "I got a lot of egoboo for editing that newsletter."The term later spread into the
open source programming movement, where the concept of non-monetary reward from community response is a key motive for many of the participants.As a result of its prevalence in this context, it is often attributed to
Eric S. Raymond . However, it has been in use in science fiction fandom since the 1950s, being referenced in the 1959 collection of fandom-related jargon "Fancyclopedia II" [ [http://www.sff.net/people/diccon/CYINDEX.HTM Fancyclopedia II] – index page] . It did not, however, occur in the 1944 predecessor to that work, "Fancyclopedia I" [ [http://fanac.org/Fannish_Reference_Works/Fancyclopedia/Fancyclopedia_I/#E Fancyclopedia I] – #E] , suggesting the term came into common use sometime in the intervening years. The first print citation available electronically isBob Tucker 's 1954 "Neo-Fan's Guide", where it is spelled "ego-boo" and a derivation is given from "ego-boosting activity"; later usage dropped the hyphen and blended the two words, a common feature of fannish jargon.The earliest online citation recorded is a reference to it being used in
1982 , describingInConJunction , ascience fiction convention inIndiana [ [http://groups.google.com/group/net.sf-lovers/msg/988b7faf00af1308 net.sf-lovers] INCONJUNCTION II: AN SF CONVENTION] ; the high proportion of science fiction fans onUsenet , and theInternet generally, in early years no doubt helped spread it into the wider computing community.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.