(no subject)

[msmemory_archive]

Latest overused buzzword: silos. Things, or people, are in silos or feel as though they were. (see: compartmentalize, vertical market, isolation, etc.)

Example discussion.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3700/is_199803/ai_n8807269
Notice all the other lovely MBA-speak in the piece as well.

Comments

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Silos are for grain and nuclear missiles.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Ok, I read through the beginning paragraphs of that.

"the data is distributed among information silos, relatively isolated databases that support back-end operations specialists."

So a "silo" is an "isolated database." But for some reason someone decided that "isolated database" was, what, too clear a concept? Not sexy enough? Not enough like war or rotting grass? so they decided to call it a "silo" instead.

*shakes head*

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

A "silo" is also a department or a special interest group, when the contents are people.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Oh, my.

I think you get the prize for finding a stupid linguistic thing. 'Course, I don't know what the prize would be if I could actually award one.

Perhaps a big certificate which says "CongraDulations!"

[delirium23.livejournal.com]

yup, that's what I came in to say.

This is the first time I've heard that term, but I'm not part of the conventional working world any more. What I thought of was deadly information missiles lurking in the underground darkness, waiting to be launched onto unsuspecting innocents...

Other things I love (not) in that article: "frontoffice" as one word (hyphenation would have been sufficient), "value-added" (had an assful of that one when I worked for the feds), and "back-end operations specialists" (does that mean people who sit on their butts all day and do nothing?) And that's just one paragraph; there are OMG four pages of this.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I was introduced to it at a state conference earlier this year.

I hear it all the time now.

My impressions is that the people in the individual silos do not communicate well with the people in the other silos. Every silo for its self.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

*singing*

I am a rock,
I am a siiiii - lo!

[delirium23.livejournal.com]

win.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all journal.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's this spring's "flavor of the month." I first heard it used in context on Sunday, and by Tuesday it seemed every speaker had wedged the word into his presentation.

[eclecticmagpie.livejournal.com]

The Dwarves are for the Dwarves.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

I work with computers.
I work with farming.
This is not how I expect the two areas to interact...

[delirium23.livejournal.com]

I found some more:

"an unprecedented range of contact portals and choices of how they want to interact with the enterprise." (ooh, Star Trek!)

"Fast Deployment" (see, it IS about missile silos!)

"Lisa Chiranky is the director of marketing at AnswerSoft, Inc. She has 17 years' experience in the field of hightechnology marketing with a focus on emerging markets."

And it shows.

/the hyphen
//let me show you it

[(Anonymous)]

Should we compose a jargon bingo card from words we heard a lot at this conference? I'm actually happy that 'silos' has hit saturation, because I remember when it was too esoteric for most people and we _needed_ to be talking about the segregation of knowledge. So hey, let's get jaded about it!

'Value-added' hasn't gotten old enough for it to GO AWAY. I wish it would.

I'm totally serious that we need to either make a jargon bingo card from this year to be used at next, or write a predictive jargon bingo card _before_ next year. Can we put 'centennial' on our jargon bingo card for next year? How about 'black tie optional?'

Jargon bingo

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Centennial, hundredth anniversary, "our next century", Web 2.0

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Er, sorry, that Anonymous was from me.

Speaking for the Defense...

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

The overuse might be new, but the use of "silo" for compartmentalized information storage has been around a while, and has justifiable origin. Here's an article by Hawatha Bray from the Globe, Sept. 2, 2002:

Digital age alters way data is saved, destroyed
...
Iron Mountain runs data centers in Boston; in Pennsylvania, in an old mine 280 feet below ground; and in a site whose exact location is kept secret for security reasons. All information is copied three times, with one of the copies stored at a different location from the other two.

Vital data is stored on banks of hard drives, where it's available at the touch of a button. Customers who can afford to wait a few minutes have their information stored on reels of tape housed in "silos." In a few minutes, a robot can locate a tape in the silo and load it up for playback.

Here the silos are deliberately isolated, but no surprise that the same idiom will come up when people are talking about inadvertent inaccessibility. Changing from isolated data to people is certainly an idiomatic leap, but I don't think it's a surprising one.

And while the fact that so many people are jumping on the siloish bandwagon may just be buzzword-mongering, its popularity might be because it's a useful, evocative image. "Compartmentalized", aside form being IMHO an uglier word, seems easier to solve — just take down some cubicle walls.