Dictionary Word of the Year: Unfriend|2009年度最夯新字

Dictionary Word of the Year: Unfriend

2009年度最夯新字——删除好友

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, unfriend is the word of the year. "It has both currency and potential longevity," said Christine Lindberg, a language researcher for Oxford's US dictionary program. "In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for word of the year."

Oxford defines the verb unfriend: "To remove someone as a friend on a social networking site such as Facebook." Every year, Oxford tracks how the English language is changing. Researchers debate the merits of newly birthed terms and choose their word of the year "to reflect the ethos of the year and its lasting potential as a word of cultural significance and use."

　　根据《新牛津美语辞典》，unfriend（删除好友）为 2009 年的年度风云字汇。美语辞典部门的语言研究员克里斯廷．林博说：『该字既合时宜且有流传久远的潜力。在在线社交网站的背景中，其意义广为人知，所以被接纳为一个现代动词，挑选它为年度风云字汇，实在是个有意思的选择。』

　　牛津辞典给动词 unfriend 下的定义为：『在像是 Facebook 等社交网站中把某人自好友名单中删除。』牛津辞典每年都会追踪英语的改变。研究人员会讨论新字的价值，再选出年度风云字汇『以反映该年度的潮流，及在文化层面和实用性方面成为字辞的可能性。』

上网和 NASA

一同参与火星任务

A NASA website called "Be a Martian" allows users to play games while at the same time, sorting through hundreds of thousands of images of Mars. The number of pictures returned by spacecraft since the 1960s is now so huge that scientists cannot hope to study them all by themselves. The agency believes that by engaging the public in the analysis as well, many more discoveries will be made.

The site is just the latest to use crowdsourcing as a tool to do science. Players can earn points in the game by helping NASA examine and organize the images into a more complete map of the planet. NASA hopes the mix of real data and fun will also inspire the planetary scientists of tomorrow.

　　美国航天总署（NASA）有个叫『当个火星人』的网站，能让使用者在查看、整理数十万张火星相片之际，同时玩游戏。从 1960 年代起，由宇宙飞船所传回来的照片数量至今已多到科学家无法全部自行研究。太空总署认为藉由吸引大众同时参与分析，就能有更多的发现。

　　这个网站是运用『群众外包』手法来进行科学研究的最新例证。玩家可藉由检测及组织影像，帮助美国太空总署绘制更完整的火星地图，并在游戏中获取积分。美国航天总署希望实际资料与乐趣的结合，能同时启发未来的天文学家。

For Your Information

crowdsourcing（群众外包）是 Wired 杂志于 2006 年提出来的概念，用来描述一种新的商业模式，即企业利用网络将工作分配出去、发现创意或解决技术问题。透过网络，这些组织可以运用志工的创意和能力完成所赋予的任务。这些志工具备完成任务的技能，愿意利用其业余时间工作，满足于对其服务收取小额报酬，或者暂时并无报酬，仅仅满足于未来获得更多报酬的前景。尤其对于软件业和服务业，这提供了一种组织劳动力的全新方式。

群众外包现在已经在网络上广泛实现了，最具代表性的就是维基百科。百科全书传统上应该由学有专精的学者专家来执笔，维基百科却颠覆这个概念，将条目开放给所有网友来共创。（数据源：维基百科）