ShareOxford finally makes The Internet of Things ‘official’
It isn’t necessary to be in a dictionary for a word to exist, but somehow it makes it more official. One of the most prestigious dictionaries in the world, The Oxford English Dictionary has recently included the term Internet of Things, which establishes the importance that it has gained in recent years.
Although the Internet of Things is a very common expression among tech people, the inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary makes it symbolically accessible to everybody. Furthermore, it reflects the aim of the dictionary of being updated with the buzzwords of the moment.
The editors have chosen this definition: “A proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data”. They also include this example: “If one thing can prevent the Internet of things from transforming the way we live and work, it will be a breakdown in security”.
This definition, of course, is a simplification of what the Internet of Things really entails as we explained in our post about the difference between the IoT and M2M industrial router. Time will tell when ‘Machine to machine’ is included in the dictionary to give echo to commonly used technological terms.
Alongside the Internet of Things, The Oxford English Dictionary has also included other terms of the same field, such as ‘bitcoin’, ‘click and collect’, ‘hackerspace’, ‘selfie’, ‘emoji’, ‘digital detox’,‘MOOC’ (Massive Open Online Course), ‘space tourism’, ‘twerk’, ‘squee’ and ‘unlike’, among others.
The Oxford English Dictionary will continue to include all the relevant terms that revolve around technology. Which ones do you think will be included?
