Leetspeak and Enterprise Architecture

Leetspeak is the new online language of the internet world, where words are misspelled (based on striking neighboring letters to the correct one) or symbols or numbers substitute for similar-looking alphabetical letters. So for example, leetspeak could be written as 133t 5p34k.

The Wall Street Journal, 23 August 2007 reports that “leetspeak stemmed partly from wanting to find faster ways to express themselves online. As with other forms of jargon, it also enhanced a sense of belonging to a community.”

Leetspeak, as the new lexicon for the hip and cool of the internet generation, represents a way of communication faster and expressing oneself better (although many would say this is actually worse) in the sense that you do not limit yourself by grammar, capitalization, or punctuation.

In User-centric EA, lexicon is a critical component of developing an enterprise architecture. The basis for information discovery, exchange, and overall sharing is that there is a common lexicon that we use with common definitions and standards for usage. Metadata (or data about data) helps us develop these standards to facilitate information architecture. So while leetspeak is cool and maybe convenient, I think even some of our super computers may have a hard time deciphering it.

So do you think there a place in EA for leetspeak?

Leetspeak and Enterprise Architecture