ACM Interactions

Authors:
Fred Sampson, Keith Instone

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When Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch passed away on July 25, 2008, millions of people—most of them non–HCI community members—knew and took inspiration from his story. How is it that a teacher of computer science, usually a low-key position of little consequence to the general public, becomes such a figure of reverence? In the age of instant communication, of wide distribution of media in varying qualities, it's been said that everyone is famous to 15 people. Randy Pausch was famous to millions. On the morning that Pausch's death was announced, his Wikipedia entry was updated faster than his…

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