On a recent trip to Europe I was talking to some fellow IRIS data users/contributors and they asked me why we use a pig as a mascot for our WILBER tool. Enough of you have asked that I decided to write this brief explanation.
For years, the DMC has been going with what one might call an "agricultural" theme when it comes to naming its tools and applications (FARM, WEED, SEED, etc.). Well, sticking to this theme, my colleague Rob Casey and I came up with what we thought was the perfect name for our new FARM/SPYDER tool. You see, there is a very famous American children's story written by E.B.White called Charlotte's Web. One of the main characters in the story is a pig named Wilbur who is saved from the slaughterhouse by a spider (Charlotte) who spells Wilbur's name (and other important things) in her web over his sty. Because the tool we had created involved the "FARM" and "SPYDER" - just like in the children's story - and its main purpose was to "root" around the data, we thought Wilbur (with a slight spelling change) would be an appropriate name all the way around!
We apologize for being so "US-centric" in the choice of our mascot and hope that our foreign users will now have some appreciation for our choice of mascot. And, if you can, get a copy of this wonderful story for your kids!