 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Doc Searls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1947-07-29)July 29, 1947 (age 78) Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Website | searls.com blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc |
David "Doc"Searls (born July 29, 1947), is an American journalist, columnist, and a widely readblogger. He is the host ofFLOSS Weekly, a free and open-source software (FLOSS) themed netcast from the TWiT Network, a co-author ofThe Cluetrain Manifesto, author ofThe Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge, editor-in-chief ofLinux Journal, a fellow at the Center for Information Technology & Society (CITS) at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, an alumnus fellow (2006–2010) of theBerkman Center for Internet & Society atHarvard University, and co-host of the Reality 2.0 Podcast.
Searls' journalism career began in 1971, when he worked as an editor and photographer forWayne Today in New Jersey.
A longtime advocate foropen-source software, he has been involved with theLinux Journal since it began publishing in 1994. He became a contributing editor in 1996, senior editor in 1999, and editor-in-chief in 2018. His column "Linux for Suits" ran until 2007, and was followed by "EOF" inside each issue's back cover. His work withLinux Journal, and as an advocate offree software andopen-source, earned him aGoogle-O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Communicator in 2005.[1] His byline has also appeared in many other publications, includingOMNI,Wired,PC Magazine,The Standard,The Sun Magazine,Upside,Release 1.0 andThe Globe and Mail.
In early 1999 Searls joinedChristopher Locke,David Weinberger and Rick Levine in writingThe Cluetrain Manifesto, an iconoclastic website that was followed in January 2000 by the book with the same title. The book was published in nine languages. A 10th Anniversary edition came out in June 2009. Among Searls' contributions to the Manifesto was its first thesis, "Markets are conversations"—also the title of theCluetrain chapter he co-wrote with David Weinberger. Weinberger and Searls co-wrote "World of Ends: What the Internet Is and How to Stop Mistaking It for Something Else".
Searls has also been a blogger since October 1999, when he started blogging with help from his friendDave Winer. In an Online Journalism Review article,J.D. Lasica calls Searls "one of the deep thinkers in the blog movement."[2]
InThe World Is Flat,Thomas L. Friedman calls Searls "one of the most respected technology writers in America."[3]
Searls' two academic fellowships both began in 2006. At theBerkman Center for Internet & Society he leads ProjectVRM, which guides independent software development communities working onVendor Relationship Management (VRM). The purpose of VRM is to equip individuals with tools that provide both independence from vendor "lock-in" and better means for engaging with vendors. VRM tools and methods also help individuals engage with government and other non-commercial organizations. At theCenter for Information Technology and Society (CITS) at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, Searls is studying both the nature of infrastructure and of the Internet as a form of infrastructure.
In April 2012, his bookThe Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge was published. Searls coined the term in an article forLinux Journal. He wrote: "The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don't need advertising to make them."[4]
In September 2018, Searls spoke atTedXSanta Barbara, giving a talk titled[5] "The Story isn't the Whole Story:Journalism in the digital age is challenged by a business model of automated advertising that creates widespread distrust. Truth is getting lost in the process. What can we do about that?"
The nickname "Doc" is what Searls calls a "fossil remnant" of "Doctor Dave", his humorous persona at WDBS (nowWXDU) radio at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in the late 1970s.[6] Following his work in radio, Searls co-founded Hodskins Simone & Searls (HS&S). Searls's consultancy, The Searls Group, was spun out of HS&S in the early 1990s. He is a frequent speaker at business and industry events, under the auspices of The Searls Group.
Searls is a 1969 graduate ofGuilford College. While Searls's permanent home is in Santa Barbara, he and his family currently live most of the year near his work at Harvard.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
