To kick off a new recurring newsletter feature highlighting our amazing advisory board members, we are excited to begin with John Seely Brown, also known as “JSB.” JSB is one of our longest serving board members, having been on our board for longer than even he can remember.

He is an American researcher who specializes in organizational studies with a particular interest towards the organizational implications of computer-supported activities.

JSB graduated from Brown University in 1962 with degrees in physics and mathematics. He then received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in computer and communication sciences in 1970.

JSB served as the Director of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) from 1990 to 2000 and as Chief Scientist at Xerox from 1992 to 2002. In his more than two decades as head of Xerox PARC, JSB transformed the organization into a truly multidisciplinary research center at the creative edge of applied technology and design, integrating social sciences and arts into the traditional physics and computer science research and expanding the role of corporate research to include topics such as the management of radical innovation, organizational learning, and complex adaptive systems. Xerox played a leading role in the development of numerous influential computer technologies during JSB’s time with the company.

He is the co-author of The Social Life of Information, a 2000 book which analyzes the adoption of information technologies. JSB is also the namesake of the John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society, held at the University of Michigan School of Information. The first JSB symposium was held in 2000 with subsequent events in 2002, 2006 and 2008.

We are honored to have JSB on our advisory board!