John Seely Brown (born 1940), also known as "JSB", is an American researcher who specializes in

organizational studies Organization studies (also called organization science or organizational studies) is the academic field interested in a ''collective activity, and how it relates to organization, organizing, and management''. It is "the examination of how individua ...

with a particular bend towards the organizational implications of computer-supported activities. Brown served as Director of

Xerox PARC PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xero ...

from 1990 to 2000 and as Chief Scientist at

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

from 1992 to 2002; during this time the company played a leading role in the development of numerous influential computer technologies. Brown is the co-author of '' The Social Life of Information,'' a 2000 book which analyzes the adoption of information technologies.

Early life

John Seely Brown was born in 1940 in

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...

. Brown graduated from Brown University in 1962 with degrees in physics and mathematics. He received a Ph.D. from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in computer and communication sciences in 1970.

Career

His research interests include the management of radical innovation,

digital culture Internet culture is a culture based on the many way people have used computer networks and their use for communication, entertainment, business, and recreation. Some features of Internet culture include online communities, gaming, and social medi ...

ubiquitous computing Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using ...

, autonomous computing and

organizational learning Organizational learning is the process of creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge within an organization. An organization improves over time as it gains experience. From this experience, it is able to create knowledge. This knowledge is bro ...

. JSB is also the namesake of John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society, held at the

University of Michigan School of Information The University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI or iSchool) is the informatics and information science school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It offers baccalaureate, magisterial, and doc ...

. The first JSB symposium in 2000 featured a lecture by Stanford Professor of Law

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...

, titled "Architecting Innovation," and a panel discussion, "The Implications of Open Source Software," featuring Brown, Lessig and the William D. Hamilton Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems at SI, Michael D. Cohen. Subsequent events were held in 2002, 2006 and 2008. He has held several positions and roles, including: * Independent co-chair of the

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

Center for Edge Innovation (present) * Senior fellow,

Annenberg Center for Communication The Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) at the University of Southern California promotes interdisciplinary research in communications between the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Viterbi School of Engineering, and the separat ...

at USC (present) * Chief scientist of

Corporation (1992 – April 2002) * Director of the

research center (1990 – June 2000) * Cofounder of the Institute for Research on Learning * Board member of multiple companies, including

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, Corning,

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

and

Polycom Poly, formerly Polycom, a part of HP Inc., is an American multinational corporation that develops video, voice and content collaboration and communication technology. Polycom was co-founded in 1990 by Brian L Hinman and Jeffrey Rodman. In 2018 ...

* Advisory board member of several private companies, including

Innovation Exchange Innovation Exchange Inc. (IX) was an open innovation vendor. IX operates a website which acts as a platform for companies and non-profit organizations to present innovation challenges to a community of innovators. This community is constituted of ...

and H5 * Former board member of

In-Q-Tel In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in high-tech companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with ...

Honors

IRI Medal The IRI Medal, established by the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) in 1946, recognizes and honors leaders of technology for their outstanding accomplishments in technological innovation which contribute broadly to the development of industry and ...

from the

Industrial Research Institute Innovation Research Interchange (IRI) is a division of the National Association of Manufacturers, a nonprofit association based in Washington, D. C., United States. IRI was founded as a private non-profit in 1938 and merged with the NAM in 2022. ...

, 1999 *

Design Futures Council The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members inclu ...

Senior Fellow

Honorary degrees

Publications

* John Seely Brown, Douglas Thomas, ''A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change'', CreateSpace 2011. . * John Seely Brown, Foreword, in: Toru Iiyoshi M.S. Vijay Kumar, ''Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge'', The MIT Press 2010. . * John Seely Brown, John Hagel III, Lang Davison, ''The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things In Motion'', Basic Books 2010. . * John Seely Brown, John Hagel III, ''How World Of Warcraft Promotes Innovation''; in: Willms Buhse/ Ulrike Reinhard: Wenn Anzugträger auf Kapuzenpullis treffen (When Suits meet Hoodies), whois-Verlag 2009. . * John Seely Brown, John Hagel III, ''The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends On Productive Friction And Dynamic Specialization'', Harvard Business Review Press 2005. . * John Seely Brown, Stephen Denning, Katalina Groh, Laurence Prusak, ''Storytelling in Organizations: Why Storytelling Is Transforming 21st Century Organizations and Management'', Butterworth-Heinemann 2004. . * John Seely Brown, John Hagel III, ''Out of The Box: Strategies for Achieving Profits Today and Growth Tomorrow Through Web Services'', Harvard Business Press 2002. * John Seely Brown, Paul Duguid, '' The Social Life of Information'', Harvard Business Review Press 2000. . * John Seely Brown (Ed.), ''Seeing Differently: Insights on Innovation'', Harvard Business Press 1997. * John Seely Brown, ''Research that Reinvents the Corporation'',

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

1991. * John Seely Brown, D. Sleemann (Eds.), ''Intelligent Tutoring Systems'', Academic Press 1982. * More than 100 papers in academic journals

Translated work

* John Seely Brown, Douglas Thomas, ''Yeni nesil öğrenme kültürü: Sürekli değişen bir dünya için hayal gücü yetiştirmek'' (H. Uysal, Ed. & Trans.; A. Sığın, İ. Çelik, H. Çakmakcı, M. Özdemir, S. Bilgin, & A. Güven, Trans.), Pegem Akademi 2016 (Original work published 201

References

External links

John Seely Brown's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, John Seely Living people 21st-century American engineers Ubiquitous computing researchers Human–computer interaction researchers University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Amazon (company) people 1940 births Scientists at PARC (company) Brown University alumni