Joseph Daniel Lasica is an American entrepreneur, public speaker and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He is the author of ''Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation'' (2005), a book about the copyright wars and the future of media.

Early years

Lasica was born in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...

and graduated from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, where he holds a BA in communication. He began working in journalism as a reporter for the Passaic Herald News, then held several editing positions at the Sacramento Union and

Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He left newspapers in 1997 when he joined

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

's Sidewalk.com city guide as copy chief and managing editor.

Media career

From 1997 to 2005, Lasica wrote dozens of freelance articles for publications such as the

American Journalism Review The ''American Journalism Review'' (''AJR'') was an American magazine covering topics in journalism. It was launched in 1977 as the ''Washington Journalism Review'' by journalist Roger Kranz. It ceased publication in 2015. History and profile T ...

, where he was its first new media columnist; the

Online Journalism Review The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he was its chief columnist; and the now-defunct Industry Standard magazine. In 2003 Lasica was editor of the

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...

''We Media: How Audiences Are Shaping the Future of News and Information'', published by the Media Center at the

American Press Institute The American Press Institute is an educational non-advocacy 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with the News Media Alliance (formerly the Newspaper Association of America). The institute's mission is to encourage the advancement of news ...

. From 2004 to 2005 he was a columnist for

Engadget Engadget ( ) is a technology news, reviews and analysis website offering daily coverage of gadgets, consumer electronics, video games, gaming hardware, apps, social media, streaming, AI, space, robotics, electric vehicles and other potentially ...

, a technology blog. His book "Darknet" came out in May 2005. In March 2005 he co-founded Ourmedia, a grassroots media community and one of the first video hosting and sharing sites on the Internet, with co-founder Marc Canter. He served as its chief executive until his departure in December 2008. Lasica was also founder and president of Socialmedia.biz, a consulting firm and

collaborative blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

that provides social media services to companies. In May 2009 he launched Socialbrite.org, a learning center and collaborative blog for nonprofits and social change organizations.

Selected works

*''Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation'' He has written three reports for the Aspen Institute: (1) ''The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level''.J. D. Lasica, "Rapporteur",
The Mobile Generation:
Global Transformations at the Cellular Level'': ''A Report of the Fifteenth Annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology'' (Washington, D.C.: Aspen Institute, February 2007), accessed August 17, 2007. (2) ''Civic Engagement on the Move: How mobile media can serve the public good''.J. D. Lasica, "Rapporteur",
Civic Engagement on the Move:
How mobile media can serve the public good'': ''A Report of the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Mobile Media and Civic Engagement'' (Washington, D.C.: Aspen Institute, July 2008), accessed September 4, 2009. (3) ''Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: The next-generation Internet's impact on business, governance and social interaction''.J. D. Lasica, "Rapporteur",
Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing:
The next-generation Internet's impact on business, governance and social interaction'': ''A Report of the Seventeenth Annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology'' (Washington, D.C.: Aspen Institute, May 2009), accessed September 4, 2009.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lasica, J.D. American male journalists Living people American bloggers Year of birth missing (living people) Rutgers University alumni 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male bloggers