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 individ ...

with a particular bend towards the organizational implications of computer-supported activities. Brown was director of Xerox PARC from 1990 to 2000 and chief scientist at

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

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 the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

. Brown graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

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

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in computer and communication sciences in 1970.

Career

His research interests include the management of radical innovation,

digital culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

, ubiquitous computing, 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 first JSB symposium in 2000 featured a lecture by Stanford Professor of Law

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American legal scholar 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 Harvar ...

, 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 is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

Center for Edge Innovation (present) * Senior fellow, Annenberg Center for Communication at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

(present) * Chief scientist of

Corporation (1992 – April 2002) * Director of the Xerox PARC 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: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, 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 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

and

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

* Advisory board member of several private companies, including Innovation Exchange and H5 * Former board member of In-Q-Tel

Honors

*Founding Fellow of the

Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is an international Learned society, scientific society devoted to promote research in, and responsible use of, artificial intelligence. AAAI also aims to increase public under ...

, 1990 * IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Institute, 1999 * Design Futures Council 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 Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and his ...

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 not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

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 Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence