Jon Udell is a freelance journalist. From 2007 to 2014 he was " Evangelist" at

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 ...

. Previously he was lead analyst for the

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (''IW'') is an American information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a Web-only publication. Its parent company is International Data Group, and its sister pu ...

Test Center. Udell is author of ''Practical Internet Groupware'', published in 1999 by

O'Reilly Media O'Reilly Media, Inc. (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that provides technical and professional skills development courses via an online learning platform. O'Reilly also publishes b ...

, and is an advisor to O'Reilly's Safari Tech Books Online. He wrote the column "Tangled in the Threads" for Byte.com from 1999 to 2002, and continues to be an active blogger. In this context he published a

screencast A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture or a screen recording, often containing audio narration. The term ''screencast'' compares with the related term ''screenshot''; whereas screenshot ...

illustrating how Wikipedia articles evolve, using

Heavy metal umlaut A metal umlaut (also known as röck döts) is a diacritic that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of mainly hard rock or heavy metal bands—for example, those of Blue Öyster Cult, Queensrÿche, Motörhea ...

as an example. A major focus of much of his writing is the question of how to enable non-experts to find data (often on the internet) and utilize in new ways. He created the LibraryLookup

bookmarklet A bookmarklet is a bookmark stored in a web browser that contains JavaScript commands that add new features to the browser. They are stored as the URL of a bookmark in a web browser or as a hyperlink on a web page. Bookmarklets are usually small ...

project, which makes it easier for people to discover if their local

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

has a copy of a given book. Jon is a graduate of both 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 ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

References

External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Microsoft employees University of Michigan alumni O'Reilly writers {{US-journalist-20thC-stub