He is a co-founder of the Institute for Research on Learning, a non-profit institute for addressing the problems of lifelong learning and a member of the National Academy of Education. He has published numerous scientific papers and was also executive producer of a film, "Art·Lunch·Internet·Dinner," which received a bronze medal at Worldfest '94, the Charleston International Film Festival.  Brown received a B.S. in mathematics and Physics from Brown University, as well as an M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Computer and Communication Sciences from the University of Michigan.

This is the fifth in a series of Tidbits of the Week devoted to the authors whose works appear in the just-published 9th edition of Technology and the Future.  Last week's Tidbit profiled Ziauddin Sardar.  Future Tidbits will profile such other writers on technology as Amory and Hunter Lovins, Paul Duguid,  Robert Pool, and President George W. Bush (!).
 

Order Brown's latest book, The Social Life of Information,from Amazon.com. (pb $11.87, 30% off)

Michael Schrage, "The Debriefing: John Seely Brown," Wired 8.08 (August 2000). "After 10 years at the helm of Xerox PARC, JSB talks about the art of R&D judo, the science of smart stuff, and life beyond the ivory basement." 

John Seely Brown, "Learning, Working & Playing in the Digital Age: Creating Learning Ecologies." Transcription of a talk by Brown at the 1999 Conference on Higher Education of the American Association for Higher Education. Includes his cool slides.

Blake Harris, "John Seely Brown: The Social Life of Information."  Interview in Government Technology, August 2000.

"Storytelling: Scientist's Perspective: John Seely Brown."  On Storytelling: Passport to the 21st Century. "Some of the world's leading thinkers explore the role of storytelling in the world."  Something a little different from this very wide-ranging thinker.

John Seely Brown and Estee Solomon Gray, "The People Are the Company: How to build your company around your people," Fast Company (November 1995). An article from FC's premiere issue.

"John Seely Brown Talks About Knowlege Flow," CSC World, Spring/Summer 2002. 

Marcia Conner, "Linking, Lurking, Listening, and Learning:  An Interview with John Seely Brown," LineZine (Fall 2000).

Web site for The Social Life of Information. Includes reviews, interviews, table of contents, full texts of some chapters, and author biographies.

John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society, University of Michigan School of Information. A symposium created with support from Brown, who is an alumnus. The 2002 symposium is scheduled for October 3-5.  The 2000 symposium featured a lecture by Lawrence Lessig., author of chapter 24 in the 9th edition of Technology and the Future.

"Information Excess,"  John Seely Brown on The Paula Gordon Show a Saturday afternoon radio program on WGUN in Atlanta (includes a segment in RealAudio).

The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), which Brown headed from 1990 to 2000.