Expo may refer to:

Expo (exhibition), short for "exposition", and also known as World's Fair

A trade fair

:*Computer expo, a trade fair focused on computers and electronics

Singapore Expo, convention and exhibition venue

Expo MRT Station, part of the Singapore MRT Changi Airport Extension

''Expo'' (magazine), an anti-fascist magazine

''Expo'' (album), an album by Robert Schneider/Marbles

''Expo'' (Stockhausen) (1970), a composition for three players by Karlheinz Stockhausen

Expo Channel, a home shopping channel in Australia

Montreal Expos, a baseball team located in Montreal from 1969 to 2004

EXPO (framework), an ontology of scientific experiments into computer readable format

Windows Live Expo, a social classifieds web site

Expo Dry Erase Products, Sanford Corp's brand of dry erase markers

Expo Design Center, a chain of high end home furnishing and decor stores owned by The Home Depot

LG eXpo, a mobile phone

See also

Exposition (disambiguation)

Exhibition (disambiguation)

de:Expo es:Expo nl:Expo

Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
name	Gary Vaynerchuk
birth date	November 14, 1975
birth place	Babruysk, U.S.S.R.
notable works	''Wine Library TV''
known for	Wine education, wine criticism
website	garyvaynerchuk.com }}

Gary Vaynerchuk (born November 14, 1975, in Babruysk, U.S.S.R. [presently Belarus]) is a video blogger, co-owner and director of operations of a wine retail store, and an author and public speaker on the subjects of social media, brand building and e-commerce. Vaynerchuk immigrated to the U.S. in 1978, and after graduating from Mount Ida College in Newton, MA, transformed his father's Springfield, NJ liquor store into a large scale retail wine store named Wine Library, and in 2006 started the video blog ''Wine Library TV'', a daily internet webcast on the subject of wine, which launched his career of internet celebrity.

Reaction

He has been featured in ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''GQ'', and ''Time'', appeared on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and ''Ellen''. Vaynerchuk has been described as "the first wine guru of the YouTube era", "the wine world's new superstar", and by Rob Newsom, a Washington State wine maker, "outside of Robert Parker, probably the most influential wine critic in the United States". In the July 2009 ''Decanter'' publication of "The Power List" ranking of the wine industry's individuals of influence, Vaynerchuk placed at number 40, citing that he "represents the power of blogging".

In August 2010 it was announced that Vaynerchuk will host a weekly, two hour call-in radio show titled ''Wine & Web with Gary Vaynerchuk'' on the digital radio station Sirius XM.

''Wine Library TV''

''Wine Library TV'' (''WLTV'' or ''The Thunder Show'') (2006–2011) was a video podcast hosted by Vaynerchuk, featuring wine reviews and advice on wine appreciation. Episodes consisted of wine tastings along with other wine related topics. The show debuted on February 21, 2006, and is produced on a daily basis, on weekdays, and is taped in the Wine Library store in Springfield, NJ. Episodes taped Monday through Thursday usually took place on a desk in Vaynerchuk's office, normally tasting three or four wines, and the Friday episode took place on Vaynerchuk's office couch, tasting usually only one wine and answering questions submitted via his Facebook application ''Ask Gary''. The show may be watched by 90,000 viewers. Vaynerchuk appeared on the cover of the December 2008 issue of ''Mutineer Magazine'', launching the "''Mutineer'' Interview" series.

After 1,000 episodes of ''Wine Library TV'', the show was retired in March 2011 , replaced by a very similar video podcast called The Daily Grape, with a slightly shorter format of only two wine reviews, and fewer guests.

Vaynerchuk gives his impressions and finally rates wines using the 100 point scale. As an outspoken critic of numerical scores, he has acknowledged his hypocrisy in using them.

While typically a one man show, on occasion guests have been featured in the program. To date celebrity guests include Jancis Robinson, Heidi Barrett, George M. Taber, Kevin Rose, Maynard James Keenan, Michael Steinberger, Ingrid Hoffmann, Timothy Ferriss, Jim Cramer of CNBC's ''Mad Money'', Kermit Lynch, Wayne Gretzky, and Dick Vermeil.

Vaynerchuk has also announced a partnership with Eatdrinkordie.com, where he has released videos about wine, sometimes working with celebrities like Anna Faris.

In March 2009, Wine Library TV was nominated in the Streamy Awards.

August 23rd, 2011 he announced on Daily Grape that he is retiring from wine video blogging.

''Crush It''

In March 2009, Vaynerchuk signed a 10-book deal with HarperStudio for over $1,000,000 and released the first book, ''Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion'', in October 2009. The deal is groundbreaking in the publishing world as one of the first attempts to successfully use a low-advance/high royalty business model. In the first weeks of its release ''Crush It'' climbed to #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list for Web Marketing books. It also opened at #2 on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list and #7 on the ''Wall Street Journal'' Bestseller List.

The book encourages people to determine what truly makes them happy and pursue monetizing around it on the internet. It argues that because of recent social and technological trends the cost of producing content has been driven low enough that passion, knowledge, and effort, which the book calls "sweat equity", are now all one needs to build a brand and business.

''Crush It'' was also among the first books released on the Vook platform.

Vaynerchuk appeared in an episode of the CollegeHumor web series Jake and Amir in 2009, and parodied the slightly nonsensical aspect of ''Crush It.''

Awards and honors

2003: Market Watch magazine Business Award: "Market Watch Leader" (youngest recipient ever)

2006: People's Choice Vloggie in the categories of "Cooking" and "Instructional/Educational" 2007: American Wine Blog Awards, Best Wine Podcast or Videoblog 2007: The Morning News's "Favorite Web Phenomenon, Soon-to-Be Culinary Celebrity, Web Bucket-Spitter"

2008: Bravo A-List Awards, 2008 Nominee for A-List Celebrity

2011: ''The Wall Street Journal'' Twitter's Small Business Big Shots

Bibliography

''Gary Vaynerchuk's 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World'' (2008)

''Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion'' (2009)

''The Thank You Economy'' (2011)

References

External links

Gary Vaynerchuk official site

''Wine Library TV''

Vaynermedia.com

Gary Vaynerchuk talks Food & Wine at Epcot in Walt Disney World with Lou Mongello from WDWRadio

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:People from Middlesex County, New Jersey Category:Wine critics Category:Video podcasts Category:American people of Belarusian descent Category:Revision3 Category:American Internet personalities

ru:Гарри Вайнерчук

The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo '86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion - World in Touch", coincided with Vancouver's centennial and was held on the north shore of False Creek. It was the second time that Canada held a World's Fair, the first being Expo 67 in Montreal (during the Canadian Centennial).

History

The logo of three interlocking rings to make the 86 in the logo stood for the three main modes of transportation; land, air, and water.

Background

Up until the late 1970s, the 173 acre (0.7 km²) site on False Creek, where Expo was staged, was a former CPR rail yard and an industrial wasteland. In 1978, Sam Bawlf (then BC Minister of Recreation and Conservation) proposed an exposition to celebrate Vancouver's Centennial year (1986). The proposal was submitted in June 1979, for a fair that was to be called "Transpo 86." In 1980, the British Columbia Legislature passed the Transpo 86 Corporation Act, paving the way for the fair. The transportation theme reflected the city's role in connecting Canada by rail, its status as a major port and transportation hub, and the role of transportation in communications.

The initial idea was to have “...a modest $80 million transportation exposition that would mark Vancouver's 100th anniversary.” according to Time Magazine (Rudolph, and Stoler 1). It soon blossomed into a full exposition thanks to the help of the Vancouver Exposition Commissioner-General at that time, Patrick Reid. The theme of Transportation and Communication led to the conglomeration of many different exhibits of transportation networks. This included a monorail that glided over the crowds that included a trip to every zone. Other ground transports included a Skytrain, a High Speed Surface Transport from Japan, and a French “People Mover.” (basically a little boxcar). The transports of the sky was the Gondola, a boxcar hovering high in the air. The water taxis moved along four different ports on the site. ("Transportation -- EXPO 86")

The fair was awarded to Vancouver by the Bureau of International Expositions in November 1980. However, once it became clear that the event would be a world exposition, the name was officially changed to "Expo 86" by Ambassador and Commissioner General Patrick Reid in October 1981, and, by the end of the year, Expo 86 Corporation was established as a nonprofit agency responsible in the planning and operation of the fair. Local business tycoon Jim Pattison was appointed as CEO, and would eventually also become the president of the corporation. The chief architect selected was Bruno Freschi, the Creative Director was Ron Woodall, and Bob Smith was responsible for the production and design.

Construction started in October 1983, when Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, started a concrete mixer on the future site of the Canada Pavilion, and offered the "invitation to the world." But, work was disrupted by labour disputes for 5 months. Still, Expo Centre opened May 2, 1985, as a preview centre for the fair.

The fair was originally budgeted for a modest CAN$78 million. However, the final budget ballooned to over CAN$1.5 billion with a deficit of CAN$311 million.

The Fair

Expo '86 was opened by Charles, Prince of Wales, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on May 2, 1986. It featured pavilions from 54 nations and numerous corporations. Expo's participants were given the opportunity to design their own pavilion or opt for the less expensive Expo module. Each module was approximately two-and-a-half stories high and had the floor space equal to a third of a city block. The design was such that any number of the square modules could be placed together in a variety of shapes. The roof design allowed the interior exhibit space to be uninterrupted by pillars.

This World's Fair was categorised as a "Class II," or "specialised exhibition," reflecting its specific emphases on transportation and communications.

Pavilions

Canadian provincial and territorial pavilions:

Country pavilions:

Eastern Caribbean

South Pacific

US states' pavilions:

Corporate/NGO pavilions:

Air Canada

BCTV

Canadian National

General Motors - Had one of the more popular exhibits in its pavilion: "Spirit Lodge" a live show augmented with holographic effects and other special effects. It was produced by Bob Rogers and created with the assistance of the Kwagulth Native reserve in Alert Bay (British Columbia).

Via Rail Exhibit

Canadian Pacific - The pavilion's main feature was the film: ''"Rainbow War"''

Telecom Canada - Featured a Circle-Vision 360° movie: ''"Portraits of Canada - Images du Canada"''

Other pavilions and exhibits:

Great Hall of Ramses II (Egypt) - containing rare treasures from the life of the pharaoh

Great Norwegian Explorers (Norway)

Pavilion of Promise

Roundhouse - a renovated 100-year-old railway roundhouse contained various historical locomotives.

Expo Centre (later Science World, now Telus World of Science)

Parade of Steam - a runby of various Steam Locomotives from Canada, the USA, and UK. This was part of a 2 week exhibit called "SteamExpo"

Outdoor exhibits:

Air Plaza

Land Plaza

Marine Plaza

Folklife

Highway 86 - a sculpture/exhibit consisting of a 217m 4 lane concrete highway that contained various modes of transportation (cars, mopeds, bikes, etc.) that were frozen in time. All the real vehicles were painted a shade of light grey, and mounted in place. It was designed by 'S.I.T.E. Projects' of New York.

UFO H2O - a UFO inspired children's water playground.

Theatres:

Labatt's Expo Theatre

Kodak Pacific Bowl

Xerox International Theatre

Entertainment and famous visitors

Royalty: Prince Charles, Diana, Princess of Wales, Crown Prince Harald & Crown Princess Sonja of Norway

Prime Minister: Brian Mulroney (Canada) Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom) Pierre Trudeau (former Prime Minister - Canada)

Vice-President: George Bush (United States)

Concerts: Einstürzende Neubauten, Harry Belafonte, Anne Murray, Billy Ocean, Bruce Cockburn, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Eurythmics, Julio Iglesias, Amy Grant, Loverboy, a-ha, Liberace, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Gowan, Parachute Club, Layton High School Lancer Marching Band, Joan Baez with Don McLean, Kenny Loggins, Lou Rawls & The 5th Dimension, Honeymoon Suite, Kim Mitchell, Johnny Cash, Depeche Mode, Joe Jackson, George Thorogood, Smokey Robinson, George Benson, John Denver, The Manhattan Transfer, The Beach Boys, Air Supply, Peter, Paul & Mary, The Temptations, René Simard, K.D. Lang (opening for Rockin' Ronnie Hawkins), Peter Allen, Sheena Easton, Trooper, Bryan Adams, World Drums concert (led by John Wyre), The Romaniacs, Shannon Gunn, Skywalk, Kent-Meridian Jazz Ensemble, Tangerine Dream, Youssou N'Dour, Rolf Harris, Images In Vogue, Kool & The Gang, Roy Orbison, Peter Noone, Fats Domino with Jerry Lee Lewis, Alvin Lee opened for Donovan. Many of the concerts were hosted by Red Robinson, Vancouver Legendary DJ. These concerts were held at the Open air Expo Theatre.

The "Festival of Independent Recording Artists", a concert series promoting local bands, was cancelled on the first night after a performance by Slow devolved into a riot.

Comedians: Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Joan Rivers, Howie Mandel, George Burns and Danny Kaye

Dance: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company

Directors: Norman Jewison, George Cosmatos (''Rambo: First Blood Part II'')

Oceanographer: Jacques Cousteau of France

Facts and figures

Official Theme: "Transportation and Communication"

Sub Theme: "A Celebration of Ingenuity"

Total Attendance Number: 22,111,578

Operating Dates: May 2, 1986, to October 13, 1986

Chief Architect: Bruno Freschi

Official Mascot: Expo Ernie - A lifesized robot.

Revenues: $491m

Expenditures : $802m

Deficit : $311m

Economic contribution :$3,700m (Note: All amounts are in Canadian funds and are not adjusted for inflation.)

Main Expo Site Size: 670,000 m³, (165 acres).

Canadian Pavilion Size: 24,000 m³ (6 acres), 4.5 km away from the main site connected by Vancouver's SkyTrain.

Total Expo Site Size: 700,000 m² (173 acres)

54 Official Participating Nations:

, , , , , , , Cook island, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Republic of Korea, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Solomon Islands, , , , , , , , , Western Samoa, and .

Legacy

In all, 22 million people attended the expo and, despite a deficit of $311 million CAD, it was considered a tremendous success. It remains to date the second biggest event in British Columbia history and is viewed by many as the transition of Vancouver from a sleepy provincial backwater to a city with global clout. It marked a strong boost to tourism for the province.

Many have also seen the fair as being at least partially responsible for the re-election of the Social Credit party for its final term as a provincial government.

Today, the western half of the site has and is continuing to be developed into parks and high rise condominiums. The eastern portion was used for the annual Molson Indy race, until it was cancelled in late 2004. Future plans call for the eastern third of the site to be developed into parkland and condominiums. The western third of the site is presently owned by the real estate investment firm Concord Pacific, which has its primary shareholder the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing. The redevelopment took longer than expected, but is one of the most successful urban developments in Canadian history. The south eastern section of the site just underneath the former Expo Center was redeveloped for use as part the Olympic Village for the 2010 Winter Olympics. After the Olympics, it will also be redeveloped into condos and park land.

States Kim O’Leary in the Canadian Encyclopedia, “Expo 86 will be remembered for the warm, friendly spirit that existed among the exhibitors, staff, 8000 volunteers and visitors.” It put Vancouver on the map by making it into a major tourist attraction. Many of the buildings that stood in the fair stayed there, including restaurants, clubs, and the important service buildings.

State of Expo 86 attractions

Some of the lasting contributions of Expo 86 to the city of Vancouver include:

SkyTrain (Rapid Transit) - A fully automated elevated advanced light rapid transit system. The first line was built intending partially to serve Expo, with construction beginning in the autumn of 1982 and opening for revenue service in December 1985. SkyTrain has since been extended four times, including two minor expansions to the original revenue line in the early 1990s, as well as the construction of two additional lines in 2001 and 2009. SkyTrain still uses its original (though refurbished) Expo fleet of trains as part of daily revenue service. The construction of a fourth line to the city of Coquitlam is currently in planning, and is expected to begin construction in 2011 and open in 2014. Other plans to gradually architecturally retrofit the original Expo line stations are also being planned.

Expo Centre - Science World - An interactive educational centre with an OMNIMAX cinema. It opened May 2, 1986, as the Expo Centre. Between 1989 and 1990, after much public support, the building was expanded, and in late 1990, it opened to the general public as a science museum, "Science World". In 2005 the name was changed to ''Science World at Telus World of Science''.

BC Place Stadium - All-purpose domed sports stadium (primarily for the BC Lions), home of the opening of Expo '86. The stadium was also home of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Opening and Closing Ceremonies. BC Place opened June 19, 1983. SkyTrain's Stadium-Chinatown Station (then, "Stadium Station") was built for this landmark in 1985, and has since served all major sporting and concert events since 1986. In May 2010, the landmark teflon roof was deflated, and is being replaced with a new retractable roof as well as over all structural upgrades and a complete interior design makeover. BC Place is expected to re-open in mid 2011.

Canada Place The Canada Government pavilion is now a major downtown convention centre and cruise ship docks. It has seen major use over the years and was expanded to allow for bigger cruise ships to dock in 1999. In 2009, a companion building immediately to the northwest was completed. SkyTrain's terminus Waterfront Station served Canada Place in 1986. A special shuttle train between Waterfront and Stadium Station was used throughout the duration of the fair to get patrons between the Canada Pavilion and main Expo site along False Creek.

Plaza of Nations - One of the last remaining structures from the fair. Used as an outdoor concert venue and public plaza. After twenty years, the Glass canopy that was connected to the adjacent office buildings was found unsafe and torn down. The two office buildings are now also undergoing complete demolition, leaving Canada Place, the B.C. Pavilion and the Telus World of Science as the only remaining structures directly left from the Expo site.

After the fair closed many of the attractions were auctioned off to buyers outside of Vancouver. The dispersed Expo '86 attractions include:

Monorail - now located at Alton Towers Theme Park in England

McBarge (officially ''Friendship 500'') - a floating McDonald's now essentially abandoned in the waters of Burrard Inlet, Burnaby (locally known as "McDerelict"). It can be seen when riding the West Coast Express.

China Gate - donated by the Chinese Government to the City of Vancouver. The landmark was relocated in 1987 to Pender Street in Vancouver's Chinatown.

World's largest ice hockey stick - now in Duncan, British Columbia at the local hockey rink

World's largest Flag Pole - now in Surrey, British Columbia at Flag Motors,

Scream Machine roller coaster - now Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis

Spirit Catcher sculpture - now installed along the waterfront of Barrie, Ontario

Inukshuk - once used at the Northwest Territories Pavilion, it is now used as a landmark on English Bay beach, having been relocated in 1988. It was an inspiration for the official logo for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Site Furniture - all sorts of brightly painted remnants were relocated to the PNE on East Hastings Street, as well as other parks and public areas in Greater Vancouver.

Folklife Pavilion - most of the Folklife Pavilion buildings were dismantled into pieces, shipped by barge and reconstructed as the Folklife Village, the main shopping center on Gabriola Island, BC

UFO H2O - the water park is now at Mount Layton Hot Springs Resort in Terrace, British Columbia.

Dragonboats - the 6 teak wooden boats used to celebrate Hong Kong (pavilion) Day by holding a dragonboat racing festival can still be seen today on False Creek and are still raced annually.

Expo building modules - numerous former pavilion structures were disassembled and reconstructed, largely for industrial or "big box" retail use throughout the Lower Mainland, and many remain in use. They can be identified by their distinctive peaked corners with exposed tubular girders.

Russian Pavilion - The Russian Pavilion had a special roof designed with triangles which allowed for maximum floor space coverage without any beams coming down to support it save for the outside of the building. It was dismantled and relocated now housing machinery at the Kruger paper plant in New Westminster.

Bench Seating - iconic painted wire grid bench seating, coloured as the different zone colours of the fair, with formed concrete bases and the "86" logo branded into the sides, can be seen at various locales around the Greater Vancouver area, notably along the White Rock beach promenade.

Reunions

A group of former Expo '86 employees conducted a 20th anniversary reunion for Expo participants on May 2, 2006, at the Plaza of Nations site.

A group of former BC Pavilion employees celebrated the 20th anniversary of the close of Expo 86 at a reunion on October 13, 2006, at the former Expo Centre (now renamed the Telus World of Science).

Scandal

In 1988, the site was sold to the Concord Pacific development corporation for a fraction of the original cost, a move that proved to be extremely controversial. Premier William Vander Zalm and Peter Toigo were accused of influence peddling in the sale.

Accidents

While opening the World's Fair, Diana, Princess of Wales briefly fainted onto her husband in a crowded hall. She recovered quickly in the washroom, and left half an hour later. Prince Charles later said that her fainting spell was a result of heat and exhaustion. However, the Princess confessed several years later that it was actually caused by not having kept down any food for several days a result of her eating disorder. She was chastised by her husband for not "fainting gracefully behind a door."

On May 9, 1986, 9-year-old Karen Ford of Nanaimo, BC was crushed to death at the Canadian Pavilion theatre. The child was crushed while on the theater's revolving turntable that moves between two semi-circular theaters in the pavilion. The revolving table was shut down for some time after the accident, but was put back in service with a number of new safety measures.

In popular media

The Vancouver-based indie band Said the Whale recorded a song called ''False Creek Change'' about the changes that Expo 86 brought to the area. The song starts "False Creek changed in '86 / The year Expo exploited her shore / It's been 22 years laying down bricks / There's no room for me here any more". Death Cab for Cutie also has a song entitled "Expo '86" on their album Transatlanticism. The band Wolf Parade also released an LP entitled "Expo 86." in 2010.

See also

World's Fair

1986 in Canada

Vancouver

British Columbia

Canada

2010 Winter Olympics

Expo 67 in Montreal

Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto

Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver

Gaselle

''Transitions''

External links

ExpoMuseum page on Expo 86

Canadian Encyclopedia article on Expo 86

Canadian Heritage site on expos

Hansard transcript from BC Legislature's passing of the Transpo 86 Act in 1980.

A 'Look Back' on EXPO 86 - over 140 web pages of images

False Creek Urban Heritage Trail Guidebook (from New City Institute; refers to area of Expo '86 site)

BC Pavilion at EXPO '86 reunion

Expo 86 Fansite

Multimedia

CBC Archives - The food of Expo 86.

CBC Archives Jim Pattison - a key person behind Expo 86 (from 1985) - and concerns about hosting Expo.

References

List of performers at Expo '86

(Rudolph, and Stoler 1-3) Rudolph, Barbara, and Peter Stoler. "Westward Ho to Expo 86." Westward Ho to Expo 86-TIME 28 April 1986: 1-3. Web. 31 May 2011. .

("Transportation -- EXPO 86") "Onsite Transportation." Transportation -- EXPO 86. bobbea.com, n.d. Web. 31 May 2011.

(O'Leary) O'Leary, Kim. "Expo 86 - The Canadian Encyclopedia."Expo 86. The Canadian Encyclopedia, n.d. Web. 31 May 2011. .

Category:1986 in Canada Category:Economic history of Canada Category:History of Vancouver Category:World's Fairs in Canada Category:Tourism in Vancouver Category:Von Roll people movers

de:Expo 86 es:Exposición Internacional de Vancouver (1986) fr:Exposition spécialisée de 1986 id:Expo '86 it:Expo 1986 ja:バンクーバー国際交通博覧会 pt:Expo 86 ru:Всемирная выставка (1986) uk:Експо 86 zh:1986年世界博覽會

Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
{{infobox person | name	Clay Shirky | image Clay Shirky.jpg | caption Clay Shirky at the 2006 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference | birth_date | birth_place Columbia, Missouri | other_names | known_for Writing | occupation Writer, consultant, lecturer }}

Clay Shirky (born 1964) is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He has a joint appointment at New York University (NYU) as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Assistant Arts Professor in the New Media focused graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). His courses address, among other things, the interrelated effects of the topology of social networks and technological networks, how our networks shape culture and vice-versa.

He has written and been interviewed extensively about the Internet since 1996. His columns and writings have appeared in ''Business 2.0'', the ''New York Times'', the ''Wall Street Journal'', the ''Harvard Business Review'' and ''Wired''.

Shirky divides his time between consulting, teaching, and writing on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. His consulting practice is focused on the rise of decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer, web services, and wireless networks that provide alternatives to the wired client–server infrastructure that characterizes the World Wide Web.

In ''The Long Tail'', Chris Anderson calls Shirky "a prominent thinker on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies."

Early years and career

In 1986 he graduated ''cum laude'' from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine art.

In 1990 he founded in New York City a theater company, Hard Place Theater, in which he created and directed several "non-fiction" theater pieces using only found materials such as government documents, transcripts and cultural records. One project titled "United Airline," included the transcript of the air-to-ground conversations during a plane crash, interspersed with quotes about flying and falling.

During the 1990s in New York City he also worked as a lighting designer for numerous experimental theater and dance companies, including the Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service and Dana Reitz.

In the early 1990s, Shirky was vice-president of the New York chapter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and wrote technology guides for Ziff Davis. He appeared as an expert witness on Internet culture in ''Shea v. Reno'', a case cited in the U. S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Communications Decency Act in 1996.

Shirky was the original Professor of New Media in the Media Studies department at Hunter College, where he created the department's first undergraduate and graduate offerings in new media, and helped design the current MFA in Integrated Media Arts program.

In the fall of 2010, Shirky served as the Visiting Morrow Lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School instructing a course titled: "New Media and Public Action". Shirky currently lives in New York with his dog, George.

Views

In his book ''Here Comes Everybody'' Shirky explains how he has long spoken in favor of crowdsourcing and collaborative efforts online. He uses the phrase "the Internet runs on love" to describe the nature of such collaborations. In the book, he discusses the ways in which the action of a group adds up to something more than just aggregated individual action.

He points to four key steps. The first is sharing, a sort of “me-first collaboration” in which the social effects are aggregated after the fact; people share links, URLs, tags, and eventually come together around a type. This type of sharing is a reverse of the so-called old order of sharing, where participants congregate first and then share (examples include Flickr, and Delicious). The second is conversation, that is, the synchronization of people with each other and the coming together to learn more about something and to get better at it. The third is collaboration, in which a group forms under the purpose of some common effort. It requires a division of labor, and teamwork. It can often be characterized by people wanting to fix a market failure, and is motivated by increasing accessibility.

The fourth and final step is collective action, which Shirky says is “mainly still in the future.” The key point about collective action is that the fate of the group as a whole becomes important. In a presentation called "Gin, Television, and Social Surplus", Shirky popularized the concept of ''cognitive surplus'', the time freed from watching television which can be enormously productive when applied to other social endeavors. He also notes that we are experiencing an era where people like to produce and share just as much, if not more than they like to consume. Since technology has made the producing and sharing possible, he argues that we will see a new era of participation that will lead to big change.

Shirky has also written about "algorithmic authority," which describes the process through which unverified information is vetted for its trustworthiness through multiple sources.

The Shirky Principle

In April, 2010, Kevin Kelly cited the phrase "Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution," and called it the "Shirky Principle", as the phrasing reminded him of the clarity of the Peter Principle.

Response to Evgeny Morozov

In March 2011, Shirky responded to questions raised by Evgeny Morozov about consulting he had done for the country Libya. Shirky explained that he had been invited in 2007 to speak in Boston to Libya's IT Minister. Shirky stated that the talk was "about using social software to improve citizen engagement in coastal towns. The idea was that those cities would be more economically successful if local policies related to the tourist trade were designed by the locals themselves." Shirky added that nothing came of the project beyond his initial talk. He defended his underlying desire to expand representative government in Libya and concluded that "the best reason to believe that social media can aid citizens in their struggle to make government more responsive is that both citizens and governments believe that."

Bibliography

''The Internet by E-Mail'' (1994) - ISBN 1-56276-240-0

''Voices from the Net'' (1995) - ISBN 1-56276-303-2

''P2P Networking Overview'' (2001) - ISBN 0-596-00185-1

''Planning for Web Services: Obstacles and Opportunities'' (2003) - ISBN 0-596-00364-1

Selected Articles in ''The Best Software Writing I'', Joel Spolsky ed. (2005) - ISBN 1-59059-500-9

* ''A Group is its Own Worst Enemy'' by Clay Shirky

* ''Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software'' by Clay Shirky

''Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations'' (2008) - ISBN 978-1594201530

''Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age'' (2010) - ISBN 978-1594202537

See also

Collective action

Footnotes

References

Clay Shirky's Bio

External links

Clay Shirky's homepage

Clay Shirky’s writings on the O'Reilly Network

Profile and videos at TED.com

Profile and talks at Fora.tv

''Socially Intelligent Computing'' A Dialogue with Daniel Goleman

Ontology is Overrated: Links, Tags, and Post-hoc Metadata - a presentation (mp3) from the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference held in San Diego, California, March 14–17, 2005.

- Colloquium @ NYU.

Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008

Video (and audio) of interview/discussion with Clay Shirky by Will Wilkinson on Bloggingheads.tv

Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom A talk about journalism and pay walls.

Category:American technology writers Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:New York University faculty Category:Internet culture Category:Technology evangelists Category:Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board members Category:Yale University alumni Category:Web 2.0

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