Howard Rheingold
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Biography
Howard Rheingold is a pioneering technology writer, critic, and educator wrote about digital culture and online social interaction.
Rheingold was born in 1947 and graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, in 1968. He spent some time as an editor at the Whole Earth Review before serving as editor in chief of the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog.
His 1985 book "Tools for Thought" provided one of the first accessible histories of computers and their potential for augmenting human intelligence.
Rheingold recognized the social potential of computer networks before most others. In his 1993 book "The Virtual Community" , he defined virtual communities as "social aggregations that emerge from the Internet when enough people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace."
His book "Smart Mobs" (2002) described how mobile communications would enable new forms of collective action, predicting phenomena like flash mobs and digital activism. At UC Berkeley's School of Information and Stanford University, he mentored a generation of digital thinkers while developing new frameworks for understanding online collaboration.
Rheingold work has been both enthusiastic about technology's potential to connect people, while thoughtfully examining its drawbacks and challenges. This nuanced approach, combined with his accessible writing style, helped make complex ideas about digital culture comprehensible to general audiences.
Throughout his career, he has consistently advocated for using technology to enhance human connection and democratic participation rather than diminish them. Rheingold was an early participant in The WELL, one of the first online communities. The WELL was one of the places where he saw power of digital networks to create meaningful human connections.
Further Reading
- Tools for Thought (Book)
- The Virtual Community (Book)
