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Home > About SI > John Seely Brown Symposium 2008 > Speaker: Brewster Kahle
JSB Symposium 2008 Speaker: Brewster Kahle
Brewster Kahle has built technologies, companies, and institutions to advance the goal of universal access to all knowledge. He currently oversees the non-profit Internet Archive -- now one of the largest digital archives in the world -- as founder and digital librarian.
After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1982, he helped start a supercomputer company, Thinking Machines, that built systems for searching large text collections. In 1989, he invented the Internet's first publishing and distributed search system, WAIS (Wide Area Information Server). WAIS Inc. created the online presence for many of the world's largest publishers, and was purchased by America Online in 1995. In 1996, Brewster co-founded Alexa Internet, which provides search and discovery services included in more than 90 percent of Web browsers, and was purchased by Amazon in 1999.
Kahle has also worked to revise law and policy in light of technical advances. He is a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a plaintiff in Kahle v. Gonzales (formerly Kahle v. Ashcroft), which challenges recent copyright term extensions.
He is profiled in Digerati: Encounters with the Cyber Elite (HardWired, 1996). He was selected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, the AlwaysOn/Technorati Open Media 100 in 2005, the Upside 100 in 1997, the Micro Times 100 in 1996 and 1997, and the Computer Week 100 in 1995.
Appointments
- University of North Carolina, School of Library and Information Science, Visiting Scholar 2006-Present
- Internet Archive, Digital Librarian, Director, Co-Founder 1996-present
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected as a member in 2005
- Electronic Frontier Foundation, Board Member
- Alexa Internet, President, CEO, Co-Founder (sold to Amazon.com) 1996-2002
- The Library of Congress, National Digital Strategy Advisory Board April 2001
- America Online, Internet Strategist 1995-1996
- Wide Area Information Servers, Inc (WAIS), Founder, President (sold to AOL) 1992-1995
- Thinking Machines with Apple, Dow Jones, KPMG, WAIS Inventor and Project Leader 1989-1992
- Thinking Machines, Scientist 1983-1992. Helped start company, chips, boards, architected CPU of CM2
Last updated: Oct 20, 2008
Home > About SI > John Seely Brown Symposium 2008 > Speaker: Brewster Kahle
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