Tim O'Reilly

Born in County Cork, Ireland, Tim O'Reilly moved to San Francisco, California with his family when he was a baby. He has three brothers and three sisters.{{cite magazine|last=Levy|first=Steven|title=The Trend Spotter|url=http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.10/oreilly_pr.html|magazine=Wired|access-date=27 April 2014|date=October 2005}} As a teenager, encouraged by his older brother Sean, O'Reilly became a follower of George Simon, a writer and adherent of the general semantics program. Through Simon, O'Reilly became acquainted with the work of Alfred Korzybski, which he has cited as a formative experience.{{Cite web| last = O'Reilly| first = Tim| title = Books That Have Shaped How I Think| work = O'Reilly Media| access-date = 25 April 2015| date = 7 July 2005| url = http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/articles/favebooks_0705.html| archive-date = 31 March 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150331185055/http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/articles/favebooks_0705.html| url-status = live}}{{Cite news| last = O'Reilly| first = Tim| title = Language is a Map| work = LinkedIn Pulse| access-date = 26 April 2015| date = 29 October 2012| url = https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20121029141916-16553-language-is-a-map| archive-date = 8 March 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210308160806/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20121029141916-16553-language-is-a-map| url-status = live}}

In 1973, O'Reilly enrolled at Harvard College to study classics and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975. During O'Reilly's first year at Harvard, George Simon died in an accident.

After graduating, O'Reilly completed an edition of Simon's Notebooks, 1965–1973.{{Cite book| publisher = Summer Publishers| last = Simon| first = George| title = Notebooks, 1965–1973, ed. with commentary by Timothy O'Reilly| location = Watertown, Mass.| date = 1976}} He also wrote a well-received book on the science fiction writer Frank Herbert{{Cite book| publisher = Frederick Ungar| last = O'Reilly| first = Timothy| title = Frank Herbert| location = New York| access-date = 25 April 2015| date = 1981| url = http://www.oreilly.com/tim/herbert/}} and edited a collection of Herbert's essays and interviews.{{cite book|last=Yoke|first=Carl|title=Science fiction & fantasy book review annual| date=1988| publisher=Meckler| location=Westport| isbn=0887362494|pages=409–410| editor=Robert A. Collins}} O'Reilly got started as a technical writer in 1977. He started publishing computer manuals in 1983, setting up his business in a converted barn in Newton, Massachusetts, where about a dozen employees worked in a single open room. In 1989, O'Reilly moved his company to Sebastopol, California, and published the Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog, which was a best-seller in 1992. O'Reilly's business, then known as O'Reilly & Associates, steadily grew through the 1990s, during which period it expanded from paper printed materials to web publishing. In 1993, the company's catalogue became an early web portal, the Global Network Navigator, which in 1995 was sold to America Online.

The company suffered in the dot-com crash of 2000. As book sales decreased, O'Reilly laid off about seventy people, approximately a quarter of staff, but thereafter rebuilt the company around ebook publishing and event production. In 2011, Tim O'Reilly gave control of O'Reilly Media to the company's CFO, Laura Baldwin, but kept his longtime title of CEO.

As a venture capitalist, O'Reilly has invested in companies such as Fastly, Blogger, Delicious, Foursquare, Bitly, and Chumby.{{Cite magazine |last=Levy |first=Steven |date=21 December 2012 |title=Tim O'Reilly's Key to Creating the Next Big Thing |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/mf-tim-oreilly-qa/ |access-date=25 April 2015 |magazine=Wired |archive-date=19 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319002340/http://www.wired.com/2012/12/mf-tim-oreilly-qa/ |url-status=live }} O'Reilly serves on the board of directors of Safari Books Online, Maker Media, PeerJ, and the nonprofit organization Code for America. He was a board member of Macromedia until its 2005 merger with Adobe Systems, and of MySQL AB until its sale to Sun Microsystems. In February 2012, he joined the UC Berkeley School of Information Advisory Board.{{cite web|title=Tim O'Reilly joins I School Advisory Board|url=http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/newsandevents/news/20120216timoreilly|work=ischool.berkeley.edu|access-date=16 February 2012}}

In 2017, O'Reilly published the book WTF? What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us about technology's potential to enhance the human experience.{{cite web |last=Levy |first=Stephen |url=https://www.wired.com/story/tim-oreilly-algorithms-have-already-gone-rogue/ |title=Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue |magazine=Wired |date=4 October 2017 |access-date=17 February 2019 |archive-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216215042/https://www.wired.com/story/tim-oreilly-algorithms-have-already-gone-rogue/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062565716/wtf/ |title=WTF? What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us |publisher=HarperCollins |date=10 October 2017 |access-date=17 February 2019 |archive-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218082237/https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062565716/wtf/ |url-status=live }}{{cite book |title=WTF? What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us |publisher=WorldCat |year=2017 |oclc=958356612}}

In 1996, O'Reilly fought against a 10-Connection Limit on TCP/IP NT Workstations, writing a letter to the United States Department of Justice, Bill Gates, and CNN, concerned that the Internet was still in its infancy, and that limitations could cripple the technology before it ever had a chance to reach its full potential.{{cite web |url=http://tim.oreilly.com/10-conn/ |title=The 1996 Controversy about the 10-Connection Limit on TCP/IP in NT Workstation |access-date=2011-08-25 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011110141449/http://tim.oreilly.com/10-conn/ |archive-date=10 November 2001 |df=dmy-all }} In 2001, O'Reilly was involved in a dispute with Amazon.com,{{cite web|last=O'Reilly|first=Tim|title=Internet Land Grab|url=http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/articles/cacm3.html|work=oreillynet.com|access-date=27 April 2014|date=June 2000}} against Amazon's one-click patent and, specifically, Amazon's assertion of that patent against rival Barnes & Noble. The protest ended with O'Reilly and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos visiting Washington D.C. to lobby for patent reform.

In 1998, O'Reilly helped rebrand free software under the term open source.{{Cite news| issue = 22| last = Morozov| first = Evgeny| title = The Meme Hustler: Tim O'Reilly's crazy talk| work = The Baffler| year = 2013| url = http://www.thebaffler.com/salvos/the-meme-hustler| archive-date = 19 November 2023| access-date = 13 February 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231119101005/https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-meme-hustler| url-status = live}}{{Cite book| publisher = O'Reilly Media| isbn = 9780596001100| pages = [https://archive.org/details/peertopeerharnes00oram_0/page/38 38]–58|editor1= Andrew Oram | last = O'Reilly| first = Tim| title = Peer-to-peer: Harnessing the Benefits of a Disruptive Technology| chapter = Remaking the Peer-to-Peer Meme| date = 2001| chapter-url-access = registration| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/peertopeerharnes00oram_0}}{{cite web|url=http://linuxgazette.net/issue28/rossum.html |title=Open Source Summit |work=Linux Gazette |date=10 April 1998 |access-date=7 February 2015 |first=Guido |last=van Rossum |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040529085521/http://linuxgazette.net/issue28/rossum.html |archive-date=29 May 2004 }} O'Reilly sees the role of open source as being inseparable from the development of the Internet, pointing to the widely used TCP/IP protocol, sendmail, Apache, Perl, Linux and other open source platforms. He is concerned about trends towards new forms of lock-in.{{cite video

| people = Tim O'Reilly

| date = 6 May 2010

| title = Web 2.0 Expo SF 2010: Tim O'Reilly, "State of the Internet Operating System"

| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAau6W--iMo

| format = SWF/FLV(Flash)/h.264

| medium = Videotaped Conference

| publisher = OReillyMedia

| location = San Francisco

| time = 7:00

| access-date = 24 August 2011

}}

In 2003, after the dot com bust, O'Reilly Media's corporate goal was to reignite enthusiasm in the computer industry. Dale Dougherty, an executive at O'Reilly, invoked the phrase "Web 2.0" during a brainstorming session.{{cite web|url=http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-20.htm|title=How Web 2.0 Works|work=HowStuffWorks|date=28 December 2007|access-date=1 May 2016|archive-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217030750/http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-20.htm|url-status=live}} Though O'Reilly is often credited with popularizing the phrase Web 2.0, it originated with Darcy DiNucci, who coined the term in 1999.{{Cite web |url=http://darcyd.com/fragmented_future.pdf |last=DiNucci |first=Darcy |title=Fragmented Future |format=PDF|volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=221–222 |access-date=2 August 2019 |archive-date=10 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110143942/http://darcyd.com/fragmented_future.pdf |url-status=live }} O'Reilly went on to popularize the phrase as a handle for the resurgence of the web after the dotcom crash of 2000, and as a generic term for the "harnessing of collective intelligence" viewed as the hallmark of this resurgence. O'Reilly first called an "executive conference" in 2004,{{cite web|url=http://www.web2con.com/web2con/ |work=Web2con |title=Web 2.0 Conference |year=2004 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913174125/http://www.web2con.com/web2con/ |archive-date=13 September 2008 }} inviting five hundred technology and business leaders, followed by a public version of the event in 2005. Annual iterations of the event, known as the "Web 2.0 Summit" from 2006 onwards, continued until 2011.

O'Reilly and employees of O'Reilly Media have applied the "2.0" concept to conferences in publishing and government, amongst other things.{{Cite journal | volume = 2| issue = 1 75| pages = 53–84| last = Turner| first = Fred|author2=Christine Larson| title = Network Celebrity: Entrepreneurship and the New Public Intellectuals| journal = Public Culture| date = 1 January 2015| doi = 10.1215/08992363-2798343}} O'Reilly envisions the Internet Operating System{{cite web|last=O'Reilly|first=Tim|title=The State of the Internet Operating System|url=http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/state-of-internet-operating-system.html|work=radar.oreilly.com|access-date=25 August 2011}} as consisting of various sub systems, such as media, payment, speech recognition, location, and identity. He uses the analogy of the biome of the human body having more bacterial than human cells (a ratio lately estimated at 1.3:1),{{cite journal|author1=Alison Abbott|title=Scientists bust myth that our bodies have more bacteria than human cells|journal=Nature|date=8 January 2016|doi=10.1038/nature.2016.19136|url=http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-bust-myth-that-our-bodies-have-more-bacteria-than-human-cells-1.19136|access-date=2 March 2017|publisher=Macmillan|issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free|archive-date=17 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117145414/http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-bust-myth-that-our-bodies-have-more-bacteria-than-human-cells-1.19136|url-status=live}} but depending upon millions of other organisms each pursuing their own interest but nevertheless weaving a co-operative web.{{cite video

|people = Tim O'Reilly, John Battelle

|date = 6 May 2010

|title = Web 2.0 Expo SF 2010: Tim O'Reilly, "State of the Internet Operating System"

|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAau6W--iMo

|format = SWF/FLV(Flash)/h.264

|medium = Videotaped Conference

|publisher = OReillyMedia

|location = San Francisco

|time = 12:20

|access-date = 24 August 2011

|archive-date = 11 April 2011

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110411230809/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAau6W--iMo&feature=youtu.be

|url-status = live

}}

O'Reilly has been propagating the notion of "government as platform", or "Gov 2.0".{{Cite web| last = Chafkin| first = Max| title = The Oracle of Silicon Valley| work = Inc.com| access-date = 5 March 2015| date = 1 May 2010| url = http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100501/the-oracle-of-silicon-valley.html| archive-date = 9 June 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180609100845/https://www.inc.com/magazine/20100501/the-oracle-of-silicon-valley.html| url-status = live}} He is considered the most enthusiastic promoter of algorithmic regulation,{{Cite news| last = Morozov| first = Evgeny| title = The rise of data and the death of politics| work = The Guardian| access-date = 13 February 2015| date = 20 July 2014| url = https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/20/rise-of-data-death-of-politics-evgeny-morozov-algorithmic-regulation| archive-date = 21 June 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180621195804/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/20/rise-of-data-death-of-politics-evgeny-morozov-algorithmic-regulation| url-status = live}} the ongoing monitoring and modification of government policies via open data feedback.{{Cite book |last=O'Reilly |first=Tim |title=Beyond Transparency: Open Data and the Future of Civic Innovation |date=October 2013 |publisher=Code for America |editor1=Brett Goldstein |location=San Francisco |chapter= |editor2=Lauren Dyson}}

In 2001, O'Reilly coined the term inner source for the use of open source software development practices and the establishment of an open source-like culture within organisations whereby the organisation may still develop proprietary software but internally opens up its development.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2000/opengl_1200.html|title=Open Source and OpenGL – O'Reilly Media|website=archive.oreilly.com|access-date=27 February 2017|archive-date=8 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108055316/http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2000/opengl_1200.html|url-status=live}}

Originally proposed by Tim O’Reilly, and developed further in collaboration with Ilan Strauss and Mariana Mazzucato, “algorithmic attention rents” entails the use of a platform’s algorithms to allocate user attention to content which is more profitable or beneficial to the platform, at the expense of its ecosystem of users and third-party firms, content creators, website developers, etc.{{Cite news |last=Francisco |first=Danny Fortson, San |date= |title=Tim O'Reilly: how Big Tech became landlords of the internet |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/technology/article/tim-oreilly-how-big-tech-became-landlords-of-the-internet-g09d5l5cl |access-date=2024-03-04 |language=en |issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite journal |last1=O’Reilly |first1=Tim |last2=Strauss |first2=Ilan |last3=Mazzucato |first3=Mariana |date= |title=Algorithmic attention rents: A theory of digital platform market power |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/data-and-policy/article/algorithmic-attention-rents-a-theory-of-digital-platform-market-power/D85FE41F6CF99FC57DDFB2B2B63491C5 |journal=Data & Policy |language=en |volume=6 |pages=e6 |doi= |issn=2632-3249 |archive-date=4 March 2024 |access-date=4 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304142824/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/data-and-policy/article/algorithmic-attention-rents-a-theory-of-digital-platform-market-power/D85FE41F6CF99FC57DDFB2B2B63491C5 |url-status=live }} Algorithms are used to degrade the quality of information shown to the user, as paid for and addictive content is promoted ahead of “organic” content which best meets users needs.

A detailed case study has been undertaken with respect to Amazon and its ability to degrade search results quality through the inclusion of (duplicated) paid advertising results in its product search results for its third-party marketplace.{{Cite web |last=UCL |date=2023-11-16 |title=Behind the Clicks: Can Amazon allocate user attention as it pleases? |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2023/nov/behind-clicks-can-amazon-allocate-user-attention-it-pleases |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose |language=en}} The theoretical (legal-economic) underpinnings of this is discussed in a companion paper.{{Cite web |last=UCL |date=2023-11-16 |title=Amazon's Algorithmic Rents: The economics of information on Amazon |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2023/nov/amazons-algorithmic-rents-economics-information-amazon |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose |language=en |archive-date=4 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304142826/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2023/nov/amazons-algorithmic-rents-economics-information-amazon |url-status=live }}

After graduating from Harvard, O'Reilly married his first wife, Christina, with whom he moved to the Boston area. The couple raised two daughters, Arwen and Meara. Arwen is married to Saul Griffith.

On 11 April 2015 O'Reilly married Jennifer Pahlka,{{cite web|title=Last night at the reception|last=O'Reilly|first=Tim|url=https://twitter.com/timoreilly/status/587226466984812544|work=Twitter|access-date=12 April 2015|date=12 April 2015|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305131909/https://twitter.com/timoreilly/status/587226466984812544|url-status=live}}{{Primary source inline|date=December 2017}}{{cite web|title=Web 2.0 Expo Speaker Bio|url=http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2011/public/schedule/speaker/360|publisher=O'Reilly Media|access-date=12 April 2015|archive-date=12 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412175322/http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2011/public/schedule/speaker/360|url-status=dead}} a former Deputy CTO of the US, and Founder and former Executive Director of Code for America.{{cite news|title=How the U.S. Digital Service could upset D.C.'s IT vendor ecosystem|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/25/how-the-u-s-digital-service-could-upset-d-c-s-it-vendor-ecosystem/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=25 August 2014|access-date=20 April 2015|first=Nancy|last=Scola|archive-date=31 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331170337/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/25/how-the-u-s-digital-service-could-upset-d-c-s-it-vendor-ecosystem/|url-status=live}}

• Algorithmic regulation
• Infoware
• Web 2.0
• O'Reilly Media
• Make
• Inner source

{{Reflist|30em}}

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{{Commons|Tim O'Reilly}}

• [http://www.wfs.org/May-June%20files/futurist_interview_tim_oreilly.htm FUTURIST magazine interview with O'Reilly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908012039/http://wfs.org/May-June%20files/futurist_interview_tim_oreilly.htm |date=8 September 2008 }}, Re: Future of Publishing
• [https://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/shows/#5 NerdTV Interview] (video, audio, and transcript available) – 29 September 2005
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071219023648/http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/44559 Tim O'Reilly interview – O'Reilly on Linux] PC Pro interview covering Linux, Java and books
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100916054139/http://www.aifestival.org/audio-video-library.php?menu=3&title=524&action=full_info Tim O'Reilly talks about Govt 2.0 at Aspen Ideas Festival, July 2009] video
• [http://twit.tv/floss73 Tim O'Reilly on FLOSS Weekly]
• Speaking with Stewart Brand and The Long Now on the subject [http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/sep/05/birth-global-mind/ “Birth of the Global Mind”] (020130905)
• {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Tim O'Reilly on Technology and Work |url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/tim_oreilly/ |work=EconTalk |publisher=Library of Economics and Liberty |author-link=Russ Roberts |date=15 October 2015}}
• {{C-SPAN}}

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Category:1954 births

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