Stowe Boyd
Front Man, Microsyntax.org

I am best known for my writing (and the thinking behind it, I hope) at /Message, which is focused on the growth and adopt of social tools, and their impact on business, media, and society. I coined the term “social tools” in 1999, in the final issue of an email newsletter I was writing called Message. I then switched to blogging, first at Message from Edge City, then Timing, and when I joined Corante in 2003, Get Real. I left Corante in 2005, and started /Message, and it has become reasonably influential among those most deeply interested in what I call the social revolution.

I have a masters degree in Computer Science, although sometimes I wonder how relevant that is to my interests these days. I think the time I spent studying linguistics and media might have been more formative.

I spent about ten years in the ‘80s and ‘90s working in software research and consulting around programming languages and software tools, and then got hooked on collaboration technologies. During that time I worked in standards devellopment in programming languages, SQL, and operating systems. I served as an ACM National Lecturer in Programming Methods. I jumped out of the world of software tools after I merged Meridian Software, where I was president, with Verdix in 1992, and then Verdix, where I was SVP of Engineering, with Rational Software in 1994.

I started tracking collaboration technology in the mid ‘90s, and as the web started to emerge, I fanned the flames. I have primarily worked as an independent consultant and analyst (a ‘software product theorist” as I like to say) since the mid ‘90s. According to Technobabble I am one of the top ten analysts blogging.

I coined the term ‘social tools’ in 1999, and have remained focused on their impact on business, media, and society ever since. Since that time I have worked with dozens of start-ups and more established froms like AOL, Microsoft, iMeem, TravelPod, Mozilla, Freshbooks, Bit.ly, Empressr, MOG, The SchoolOfEverything, Bview, Xing, and Jabber.

I have presented my views internationally in venues like FutureSonic, DeFrag, Reboot, Lift, Shift, Mesh, Enterprise 2.0, Office 2.0, Under The Radar, Next, and Web 2.0 Expo, to name only a few. I am on the advisory board of Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, and other conferences.

I am dividing my work between consulting with various start-ups and more established companies in the social tools area, as well as various non-profits. In particular, as on May 2009, I am serving as the managing director of Microsyntax.org, a non-profit investigating the embedding of structured information within microstreaming applications, particularly Twitter.

I am having a lot of fun.