Clay Johnson (technologist)
Encyclopedia
Clay Johnson is best known for his role in advocating for open source information in the federal government
and has been involved in a number of activities around making government data more transparent and accessible. He also started the first Internet Knowledge Exchange: knowpost.com. His latest project, InfoVegan.com, focuses on information obesity, information diets, and civic accountability. He is encouraging those in the open government movement to "solve problems with technology" and cultivate a community of developers to help make this happen.
’s presidential campaign, helping to reinvent politics online.
Along with three other Howard Dean staffers (Ben Self, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, and Joe Rospars), Clay Johnson founded Blue State Digital
, a company that provided technology services and online strategy for the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign
.
In 2006, Blue State Digital was one of Fast Company’s Fast 50.
.
As an undergrad at University of Rhode Island in 1997, Johnson created HumanSearch based on the belief that no matter how intelligent the web becomes, humans could always out-perform it. The site offered its services of humans standing by for questions, at no charge, and grew to a community of over 100,000.
In 2000, HumanSearch (then known as KnowPost) closed its doors.
In 2009, he was the Google
-O’Reilly
Open Source Community Builder of the Year, and in 2010, one of Federal Computer Week
's Fed 100. He also worked as an Entrepreneur in Residence at a venture capital
firm.
From 2008-2010 he was Director of Sunlight Labs, a community of open source developers and designers dedicated making the U.S. Government more transparent, accountable and responsible.
Along with John Petropoulos, Johnson invented the use of mouseover
preview ability in search results. The patent was filed in 2001, and issued in 2006.
, OSCON
, Gov 2.0 Expo, and Web 2.0 Expo, where he presents about tactics to make information more available. He was a guest on NPR’s All Things Considered
on June 8, 2009.
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
and has been involved in a number of activities around making government data more transparent and accessible. He also started the first Internet Knowledge Exchange: knowpost.com. His latest project, InfoVegan.com, focuses on information obesity, information diets, and civic accountability. He is encouraging those in the open government movement to "solve problems with technology" and cultivate a community of developers to help make this happen.
Company and politics
In 2004, Johnson was the lead programmer for Howard DeanHoward Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
’s presidential campaign, helping to reinvent politics online.
Along with three other Howard Dean staffers (Ben Self, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, and Joe Rospars), Clay Johnson founded Blue State Digital
Blue State Digital
Blue State Digital is a Washington, D.C.-based Internet strategy and technology firm. The company was founded in early 2004 by four former staffers of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign: Clay A. Johnson, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Joe Rospars, and Ben Self...
, a company that provided technology services and online strategy for the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
.
In 2006, Blue State Digital was one of Fast Company’s Fast 50.
Career
Prior to working to make politics more transparent, Johnson worked at AskJeeves, now Ask.com, as a technologist helping with web syndicationWeb syndication
Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary or update of the website's recently added content...
.
As an undergrad at University of Rhode Island in 1997, Johnson created HumanSearch based on the belief that no matter how intelligent the web becomes, humans could always out-perform it. The site offered its services of humans standing by for questions, at no charge, and grew to a community of over 100,000.
In 2000, HumanSearch (then known as KnowPost) closed its doors.
In 2009, he was the Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
-O’Reilly
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media is an American media company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books and Web sites and produces conferences on computer technology topics...
Open Source Community Builder of the Year, and in 2010, one of Federal Computer Week
Federal Computer Week
Federal Computer Week is a magazine covering technology mostly within the federal government, although coverage can also extend to state, local, tribal and international governments....
's Fed 100. He also worked as an Entrepreneur in Residence at a venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
firm.
From 2008-2010 he was Director of Sunlight Labs, a community of open source developers and designers dedicated making the U.S. Government more transparent, accountable and responsible.
Along with John Petropoulos, Johnson invented the use of mouseover
Mouseover
In computing a mouseover, mouse hover or hover box refers to a GUI event that is raised when the user moves or "hovers" the cursor over a particular area of the GUI. The technique is particularly common in web browsers where the URL of a hyperlink can be viewed in the status bar...
preview ability in search results. The patent was filed in 2001, and issued in 2006.
Speaking
Johnson is a frequent speaker at events such as SXSWSouth by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
, OSCON
O'Reilly Open Source Convention
The O'Reilly Open Source Convention is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and is held each summer in the United States.-Notable events:...
, Gov 2.0 Expo, and Web 2.0 Expo, where he presents about tactics to make information more available. He was a guest on NPR’s All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
on June 8, 2009.