Joi Ito
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
ese activist, entrepreneur
, venture capitalist and Director of the MIT Media Lab
.
Ito has received recognition for his role as an entrepreneur focused on Internet
and technology companies and has founded, among other companies, PSINet
Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek
Japan. He maintains a blog
, a wiki
and an IRC channel. Ito is the Chairman of Creative Commons
, on the Board of Trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
and General Partner of Neoteny Labs.
Ito was born in Kyoto
, Japan
. His family moved to Canada and then when Ito was about age 3 to a suburb of Detroit
, Michigan
in the United States
where his father became a research scientist and his mother a secretary for Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., now Ovonics
. Company founder Stanford R. Ovshinsky was impressed with Ito, whom he thought of almost as his son. Ovshinsky helped Ito develop his interests in technology and social movements, and at age 13 gave him work with scientists, saying, "He was not a child in the conventional sense."
Ito and his sister Mizuko Ito
, who is called Mimi, spent summers in Japan with their grandmother who taught them traditional Japanese culture. At 14, he returned to Japan when his mother was promoted to president of Energy Conversion Devices Japan. He studied at the Nishimachi International School
and for high school, the American School in Japan
in Tokyo
. Ito also learned "street language, street smarts, and computers." One of few Japanese using modem
s before deregulation
of networking reached Japan in 1985, Ito had found The Source
and the original MUD
by his teens (and by 26 was working on his own MUD
).
Ito returned to the U.S. to attend Tufts University
near Boston as a computer science
major, where he met, among others, Pierre Omidyar
, later founder of eBay
. Finding his course work too rigid and believing that learning computer science in school was "stupid", Ito dropped out of Tufts to briefly work for Ovonics
. Ovshinsky encouraged him to return to school. He enrolled at the University of Chicago
in physics
but dropped out on discovering, in his opinion, the program at Chicago to be more oriented towards producing practical engineers than towards teaching an intuitive understanding of physics. In the Fall of 1985 he became the first student to register for a pioneering program of online courses offered by Connected Education, Inc.
, for undergraduate credit from the New School for Social Research.
Ito is one of Timothy Leary
's godsons—a close non-traditional family-like relationship, an idea said to have been conceived by Leary for a few of his friends. Ito's sister is Mizuko Ito
, a cultural anthropologist
studying media technology use, and the musician Cornelius
is his second cousin. Ito currently lives in Dubai
, with his wife Mizuka Ito (née Kurogane).
such as The Limelight
and The Smart Bar and to work with Metasystems Design Group to start a virtual community
in Tokyo. Later, Ito ran a nightclub in Roppongi
, Japan
called XY Relax with help from Joe Shanahan
of Metro Chicago
/Smart Bar. He helped bring industrial music
from Chicago (Wax Trax) and later the rave
scene, including importing Anarchic Adjustment
to Japan.
Ito is the Chairman of Creative Commons
. He is on the board of Digital Garage, Culture Convenience Club (CCC), Tucows
, Machinima.com
, EPIC
, Technorati
, WITNESS and Global Voices Online
. He is the founder and CEO
of the venture capital firm Neoteny Co., Ltd. In October 2004, he was named to the board of ICANN
for a three-year term starting December 2004. In August 2005, he joined the board of the Mozilla Foundation
. He served on the board of the Open Source Initiative
(OSI) from March 2005 until April 2007. He currently serves as a Board Emeritus for OSI. He was a founding board member of Expression College for Digital Arts as well as the Zero One Art and Technology Network. In 1999, he served as the Associate to Mr. Mount (the executive producer) on the film The Indian Runner
. Ito also served as a Board Member of Energy Conversion Devices
from 1995 to 2000.
Ito is a venture capitalist and angel investor
and was an early stage investor in Kickstarter
, Twitter
, Six Apart
, Technorati
, Flickr
, SocialText
, Dopplr
, Last.fm
, Rupture, Kongregate
, etology Inc, Fotopedia
and other Internet companies. A vocal advocate of emergent democracy
and the sharing economy
, Ito is a doctoral candidate
in Business Administration focusing on the sharing economy
at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
, Hitotsubashi University
. He is the author of Emergent Democracy
. Ito is Senior Visiting Researcher of Keio Research
Institute at SFC. In May 2011, it was announced that Ito's company, Digital Garage, will provide PR, marketing, product marketing research and market research for Linkedin
Japan.
Ito is a PADI
Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) and a Divers Alert Network
(DAN) Instructor.
In recent years, Ito has become critical of what he sees as Japan's inward focus. He stated in a 2011 interview that he thinks Japan needs to look internationally if it is to continue to be "relevant', and that this is one of the reasons that he is on the board of Tokyo's Nishimachi International School
.
s for the Asian Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
and has published articles in numerous other magazines and newspapers. He has had regular columns in The Daily Yomiuri
, Mac World Japan
, Asahi
Pasocom, Asahi Doors, and other media sources. His photographs have been used in The New York Times
Online, BusinessWeek
, American Heritage
, Wired News
and BBC News
. He was on the early editorial mastheads of Wired
and Mondo 2000
. He has authored and co-authored a number of books including Dialog - Ryu Murakami X Joichi Ito with Ryu Murakami
. He has hosted televisions shows including The New Breed and SimTV shows on NHK
.
magazine as a member of the "Cyber-Elite" in 1997. He was also named one of the 50 "Stars of Asia" in the "Entrepreneurs and Dealmakers" category by BusinessWeek
and commended by the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
for supporting the advancement of IT in 2000. He was selected by the World Economic Forum
in 2001 as one of the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow".
chosen by Newsweek
as a member of the "Leaders of The Pack (high technology industry)" in 2005, and listed by Vanity Fair
as a member of "The Next Establishment" in the October Issue, 2007. Joi Ito was also named by BusinessWeek as one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web in 2008. On July 22, 2011 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his role as one of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom from the University of Oxford Internet Institute
.
. His appointment was called an "unusual choice" since Ito studied at two colleges, but did not finish his degrees. "The choice is radical, but brilliant," said Larry Smarr
, director of Calit2. Ito officially began his role on September 1, 2011.
Nicholas Negroponte
, Media Lab's co-founder and chairman emeritus, described the choice as bringing the media to "Joi's world". In an interview with Asian Scientist Magazine
, Joi Ito discusses his vision for the MIT Media Lab, and how he likes the word “learning” better than the word “education”.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese activist, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, venture capitalist and Director of the MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
.
Ito has received recognition for his role as an entrepreneur focused on Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and technology companies and has founded, among other companies, PSINet
PSINet
PSINet was one of the first internet service providers , based in Northern Virginia, and a major player in the commercialization of the Internet until the company's bankruptcy in 2001 during the dot-com bubble and acquisition by Cogent Communications in 2002.-Growth:PSINet was founded in 1989 by...
Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek
Infoseek
Infoseek was a popular search engine founded in 1994 by Steve Kirsch.Infoseek was originally operated by the Infoseek Corporation, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Infoseek was bought by The Walt Disney Company in 1998, and the technology was merged with that of the Disney-acquired Starwave...
Japan. He maintains a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
and an IRC channel. Ito is the Chairman of Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
, on the Board of Trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is an American private, non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts....
and General Partner of Neoteny Labs.
Family and education
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. His family moved to Canada and then when Ito was about age 3 to a suburb of Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where his father became a research scientist and his mother a secretary for Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., now Ovonics
Ovonics
Energy Conversion Devices is headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan.United Solar Ovonic, LLC is its wholly owned subsidiary located in Auburn Hills, Michigan...
. Company founder Stanford R. Ovshinsky was impressed with Ito, whom he thought of almost as his son. Ovshinsky helped Ito develop his interests in technology and social movements, and at age 13 gave him work with scientists, saying, "He was not a child in the conventional sense."
Ito and his sister Mizuko Ito
Mizuko Ito
is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. In addition, she is a Visiting Associate Professor at the Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance....
, who is called Mimi, spent summers in Japan with their grandmother who taught them traditional Japanese culture. At 14, he returned to Japan when his mother was promoted to president of Energy Conversion Devices Japan. He studied at the Nishimachi International School
Nishimachi International School
Nishimachi International School is a private school in Tokyo, Japan which was established in 1949. Located in the Azabu Juban area of Tokyo, it is one of the International Schools in the area. Nishimachi currently has students of over 50 nationalities attending, and has a very international...
and for high school, the American School in Japan
American School in Japan
The American School in Japan was founded in 1902 and is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The school consists of an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school, all located on the Chōfu campus...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. Ito also learned "street language, street smarts, and computers." One of few Japanese using modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s before deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of networking reached Japan in 1985, Ito had found The Source
The Source (service)
The Source was an early online service, one of the first such services to be oriented toward and available to the general public. The Source described itself as follows:...
and the original MUD
MUD1
Multi-User Dungeon, or MUD is the first MUD and the oldest virtual world in existence. It was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw at Essex University on a DEC PDP-10 in the UK, using the MACRO-10 assembly language...
by his teens (and by 26 was working on his own MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
).
Ito returned to the U.S. to attend Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
near Boston as a computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
major, where he met, among others, Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Morad Omidyar is a French-Iranian American entrepreneur and philanthropist/economist, and the founder/chairman of the eBay auction site...
, later founder of eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. Finding his course work too rigid and believing that learning computer science in school was "stupid", Ito dropped out of Tufts to briefly work for Ovonics
Ovonics
Energy Conversion Devices is headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan.United Solar Ovonic, LLC is its wholly owned subsidiary located in Auburn Hills, Michigan...
. Ovshinsky encouraged him to return to school. He enrolled at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
but dropped out on discovering, in his opinion, the program at Chicago to be more oriented towards producing practical engineers than towards teaching an intuitive understanding of physics. In the Fall of 1985 he became the first student to register for a pioneering program of online courses offered by Connected Education, Inc.
Connected Education
Connected Education - also known as Connect Ed - was a pioneering online education organization founded and administered by Paul Levinson and TinaVozick. Operating from 1985 to 1997, Connect Ed offered the M.A. degrees in Media Studies Connected Education - also known as Connect Ed - was a...
, for undergraduate credit from the New School for Social Research.
Ito is one of Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
's godsons—a close non-traditional family-like relationship, an idea said to have been conceived by Leary for a few of his friends. Ito's sister is Mizuko Ito
Mizuko Ito
is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. In addition, she is a Visiting Associate Professor at the Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance....
, a cultural anthropologist
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
studying media technology use, and the musician Cornelius
Cornelius (musician)
Cornelius is a Japanese recording artist and producer.-Career:Oyamada's first claim to fame was as a member of the pop duo Flipper's Guitar, one of the key groups of the Tokyo Shibuya-kei scene...
is his second cousin. Ito currently lives in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, with his wife Mizuka Ito (née Kurogane).
Later life
Ito became a disk jockey working in nightclubs in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
such as The Limelight
The Limelight
The Limelight is the name of a chain of nightclubs that were owned and operated by Peter Gatien, located in Atlanta, Hollywood, Florida, and London, and formerly in New York City and Chicago.-History:...
and The Smart Bar and to work with Metasystems Design Group to start a virtual community
Virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...
in Tokyo. Later, Ito ran a nightclub in Roppongi
Roppongi
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous as home to the rich Roppongi Hills area and an active night club scene. Many foreign embassies are located in Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
called XY Relax with help from Joe Shanahan
Joe Shanahan
Joe Shanahan is the founder and owner of Metro Chicago and Smart Bar in Chicago, Illinois. He is also the part owner of the Daily Bar and Grill, as well as Double Door....
of Metro Chicago
Metro Chicago
This page is about the concert hall; for the metro region surrounding Chicago, see Chicago metropolitan area.Metro is a concert hall at 3730 N. Clark Street in Chicago, Illinois that plays host to a variety of local, regional and national emerging bands and musicians. The Metro was first opened in...
/Smart Bar. He helped bring industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
from Chicago (Wax Trax) and later the rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scene, including importing Anarchic Adjustment
Anarchic Adjustment
Anarchic Adjustment was a fashion clothing company founded in London in 1986 by Nick Philip. London's post-punk Anarchic Adjustment moved to sunny California with the arrival of founder Nick Philip to the freestyle bicycle/skate scene of Southern California....
to Japan.
Ito is the Chairman of Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
. He is on the board of Digital Garage, Culture Convenience Club (CCC), Tucows
Tucows
Tucows was formed in Flint, Michigan, USA in 1993. It incorporated in Pennsylvania and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, Machinima.com
Machinima.com
Machinima.com is a gaming and media streaming website, that aims to be a hub for machinima, the art of creating animated videos in real-time virtual 3-D environments. The site features machinima-related articles, and news. Machinima productions can be submitted for possible redistribution after...
, EPIC
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research group in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values in the information age...
, Technorati
Technorati
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
, WITNESS and Global Voices Online
Global Voices Online
Global Voices Online is an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists that follow, report, and summarizes what is going on in the blogosphere in every corner of the world...
. He is the founder and CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the venture capital firm Neoteny Co., Ltd. In October 2004, he was named to the board of ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
for a three-year term starting December 2004. In August 2005, he joined the board of the Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. The organization sets the policies that govern development, operates key infrastructure and controls trademarks and other intellectual property...
. He served on the board of the Open Source Initiative
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...
(OSI) from March 2005 until April 2007. He currently serves as a Board Emeritus for OSI. He was a founding board member of Expression College for Digital Arts as well as the Zero One Art and Technology Network. In 1999, he served as the Associate to Mr. Mount (the executive producer) on the film The Indian Runner
The Indian Runner
The Indian Runner is a 1991 drama film written and directed by Sean Penn. It is based on Bruce Springsteen's song, "Highway Patrolman".-Plot:...
. Ito also served as a Board Member of Energy Conversion Devices
Ovonics
Energy Conversion Devices is headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan.United Solar Ovonic, LLC is its wholly owned subsidiary located in Auburn Hills, Michigan...
from 1995 to 2000.
Ito is a venture capitalist and angel investor
Angel investor
An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...
and was an early stage investor in Kickstarter
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors, ranging from indie film and music to journalism, solar energy technology and food-related projects.-Model:...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, Six Apart
Six Apart
Six Apart Ltd., sometimes abbreviated 6A, is a software company known for creating the Movable Type blogware, TypePad blog hosting service, and Vox. The company also is the former owner of LiveJournal. Six Apart is headquartered in Tokyo and is planning to open a new, U.S.-based office in New York...
, Technorati
Technorati
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
, Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
, SocialText
Socialtext
Socialtext Incorporated is a company based in Palo Alto, California that produces enterprise social software, comprising an integrated suite of web-based social software applications including microblogging, user profile, directories, groups, personal dashboards using OpenSocial widgets, and shared...
, Dopplr
Dopplr
Dopplr is a free social networking service, launched in 2007, that allows users to create itineraries of their travel plans and spot correlations with their contacts’ travel plans in order to arrange meetings at any point on their journey. Additional features include allowing the user to calculate...
, Last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
, Rupture, Kongregate
Kongregate
Kongregate is an online games hosting website owned by Gamestop Corporation, which allows users to upload user-created Adobe Flash or Unity3D games. It features an API that Flash and Unity developers can integrate into their games which allows users to submit high scores and in some games, earn...
, etology Inc, Fotopedia
Fotopedia
Fotopedia is a photo encyclopedia that, as of August 2011, has generated more than 51,000 pages and linked to over 755,000 photos.Fotopedia was launched in June 2009 by 5 former Apple employees: Jean-Marie Hullot, Bertrand Guiheneuf, Manuel Colom, Sébastien Maury and Olivier Gutknecht.Members can...
and other Internet companies. A vocal advocate of emergent democracy
Emergent democracy
Emergent democracy refers to the rise of political structures and behaviors without central planning and by the action of many individual participants, especially when mediated by the Internet...
and the sharing economy
Gift economy
In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards . Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community...
, Ito is a doctoral candidate
Doctor of Business Administration
The degree of Doctor of Business Administration, abbreviated, or and equivalent to , is a research doctorate in business administration. The D.B.A...
in Business Administration focusing on the sharing economy
Gift economy
In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards . Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community...
at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
The , also known by an acronym ICS, is the graduate business school of Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan. It is also referred to as "Hitotsubashi ICS". ICS is the first "professional graduate school" established in Japan...
, Hitotsubashi University
Hitotsubashi University
is a national university specialised in the social sciences in Tokyo, Japan. The University has campuses in Kunitachi, Kodaira, and Kanda.Hitotsubashi is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It is ranked 25th in the world in 2011 by École des Mines de Paris.Hitotsubashi...
. He is the author of Emergent Democracy
Emergent democracy
Emergent democracy refers to the rise of political structures and behaviors without central planning and by the action of many individual participants, especially when mediated by the Internet...
. Ito is Senior Visiting Researcher of Keio Research
Institute at SFC. In May 2011, it was announced that Ito's company, Digital Garage, will provide PR, marketing, product marketing research and market research for Linkedin
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
Japan.
Ito is a PADI
Professional Association of Diving Instructors
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors is the world's largest recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson...
Master Scuba Diver Trainer (MSDT) and a Divers Alert Network
Divers Alert Network
The Divers Alert Network is a non-profit 501 organization devoted to assisting divers in need. The Research department conducts significant medical research on recreational scuba diving safety...
(DAN) Instructor.
In recent years, Ito has become critical of what he sees as Japan's inward focus. He stated in a 2011 interview that he thinks Japan needs to look internationally if it is to continue to be "relevant', and that this is one of the reasons that he is on the board of Tokyo's Nishimachi International School
Nishimachi International School
Nishimachi International School is a private school in Tokyo, Japan which was established in 1949. Located in the Azabu Juban area of Tokyo, it is one of the International Schools in the area. Nishimachi currently has students of over 50 nationalities attending, and has a very international...
.
Journalism
Ito has written opinion editorialEditorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
s for the Asian Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and has published articles in numerous other magazines and newspapers. He has had regular columns in The Daily Yomiuri
Yomiuri Shimbun
The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...
, Mac World Japan
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
, Asahi
Asahi Shimbun
The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
Pasocom, Asahi Doors, and other media sources. His photographs have been used in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Online, BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
, American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
, Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
and BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
. He was on the early editorial mastheads of Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
and Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
. He has authored and co-authored a number of books including Dialog - Ryu Murakami X Joichi Ito with Ryu Murakami
Ryu Murakami
is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is colloquially referred to as the "Maradona of Japanese literature".-Biography:Born as Ryūnosuke Murakami in Sasebo, Nagasaki on February 19, 1952...
. He has hosted televisions shows including The New Breed and SimTV shows on NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
.
Media "lists" and honors
Ito was listed by TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine as a member of the "Cyber-Elite" in 1997. He was also named one of the 50 "Stars of Asia" in the "Entrepreneurs and Dealmakers" category by BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
and commended by the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
The ' or Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. The English name Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications was used prior to 2004...
for supporting the advancement of IT in 2000. He was selected by the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in 2001 as one of the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow".
chosen by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
as a member of the "Leaders of The Pack (high technology industry)" in 2005, and listed by Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
as a member of "The Next Establishment" in the October Issue, 2007. Joi Ito was also named by BusinessWeek as one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web in 2008. On July 22, 2011 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his role as one of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom from the University of Oxford Internet Institute
Oxford Internet Institute
The Oxford Internet Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute based at the University of Oxford, England, and housed in buildings owned by Balliol College, Oxford. It is devoted to the study of the societal implications of the Internet, with the aim of shaping research, policy and practice in...
.
MIT Media Lab
The New York Times reported that Joi Ito was named to be the director of the MIT Media LabMIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
. His appointment was called an "unusual choice" since Ito studied at two colleges, but did not finish his degrees. "The choice is radical, but brilliant," said Larry Smarr
Larry Smarr
Larry Smarr is a physicist and leader in scientific computing, supercomputer applications, and Internet infrastructure.He received both his BA and MS at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and received a Ph.D...
, director of Calit2. Ito officially began his role on September 1, 2011.
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....
, Media Lab's co-founder and chairman emeritus, described the choice as bringing the media to "Joi's world". In an interview with Asian Scientist Magazine
Asian Scientist Magazine
Asian Scientist Magazine is a science & technology magazine that was launched as an MIT alumni start-up in March 2011 by the company, Asian Scientist LLP....
, Joi Ito discusses his vision for the MIT Media Lab, and how he likes the word “learning” better than the word “education”.