Esther Dyson
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Esther Dyson (born 14 July, 1951) is the daughter of Freeman Dyson and a noted consultant and philosopher in the field of emerging digital technology.
After graduating from Harvard in economics, Dyson began her serious career in 1974 as a fact-checker for Forbes and quickly rose to reporter. In 1977 she joined New Court Securities as "the research department", following Federal Express and other start-ups. After a stint at Oppenheimer covering software companies, she moved to Rosen Research and in 1983 bought the company from her employer Ben Rosen, and renamed it EDventure Holdings.
A signature element of her projects are their names:
- Release 1.0 is Dyson's influential monthly technology-industry newsletter, published for the last 20 years by EDventure Holdings. Dyson writes several issues herself and edits the rest.
- Release 2.0 is Dyson's 1997 book on the impact of the Internet on individuals' lives. The full title is Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age. She published an updated volume, Release 2.1, in 1998.
- Release 3.0 is Dyson's bimonthly column for the New York Times and its syndicate. Dyson also publishes the column in her own newsletter.
- Release 4.0 ( http://weblog.edventure.com ) is Dyson's weblog.
Dyson and her company specialize in analyzing the impact of emerging technologies and markets on the economy and society.
She is a noted participant in numerous non-profit organizations. She donates time and money as a trustee to emerging organizations (Glasses for Humanity, Bridges.org, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Eurasia Foundation). She recently finished a two-year-term as founding chairman of ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. As of 2004, she sits on its "reform" committee, dedicated to defining a role for individuals in ICANN's decision-making and governance structures.
The biography above was based on the official biography at Esther Dyson's website, http://www.edventure.com..