Ben Brown (blogger)
Encyclopedia
Ben Brown is a co-founder of the social networking website Consumating. Raised in Derwood, MD he attended Colonel Zadok Magruder High School
, he began attending the University of Maryland
in 1996 but did not complete his degree in English and instead dropped out in 2000 in order to pursue personal interests.
, and also as a connecting reference for his software and literary publications.
In 2001 he co-founded an "ultra-micro-mini" publishing company with James Stegall named So New Media and used it to create and publish the literary magazine Words! Words! Words! as well as the public performance venue Bookpunk.
, and eventually user-generated XML
feeds for creating custom web applications. The site shut down in late 2000 for financial reasons.
In 2001, he moved to New Zealand where he was on the team that created an online tool for the certification of milk and dairy exports for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. While in New Zealand, he was also hired to write episodes of a popular children's television show, Squirt. He was once married to Ani Moller, a blogger from New Zealand.
In 2002, he and Adam Mathes created the Personals sub-section http://personals.uber.nu/ on their zine Über, which served as the initial foundation for and was eventually renamed to Consumating.
Ben served as founding editor for the Austinist social event blog beginning in early 2005. In late December of that year, he announced the CNET
purchase of Consumating, ceased work with Austinist, and moved to San Francisco to work on Consumating with Josh Goldberg.
On April 3, Ben announced he was leaving CNET
and Consumating to work on a next-generation community site with extreme programmer
Robert Swirsky
.
Colonel Zadok A. Magruder High School
Colonel Zadok A. Magruder High School is a secondary public school located in Rockville , Maryland.Magruder is named for Colonel Zadok Magruder, a Revolutionary War patriot and farmer. He was colonel in command of part of the Maryland militia and helped establish Montgomery County's government in...
, he began attending the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
in 1996 but did not complete his degree in English and instead dropped out in 2000 in order to pursue personal interests.
Publishing
Ben has been a co-founder of several zines including FlabJab, TEETH, and Über. His personal website http://benbrown.com/ has been in existence since 1997 and has at times served as an outlet for his creative works of fiction, as a personal blogBlog
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...
, and also as a connecting reference for his software and literary publications.
In 2001 he co-founded an "ultra-micro-mini" publishing company with James Stegall named So New Media and used it to create and publish the literary magazine Words! Words! Words! as well as the public performance venue Bookpunk.
Internet
In 1999, Brown co-founded the Deepleap website which provided an extensible utility for searching and interacting with various websites, social bookmarkingSocial bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
, and eventually user-generated XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
feeds for creating custom web applications. The site shut down in late 2000 for financial reasons.
In 2001, he moved to New Zealand where he was on the team that created an online tool for the certification of milk and dairy exports for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. While in New Zealand, he was also hired to write episodes of a popular children's television show, Squirt. He was once married to Ani Moller, a blogger from New Zealand.
In 2002, he and Adam Mathes created the Personals sub-section http://personals.uber.nu/ on their zine Über, which served as the initial foundation for and was eventually renamed to Consumating.
Ben served as founding editor for the Austinist social event blog beginning in early 2005. In late December of that year, he announced the CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
purchase of Consumating, ceased work with Austinist, and moved to San Francisco to work on Consumating with Josh Goldberg.
On April 3, Ben announced he was leaving CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
and Consumating to work on a next-generation community site with extreme programmer
Extreme Programming
Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
Robert Swirsky
Robert Swirsky
Robert Swirsky is a computer scientist, author, and pianist. In the early 1980s, Swirsky was one of the first regular contributors to the nascent computer magazine industry...
.
External links
- http://ilovebenbrown.com/ - Ben Brown's current blog
- http://www.flickr.com/groups/ilovebenbrown/ - Ben Brown fan group on FlickrFlickrFlickr 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...
- Video stream of the Independent Film ChannelIndependent Film ChannelThe Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
's 2006-05-01 television broadcast of SXSW 2006: Behind the Badge. Ben Brown was one of only three SXSW presenters selected for this show. Retrieved on 2006-08-11. - Wired NewsWired NewsWired 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...
interview with Ben regarding Consumating -
- Ben physically assembled each book in the printing of: