Nova Spivack
Encyclopedia
Nova Spivack is a technology entrepreneur
named as one of the top thought-leaders on the future of the Web.
Spivack is presently CEO of Bottlenose, a new realtime personalization startup. He is also a co-founder and investor in several other ventures, including Live Matrix, which is making a guide to scheduled events on the Web, The Daily Dot
which is making a new online newspaper for consumers, and StreamGlider which is making a new mobile media dashboard. He is also the first outside investor in Klout
, which provides social analytics for Twitter and Facebook. Spivack was founder and Chief Executive Officer of Radar Networks
, the makers of Twine.com
(acquired by Evri Inc. in 2010) and is considered a leading pioneer in semantic web
technology.
In 1994 he co-founded EarthWeb, Inc., one of the first Internet companies. He founded Lucid Ventures in 2001 and the semantic web venture Radar Networks
in 2003.
Nova Spivack writes about the future of the Internet
and topics concerning Semantic Web technology and Web applications.
Nova Spivack is the grandson of Peter F. Drucker
, widely considered "the father of modern management.” He is married to Kimberly Rubin-Spivack. His mother is the Boston poet and writer, Kathleen Spivack, and his father, Mayer Spivack, was a consultant on organizational behavior, innovation, and learning, as well as an artist. His brother, Marin Spivack is a Jazz musician and tai chi teacher.
. He was admitted early to the University of Massachusetts Boston
and attended while still in high school. In 1989 he attended MIT and took part in a study of parallel computing
techniques for research on chaos-
and complexity theory
. He studied philosophy
at Oberlin College
with focus on artificial intelligence
and cognitive science
; graduating with a B.A. degree
in 1991. In 1992 Spivack received an invitation to attend a business school program at the International Space University
and earned a CSS graduate-level professional degree in Space Life Sciences. His studies were funded by NASA
and the ESA
. He later trained with the Russian Air Force
in reduced-gravity parabolic flight and flew to edge of space with Space Adventures
in 1999.
Spivack writes about the future of the Internet
; often the Semantic Web
, artificial intelligence
and search engine
technology. He blogs on Minding the Planet and frequently publishes on other websites. An article of note was published on TechCrunch in March 2009; about the technology behind Wolfram/Alpha
, a knowledge engine, unreleased at the time, created by computer scientist Stephen Wolfram
. The article generated excitement among Web users and attracted dozens of citations and interview requests from high-profile websites such as ABC News, Newsweek, CNN and the New York Times. At the Semantic Technology Conference on June 17, 2009, Spivack led a discussion about Wolfram|Alpha with Russell Foltz-Smith from Wolfram Research (transcript).
to filter news sources.
In 1994 Nova Spivack co-founded the IT information provider website EarthWeb, Inc.. and subsequently served as Executive Vice-President for Products, Strategy and Marketing. EarthWeb's initial public offering
on November 11, 1998 closed at US$48.69 per share, up 247.8% from its opening price of $14 At the time, EarthWeb's first-day return was among the largest in NASDAQ history and helped recapture a dwindling investor interest in new equity offerings of Internet-based companies. At EarthWeb Spivack helped establishments launch their first large-scale Web operations
; among those are some of note: AT&T, Sony and the New York Stock Exchange. Following the dot-com crash
EarthWeb ran into difficulty and in 2000 its content properties were acquired by Internet.com. EarthWeb's property Dice.com
remained a stand-alone business until it was acquired for approximately US$200 million in 2005, followed by a NASDAQ initial public offering in 2007.
of SRI International
and Sarnoff Laboratories. While working at nVention Spivack founded two companies of his own; business incubator Lucid Ventures in 2001 and technology venture Radar Networks
in 2003. The technology developed by Radar Networks was based on Semantic Web systems that Spivack worked on in CALO
, a SRI project funded by DARPA. In April 2006 Spivack raised initial outside venture funding for Radar Networks. They introduced their first commercial product in 2008, Twine
; a Semantic Web based tool for information storage, authoring and discovery. Twine combined features of forum
s, wiki
s, online database
s and newsgroup
s. Data
categorization and keyword-association (tagging)
were automated by artificial intelligence developed by Radar Networks
. Information from the Wikipedia was automatically mined to expand its knowledge base. Close to 30,000 people signed up for early access while Twine was in private beta.
Upon opening the service to the public, user traffic increased 40% each month from October 2008 to June 2009, peaking at an 80% increase in February. The company stated that user growth reached 3 million monthly visitors, 300,000 registered users, and approximately 5 million pieces of user-contributed content at its peak. User traffic statistics mirror early development of Wikipedia.
Twine was acquired by Evri
, a venture owned by Paul Allen
, in March 2010, before T2 was launched.
In 2010, Spivack announced a new venture, Live Matrix, in partnership with Sanjay Reddy (formerly SVP of Gemstar TV Guide), which aims to provide a unified Web-based guide to all scheduled content and events taking place on the Internet.
Spivack was also the first investor in, Klout.com, the leading service measuring influence.
In 2011, Spivack announced that he is working on several new ventures (presently in stealth mode), including The Daily Dot
, Bottlenose
, and StreamGlider.
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...
named as one of the top thought-leaders on the future of the Web.
Spivack is presently CEO of Bottlenose, a new realtime personalization startup. He is also a co-founder and investor in several other ventures, including Live Matrix, which is making a guide to scheduled events on the Web, The Daily Dot
The Daily Dot
The Daily Dot is an online newspaper that covers internet topics. It aims to be the "hometown newspaper" of the internet. It has a 25 member editorial staff. The CEO is Nick White....
which is making a new online newspaper for consumers, and StreamGlider which is making a new mobile media dashboard. He is also the first outside investor in Klout
Klout
Klout is a San Francisco based company that provides social media analytics to measure a user's influence across their social network. The analysis is done on data taken from sites such as Twitter and Facebook and measures the size of a person's network, the content created, and how other people...
, which provides social analytics for Twitter and Facebook. Spivack was founder and Chief Executive Officer of Radar Networks
Radar Networks
Radar Networks is a San Francisco based company developing semantic web applications for the general public. The company was founded in 2003 by Nova Spivack and Kristinn R. Thórisson .- History :...
, the makers of Twine.com
Twine (website)
Twine is an online, social web service for information storage, authoring and discovery. Created by Radar Networks, the service was announced on October 19, 2007 and made open to the public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, Radar Networks was acquired by Evri Inc...
(acquired by Evri Inc. in 2010) and is considered a leading pioneer in semantic web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
technology.
In 1994 he co-founded EarthWeb, Inc., one of the first Internet companies. He founded Lucid Ventures in 2001 and the semantic web venture Radar Networks
Radar Networks
Radar Networks is a San Francisco based company developing semantic web applications for the general public. The company was founded in 2003 by Nova Spivack and Kristinn R. Thórisson .- History :...
in 2003.
Nova Spivack writes about the future of the 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 topics concerning Semantic Web technology and Web applications.
Nova Spivack is the grandson of Peter F. Drucker
Peter Drucker
Peter Ferdinand Drucker was an influential writer, management consultant, and self-described “social ecologist.”-Introduction:...
, widely considered "the father of modern management.” He is married to Kimberly Rubin-Spivack. His mother is the Boston poet and writer, Kathleen Spivack, and his father, Mayer Spivack, was a consultant on organizational behavior, innovation, and learning, as well as an artist. His brother, Marin Spivack is a Jazz musician and tai chi teacher.
Early life, education and activities
Nova Spivack was born in Boston and grew up in Watertown, MassachusettsWatertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
. He was admitted early to the University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston, also known as UMass Boston, is an urban public research university and the second largest campus in the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. The university is located on on Harbor Point in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States...
and attended while still in high school. In 1989 he attended MIT and took part in a study of parallel computing
Parallel computing
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...
techniques for research on chaos-
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
and complexity theory
Complex systems
Complex systems present problems in mathematical modelling.The equations from which complex system models are developed generally derive from statistical physics, information theory and non-linear dynamics, and represent organized but unpredictable behaviors of systems of nature that are considered...
. He studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
with focus on artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
; graduating with a B.A. degree
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1991. In 1992 Spivack received an invitation to attend a business school program at the International Space University
International Space University
The International Space University is a private university founded in 1987. The University currently offers three degree granting programs — Master of Science in Space Management, Master of Science in Space Studies and Executive MBA — in addition to a non-degree-granting Space Studies Program.The...
and earned a CSS graduate-level professional degree in Space Life Sciences. His studies were funded by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the ESA
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
. He later trained with the Russian Air Force
Russian Air Force
The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
in reduced-gravity parabolic flight and flew to edge of space with Space Adventures
Space Adventures
Space Adventures, Ltd. is a Virginia, USA-based space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. , offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights , and other spaceflight-related experiences including cosmonaut training, spacewalk training, and launch tours...
in 1999.
Spivack writes about the future of the 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...
; often the Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
, artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
technology. He blogs on Minding the Planet and frequently publishes on other websites. An article of note was published on TechCrunch in March 2009; about the technology behind Wolfram/Alpha
Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha is an answer-engine developed by Wolfram Research. It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might...
, a knowledge engine, unreleased at the time, created by computer scientist Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram is a British scientist and the chief designer of the Mathematica software application and the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine.- Biography :...
. The article generated excitement among Web users and attracted dozens of citations and interview requests from high-profile websites such as ABC News, Newsweek, CNN and the New York Times. At the Semantic Technology Conference on June 17, 2009, Spivack led a discussion about Wolfram|Alpha with Russell Foltz-Smith from Wolfram Research (transcript).
Professional career
In the late 1980s Spivack developed software for Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc. and later at Thinking Machines. Early 1993 Spivack worked at Individual, Inc., a venture that developed intelligent softwareArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
to filter news sources.
In 1994 Nova Spivack co-founded the IT information provider website EarthWeb, Inc.. and subsequently served as Executive Vice-President for Products, Strategy and Marketing. EarthWeb's initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
on November 11, 1998 closed at US$48.69 per share, up 247.8% from its opening price of $14 At the time, EarthWeb's first-day return was among the largest in NASDAQ history and helped recapture a dwindling investor interest in new equity offerings of Internet-based companies. At EarthWeb Spivack helped establishments launch their first large-scale Web operations
Web operations
Web operations is a domain of expertise within IT systems management that involves the deployment, operation, maintenance, tuning, and repair of web-based applications....
; among those are some of note: AT&T, Sony and the New York Stock Exchange. Following the dot-com crash
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
EarthWeb ran into difficulty and in 2000 its content properties were acquired by Internet.com. EarthWeb's property Dice.com
Dice.com
Dice.com is a career website based in Urbandale, Iowa. It serves information technology and engineering professionals. Dice.com is owned by Dice Holdings, Inc ....
remained a stand-alone business until it was acquired for approximately US$200 million in 2005, followed by a NASDAQ initial public offering in 2007.
Technology ventures
In 1999 to 2000, Spivack helped co-found and build nVention Convergence Ventures; an in-house intellectual property incubatorBusiness incubator
Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
of SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
and Sarnoff Laboratories. While working at nVention Spivack founded two companies of his own; business incubator Lucid Ventures in 2001 and technology venture Radar Networks
Radar Networks
Radar Networks is a San Francisco based company developing semantic web applications for the general public. The company was founded in 2003 by Nova Spivack and Kristinn R. Thórisson .- History :...
in 2003. The technology developed by Radar Networks was based on Semantic Web systems that Spivack worked on in CALO
CALO
CALO was an artificial intelligence project that attempted to integrate numerous AI technologies into a cognitive assistant. CALO is an acronym for "Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes". The name was inspired by the Latin word "calonis," which means "soldier’s servant"...
, a SRI project funded by DARPA. In April 2006 Spivack raised initial outside venture funding for Radar Networks. They introduced their first commercial product in 2008, Twine
Twine (website)
Twine is an online, social web service for information storage, authoring and discovery. Created by Radar Networks, the service was announced on October 19, 2007 and made open to the public on October 21, 2008. On March 11, 2010, Radar Networks was acquired by Evri Inc...
; a Semantic Web based tool for information storage, authoring and discovery. Twine combined features of forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s, 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...
s, online database
Online database
An online database is a database accessible from a network, including from the Internet.It differs from a local database, held in an individual computer or its attached storage, such as a CD....
s and newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
s. Data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
categorization and keyword-association (tagging)
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
were automated by artificial intelligence developed by Radar Networks
Radar Networks
Radar Networks is a San Francisco based company developing semantic web applications for the general public. The company was founded in 2003 by Nova Spivack and Kristinn R. Thórisson .- History :...
. Information from the Wikipedia was automatically mined to expand its knowledge base. Close to 30,000 people signed up for early access while Twine was in private beta.
Upon opening the service to the public, user traffic increased 40% each month from October 2008 to June 2009, peaking at an 80% increase in February. The company stated that user growth reached 3 million monthly visitors, 300,000 registered users, and approximately 5 million pieces of user-contributed content at its peak. User traffic statistics mirror early development of Wikipedia.
Twine was acquired by Evri
Evri
Evri is a mobile content discovery engine. It focuses on topic-based news aggregation. It has offices in Seattle and San Francisco. The technology specializes in returning results for breaking news, regularly followed topics, new topic searches, and friends' recommendation...
, a venture owned by Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
, in March 2010, before T2 was launched.
In 2010, Spivack announced a new venture, Live Matrix, in partnership with Sanjay Reddy (formerly SVP of Gemstar TV Guide), which aims to provide a unified Web-based guide to all scheduled content and events taking place on the Internet.
Spivack was also the first investor in, Klout.com, the leading service measuring influence.
In 2011, Spivack announced that he is working on several new ventures (presently in stealth mode), including The Daily Dot
The Daily Dot
The Daily Dot is an online newspaper that covers internet topics. It aims to be the "hometown newspaper" of the internet. It has a 25 member editorial staff. The CEO is Nick White....
, Bottlenose
Bottlenose
Bottlenose may refer to:*The Bottlenose Dolphin*The Bottlenose whale*The order Lagenorhynchus, derived from Greek for "bottlenose"...
, and StreamGlider.
External links
- Minding the Planet — Nova Spivack's personal blog
- "Digg This: Nova Spivack's Twine is Red Hot," "Fast Company," June, 2009.
- "A Web That Thinks Like You," Business Week, July 9, 2007.
- Radar Networks home page
- Talis podcast with Nova Spivack, March 2007.
- "The Third Wave," Entrepreneur, April 2007.
- Audio Interview Series on Buddhist Geeks
- "Nova Spivack’s Live Matrix: A Programming Guide for the Live Web" Gigaom, March 16, 2010
- "Mayer Spivack's Weblog" "Mayer Spivack's Weblog", January 1, 2011
- "Bottlenose About Page" "Bottlenose About Page", January 1, 2011
- "The Daily Dot" "The Daily Dot", January 1, 2011
- "StreamGlider" "StreamGlider", January 1, 2011
- "Klout" "Klout.com", March 11, 2010