Jean Armour Polly is a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

and the author of an early series of books on safe

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

services, ''Surfing the Internet.''. She has been an active Internet user since 1991. In 2019, she was inducted into the

Internet Hall of Fame The Internet Hall of Fame is an honorary lifetime achievement award administered by the Internet Society (ISOC) in recognition of individuals who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the Internet.

. She was Director of Public Services and Internet Ambassador at NYSERNet, Inc (1992–1995). She has served on the

Internet Society The Internet Society (ISOC) is an American nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1992 with local chapters around the world. Its mission is "to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people ...

Board of Trustees (1993–1996) and on the

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...

At-Large Advisory Council (ALAC) (2004–2006), as well as on the board of ICRA.

Education

She received her BA in Medieval Studies at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in 1974, and her Master's in Library Science from the same university in 1975. Polly was a key person in popularizing the phrase "surfing the Internet", being the author of an article called "Surfing the INTERNET", published in the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

''Wilson Library Bulletin'' in June, 1992 though others had also used the phrase previously.

Publications

Polly is the author of the well-known series of books ''The Internet Kids & Families Yellow Pages''. Because of her long-standing work, devoted to family- and child-related issues on the Internet, Polly is often referred to as one of the original "Mothers" of the Internet.

Personal life

She lives near

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, where she runs the "Net-mom" Internet site. She has one son, Stephen.

References

External links

Biography at her website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polly, Jean Armour American librarians American women librarians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Syracuse University alumni Women Internet pioneers Women technology writers 21st-century American women