Jim Warren (computer specialist)
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Jim Warren (July 20, 1936 – November 24, 2021) was an American mathematics and computing educator, computer professional, entrepreneur, editor, publisher and continuing sometime
activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
.


Early career

From 1957 to 1967, Warren was a mathematics teacher at secondary-school level, and professor at college and university levels, with his last full-time academic position being Chair of the Mathematics Department at the
College of Notre Dame Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a private Catholic university in Belmont, California. It is the third oldest college in California and the first college in the state authorized to grant the baccalaureate degree to women. In 2021, the u ...
, Belmont, a small liberal arts college in Belmont, California. He later taught computer courses at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, San Jose State University and San Francisco State University. He had his first full-time teaching contract, for an annual salary of , when he was 20 years old and had completed only three years of college. In the ensuing decade, he was also a National Science Foundation Guest Lecturer, was the founder and Director of Summer Mathematics Institutes at
Our Lady of the Lake University Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), known locally as the Lake, is a private Catholic university in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1895 by the Sisters of Divine Providence, a religious institute originating in Lorraine, France, during ...
in San Antonio, Texas, and earned national recognition for innovative weekly enrichment programs he created for secondary school students, and for in-service programs for elementary and secondary school teachers, all without cost, as Chair of the Alamo District outh TexasCouncil of Teachers of Mathematics (1960–1962). In the late 1960s, Warren was involved in the radical, utopian, alternative, hippie Midpeninsula Free University, including serving pro-bono as its elected General Secretary for three terms. In that time, he created and edited its irregular magazine, which he titled ''The Free You''.


Computing

From 1968 through the mid-1970s Warren worked as a freelance
minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ...
programmer and computer consultant, operating under the name, Frelan Associates (for "free land"), creating assembler-level real-time data-acquisition and process-control programs for biomedical research at
Stanford Medical Center Stanford University Medical Center is a medical complex which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States and serves as a teaching hospital for the ...
, and control programs for various high-tech companies around Silicon Valley. In those years, he also chaired the
Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...
's regional chapters of SIGPLAN, SIGMICRO and the San Francisco Peninsula ACM. In 1977, Warren co-founded the West Coast Computer Faire which, for a half-dozen years, was the largest public microcomputer convention in the world. He was its self-titled "Faire Chaircreature," organizing eight conventions. In 1983, he sold the Faire to Prentice-Hall, "for 100% down; nothin' to pay". To promote the Computer Faires and circulate news and gossip about the then-infant microcomputer industry, he founded and edited the first free tabloid newspaper about microcomputing, the irregular ''Silicon Gulch Gazette'' (''SGG''), published from issue #0 in February 1977, through issue #43, in January 1986, with one issue named ''Business Systems Journal''. Beginning in 1978, Warren created and published the '' Intelligent Machines Journal'' (''IMJ'', which is also Pig Latin for "Jim"), the first subscription news periodical about microcomputing, published as a tabloid newspaper, with Tom Williams as its founding Editor. Warren sold ''IMJ'' in late 1979, to Patrick McGovern, the founder of the
International Data Group International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...
and numerous computer periodicals worldwide, notably including ''
Computerworld ''Computerworld'' (abbreviated as CW) is an ongoing decades old professional publication which in 2014 "went digital." Its audience is information technology (IT) and business technology professionals, and is available via a publication website ...
''. McGovern quickly renamed ''IMJ'' to be '' InfoWorld'', as his first microcomputer periodical, later converting it to various glossy magazine formats. He hosted PBS television's '' Computer Chronicles'' series for their first two seasons (originated at the College of San Mateo's KCSM-TV, Channel 60, 1981–1982). Warren also founded and published the short-lived ''DataCast'' magazine, edited by
Tony Bove Tony Bove (born in 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an author, publisher, and musician. He has authored or coauthored more than two dozen computer-related books and multimedia CD-ROMs, and has served as author and editor of various magazine ...
and Cheryl Rhodes, focused on in-depth tutorials about specific microcomputer programs, and was the founder and producer of the equally ill-fated Video Initiative, providing similar self-paced videotape tutorials. Warren was the founding Editor of ''
Dr. Dobb's Journal ''Dr. Dobb's Journal'' (''DDJ'') was a monthly magazine published in the United States by UBM Technology Group, part of UBM plc, UBM. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. When launched in 1976, DDJ was the first regular periodical focu ...
of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia'', the first computer magazine to focus on microcomputer software, created and published by the nonprofit People's Computer Company. From 1990 to 1995, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Autodesk, Inc., one of the best-known publishers of computer-aided design (CAD) programs for microcomputers, with AutoCAD as its flagship product. At the time, it was one of the largest microcomputer software publishers, with a market cap sometimes near a billion dollars. His tenure there including presenting Autodesk's position opposing software patents, and chairing the Board's CEO Search Committee that found and selected Carol Bartz as its CEO.


Activism

Warren founded and chaired the first
Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference The Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference (or CFP, or the Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy) is an annual academic conference held in the United States or Canada about the intersection of computer technology, freedom, and privacy is ...
, held in 1991, which drew more than a hundred articles of press coverage, internationally. The CFP conferences have continued, under other leadership, for more than 25 years, consistently drawing national and international attention and attendance. In 1993, he assisted Debra Bowen pro-bono, then a freshman member of the
California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...
, in drafting Assembly Bill 1624 (AB 1624) and organized much of the statewide support that helped it pass four committee votes and three floor votes without a single dissenting vote. When AB 1624 took effect on January 1, 1994, it made California the first state in the nation to open all of its computerized public legislative records, statutes, constitution and regulations, to fee-free access via the Internet. Thereafter, numerous other states modeled their own legislation after AB1624, as evidenced by their use of the same eccentric phrasing that Warren drafted in AB 1624 to describe the Internet, which was relatively unknown at the time: "the largest nonproprietary, nonprofit cooperative public computer network". This was necessary to silence naive politicians objecting that it would be "giving away" public records to the Internet "company". In 1995–1996, Warren served on the Advisory Panel on Electronic Filings of the
California Secretary of State The secretary of state of California is the chief clerk of the U.S. state of California, overseeing a department of 500 people. The secretary of state is elected for four year terms, like the state's other constitutional officers; the officeho ...
. This panel advised the Secretary on how-best to implement new mandates for computerizing political-campaign financial statements, and making them timely-available to the public in electronic form without excessive fees. In 1996–1997, he served on the California Senate's Task Force on Electronic Access to Public Records, that produced recommendations regarding how to make computerized state and local public government records available to the public in electronic form. Warren was one of the minority who advocated online access without agency fees, and charging no more than the direct incremental cost of copying, when copies were requested in physical form. The majority of Task Force members were from city and county agencies, almost entirely advocating making the records available in electronic form, but only for fees far in excess of direct copying costs.


Political career

In 1985, Warren was elected countywide, in a county of 700,000 population, to the board of trustees of the three-college
San Mateo County Community College District The San Mateo County Community College District is a community college system in California with three institutions: College of San Mateo in San Mateo, Cañada College in Redwood City, and Skyline College in San Bruno. The district serves more ...
, for 1986–1989. In 1986, knowing he had no chance of winning, Warren nonetheless ran unsuccessfully for San Mateo County Supervisor against then-President of the County Board of Supervisors,
Anna Eshoo Anna A. Eshoo ( ; née Georges; born December 13, 1942) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from . She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 14th district from 1993 to 2013, is based in Silico ...
, as a protest of her representation of the county's rural minority that composed much of her supervisorial district.


Other works

Aside from the several periodicals and conference proceedings mentioned above, Warren also created, published and edited the ''Peninsula Citizens' Advocate'' tabloid newspaper, addressing local rural political issues (very irregularly, 1984–1986). Warren was the Futures columnist for ''Microtimes'', writing a monthly "Realizable Fantasies" column (1990–2001); the Government Access columnist for '' Boardwatch'' magazine (1994–1996), and the Public Access columnist for ''
Government Technology ''Government Technology'' magazine is the flagship periodical of Folsom, California-based publishing company e.Republic Incorporated. The magazine contains editorial content about information technology in the public-sector The public sect ...
'' magazine (1993–1996, 2000). Warren also wrote the nontechnical "Coastside Curmudgeon" column for the '' Half Moon Bay Review'',
Half Moon Bay, CA Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately at the north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the uni ...
(1994–1996). He also wrote the first invited, refereed survey of early personal computer developments in ''Computer'' magazine, a 15-year retrospective called "We, The People, In The Information Age" in
Dr. Dobb's Journal ''Dr. Dobb's Journal'' (''DDJ'') was a monthly magazine published in the United States by UBM Technology Group, part of UBM plc, UBM. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. When launched in 1976, DDJ was the first regular periodical focu ...
, January 1991, etc.


Education

Warren held an MS in Computer Engineering from
Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
(1977), an MS in Medical Information Science from the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (1974), an MA in Mathematics & Statistics from the University of Texas at Austin (1964), and a BA in Mathematics & IA (1959) from what was then Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos, Texas. He completed all but his dissertation (" ABD") for a Ph.D. in EE-Computer Engineering from
Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
(advanced to candidacy, 1975).


Awards

*First-year recipient of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
's Pioneer Award (1992) *The
Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award is an award created in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effor ...
from the
Playboy Foundation The Playboy Foundation is a corporate-giving organization that provides grants to non-profit groups involved in fighting censorship and researching human sexuality. It gives grants and in-kind contributions, such as advertising space in the ''Playb ...
(1994) *The James Madison Freedom-of-Information Award from the
Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
, Northern California (1994) *The
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Lifetime Achievement Award (1995)


References


Further reading

*''The
California Public Records Act The California Public Records Act (Statutes of 1968, Chapter 1473; currently codified as Chapter 3.5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the California Government Code) was a law passed by the California State Legislature and signed by then-governor ...
'' (PRA) Government Code 6250–6270 *
The Secret History of Hacking ''The Secret History of Hacking'' is a 2001 documentary film that focuses on phreaking, computer hacking and social engineering occurring from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Archive footage concerning the subject matter and (computer generate ...
, a 2001 documentary film featuring Warren.


External links


interview including Jim Warren about the West Coast Computer FaireJim Warren
at the eekim wiki

in the 1990s


Media

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Jim 1936 births 2021 deaths Stanford University faculty Notre Dame de Namur University faculty Stanford University alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Our Lady of the Lake University People from Oakland, California