Linda Stone (born 1955) is a writer and consultant who coined the phrase "
continuous partial attention
Linda Stone, a tech writer and consultant, coined the term continuous partial attention in 1998 to describe a modern adaptive behavior of continuously dividing one's attention. Stone has clarified that continuous partial attention is not the same a ...
" in 1998.
Stone also coined "email apnea" in 2008 which means "a temporary absence or suspension of breathing, or shallow breathing, while doing email."
Stone was at
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
from 1986 to 1993, working on
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
hardware, software and publishing. In her last year at Apple, Stone worked for CEO
John Sculley on special projects. In 1993, Stone joined
Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...
under
Nathan Myhrvold and
Rick Rashid
Richard Farris Rashid is the founder of Microsoft Research, which he created in 1991. Between 1991 and 2013, as its chief research officer and director, he oversaw the worldwide operations for Microsoft Research which grew to encompass more than ...
. She co-founded and directed the
Virtual Worlds Group/Social Computing Group, researching online social life and virtual communities. During this time, she also taught as adjunct faculty in
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
's Interactive Telecommunications Program. In 2000, she became a
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
vice president, working on industry relationships and improving Microsoft's corporate culture. She left Microsoft in 2002.
Stone served a six-year term on the National Board of the
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
and is currently on the WWF National Council. She is an adviser for the Internet and American Life Project,
the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force for the Center for Worklife Policy,
and is on the Advisory Board of the
MIT Media Lab for
social computing
Social computing is an area of computer science that is concerned with the intersection of social behavior and computational systems. It is based on creating or recreating social conventions and social contexts through the use of software and tech ...
.
Stone has been written about in many major publications, including ''
Wired'', the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', and Forbes.
She conceived
Science Foo Camp
Science Foo Camp (scifoo) is an annual of interdisciplinary scientific unconferences organized by O'Reilly Media, Digital Science, Alphabet Inc., based on an idea from Linda Stone. The event is based on the spirit and format of Foo Camp, an ev ...
, a series of interdisciplinary scientific conferences organized by
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books, produces tech conferences, and provides an online learning platform. Its distinctive brand features a woodcut of an ...
and
Nature Publishing Group.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Linda Stone's home page
1955 births
Living people
American consultants
American technology writers
Microsoft employees
Apple Inc. employees
New York University faculty
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