INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, technology has been widely used by almost all of the people in the world. And as an Information Technology student, I’ve been largely exposed to technology. Actually technology is already part of every people’s lives in the world. But when we are talking about technology, these questions always arise within our minds, how does technology started? When? And who are the people involved in the development and progress of technology? Recently, we are tasked to do some research about a particular person or event that played significant role in the development of internet. Internet is the most successful product of technology, which contributes to the convenience of every people. Especially in communicating with other people in any part of the world.

Our Instructor gave us some names regarding our task. Among the choices given by our instructor, I chose Esther Dyson. To be honest, I had a few choices left that time, because most of the names has been picked already by my other classmates. That’s why I looked for a name that I think suits me. I don’t have any idea about Esther Dyson but seeing her name makes me feel curious about her. Another reason why I chose Esther Dyson is that, she has the same name as the character in the bible named Esther.

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esther

BIOGRAPHY

Based on www.Biography.com, Dyson was born on January 14, 1951, in Zurich, Switzerland. Her mother was a respected mathematician Verena Huber-Dyson and her father was physicist and futurist writer Freeman Dyson. Her father worked at the prominent Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. While Dyson grew up, she is familiarized to see Nobel laureates at the dinner table. Esther Dyson was an aspiring novelist, she started her own mini newspaper at the age of eight, and later worked on a page in the public library. She entered Harvard University at the age of 16. But by her own reason, she rarely attended classes, instead she spends most of her time at the university newspaper, named the Harvard Crimson, or she would hang out with her friends on the Harvard Lampoon. Yet, she graduated with a degree of B.A. in economics in 1972. Esther Dyson, is named as one of the most powerful women in American business by Forbes magazine. She's usually regarded as one of the most dominant voices in technology, but she's not even a programmer or high-tech expert, and doesn't even have a phone at home. Dyson started out being a magazine fact checker, but suddenly ended up in managing her own venture capital fund. Although she'd wanted to become an entertainment writer at Variety, she became a fact checker, and then later became a reporter at Forbes, where she became involved in the business world. In 1977, she already left print journalism and became a Wall Street securities analyst focusing in electronics and technology. In 1980, Dyson established EDventure Holdings, an innovative information technology and new media company. Her career took additional turn in 1982, when she joined the venture capitalist Ben Rosen and joined the Rosen's Electronic News, an industry newsletter which she acquired the succeeding year and renamed Release 1.0. Her newsletter quickly became a must-read among elite technology experts/executives and innovators.

In 1983, she took over the PC Forum, and according to www.huffingtonpost.com, PC Forum is the IT market’s leading executive conference. She sold them to CNET Networks in 2004, and she left CNET at the end of 2006. Dyson was also the founding chairman of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.) from 1998-2000, and was also became the chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 90’s. In 1997, she wrote her only book, “Release 2.0 entitled: A design for living in the digital age”. And In both her investments and her nonprofit activities, she has always been concerned with the influence of Information Technology on business and society.

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ACTIVITIES and CHARITABLE WORKS

While researching about Esther Dyson, I noticed that she has a lot of activities and charitable works. Actually, based on www. edventure.com, Esther Dyson is the chairman of EDventure Holdings. Her primary activity is investing in and helping start-ups, with a current focus on health care, human capital and aerospace. Overall, she is involved in new business models, new technologies and new markets both economically and politically. From October 2008 until March 2009, she already lived in Star City outside Moscow, Russia, she is training as a backup cosmonaut. She is an active board member for a variety of startups, www.longnow.org stated that she donates time and money as a fund manager to emerging organizations like, the Santa Fe Institute, the Sunlight Foundation, StopBadware.org and Eurasia Foundation. As mentioned above, Dyson was also a Founding Chairman of ICANN, the acronym of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, from 1998-2000. ICANN is the International Agency responsible with setting policy for the Internet’s essential infrastructure (technical standard and the Domain name System) independent of the government’s control. She is also included on the Russian government’s commission to establish a Russian Silicon Valley, to which she contributes both enthusiasm and suspicion.

As mentioned by the www.biography.com in the late 1980s, Dyson became an active financier or also known as investor in Eastern European technology ventures. She also became progressively involved in the public discussion about the future of the Internet. She is a co-chair of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC), a head of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), and an acting chairperson of ICANN or the (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or), Dyson has helped facilitate and inform public policy regarding confidentiality/privacy, encryption, trust and the assignment of Internet domain names. Her book, called Release 2.0, is addressed to the general non-technical audience, presented in plain English that involves the key issues and controversies surrounding the developing Internet. In January 2000, Dyson started writing twice-weekly column called, Release 3.0, for The New York Times. The feature discusses the influence of digital technology on our daily lives as well as on the world's social, political, and financial stuff. In addition to managing EDventure Holdings, Dyson continues in investing to start-up Internet companies and to serve on several boards that set policy for the Web.

Esther Dyson, has a lot of activities in life including IT/Internet, Air/Space, health and IT, Emerging markets and non-profits. She have properties in a variety of online ventures and being part on the board seats of several of them and she is an active player in the online world. She is also active in fostering the emergence of start-ups in commercial space flight. According to her, she have flown weightless six or seven times. According to Esther Dyson and I quote “she is actually excited about the potential capability of IT to improve human health, both by including individuals in maintaining their own health and by changing the delivery of health care and the institutions that provide it.” I think she is really into the innovation of health and technology. She started to travel in Central and Eastern Europe in the year of 1989, and that's when she first started angel investing. She is now part of the board seats and investments in several companies in the region. Lastly, she prefer to do good things through profit-making initiatives, but there are things companies just can't do. Those include fighting corruption and adopting transparency and the rule of law around the world. That’s the reason why she supports many foundations and several educational institutions.

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CONCLUSION

Based on what I’ve read about Esther Dyson, I was surprised that she could actually do all the things that she are doing despite of her age. According to her and I quote “You know, she said her greatest vulnerability is the fact that she’s not ‘normal’,” according to her, “She is not married/wedded, and she doesn’t have children. It’s something she feel defensive about. She means, in private honestly, she’s usually happy to go home and don’t have to talk to anybody.” As what I think of her, she is not married but she is great and smart person. I discovered that she is a very helpful person because of her charitable investments. I was also amazed because she already experienced weightless flights, as in zero gravity flights! I don’t know anything about Esther Dyson but when I started researching about her, I think I won’t regret that I chose her as my topic in my project. The things that I learned about her is that, gender is not a barrier to bring innovation in the world and you must follow your passion in life. I admired Esther Dyson for being a big help to other institutions by being an angel investor. She is managing many institutions yet still she enjoys what she is doing. I hope I could turn to be something like her. For me, Esther Dyson, is a great example because of her generosity, hard work and passion. Our knowledge is not limited by our achievements because even if we are successful, we still need to learn new things. Lastly, what I like about her is that, she is concerned on the influence of digital technology on our daily life. Which makes a big sense for me, because digital technology has been part of our lives.

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REFERENCE

Websites:

www.Biography.com

www.huffingtonpost.com

www.edventure.com

www.longnow.org

URL:

http://www.biography.com/people/esther-dyson-9542200

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/esther-dyson

http://www.edventure.com

http://longnow.org/people/board/edyson3/

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