Researched Japanese technology and cultural issues as a 1998 United States/Japan fellow

Served as a Freedom Forum Media Studies fellow, a nine-month fellowship at Columbia University

Books

The End of Patience: Cautionary Notes on the Information Revolution (Indiana University Press, 1999)

Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut (HarperCollins Publishers, 1999)

Contact

For speaking information, contact Shenk at or ;.

Don Tapscott

The impact of technology on society

Claim to Fame

Tapscott speaks at conferences around the world on IT policy and strategy to government and business leaders. Tapscott introduced and popularized the phrases "paradigm shift," "digital economy," "disintermediation," "digital divide," and "Net generation." Washington Technology Report ranks him "among the most influential media authorities since Marshall McLuhan," Vice President Al Gore says he is "one of the world’s leading cybergurus," and the Library Journal recommended Growing Up Digital for all libraries.

Words of Wisdom for Today’s Business Executives

"The industrial-age corporation must adapt or die. The digital economy has created a new business form: fluid congregations of businesses that come together on the Internet to create value for customers and wealth for their shareholders. The key to success in this totally different environment is business-model innovation."

Q&A

What are some common misconceptions about IT and society?

Tapscott: The biggest one is that people think that building a successful business and being socially responsible are mutually exclusive.

Who is the most influential person in the new economy?

Al Gore. Actually, he was instrumental in explaining and popularizing the Internet. Every country should have had an Al Gore.

What is the biggest change the Internet has brought to business?

The Internet is fundamentally changing the nature of the company, the way we create value for customers and wealth for shareholders and societies.

Curriculum Vitae

Chair of Toronto-based consultancy and think tank Digital 4Sight

President of New Paradigm Learning Corp.

Writes a monthly column for The Industry Standard

Is a board member of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation and a former member of the Board of Trustees at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry

Chair of the Trent University Capital Fundraising Campaign

Books

Digital Capital: Harnessing the Power of Business Webs, coauthored with David Ticoll and Alex Lowy (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000)

Blueprint to the Digital Economy: Creating Wealth in the Era of E-Business, coedited with David Ticoll and Alex Lowy (The McGraw-Hill Co., 1999)

Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation (The McGraw-Hill Co., 2000)

The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence (The McGraw-Hill Co., 1997)

Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology, coauthored with Art Caston (The McGraw-Hill Co., 1992)