Richard Gingras
Richard Gingras, 2011
Born
Richard Louis Gingras

(1952-01-17) January 17, 1952
Providence, Rhode Island, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBoston College
EmployerGoogle
Board member ofFirst Amendment Coalition
International Center for Journalists
World Computer Exchange
SpouseMitzi Trumbo
Children2

Richard Gingras is an American Internet executive and entrepreneur who has focused on emerging digital media since 1979,[1] including efforts at Google, Apple Computer, Salon Media Group and the Public Broadcasting Service. He has been an outspoken proponent for journalistic innovation on the Internet.[2][3][4]

Career

Gingras is currently vice president of news at Google.[5] In May 2018 he warned against building the future of news based on a misunderstanding of the past.[6]

He was a key instigator in creating the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project which is an open-source effort to improve the speed of the World Wide Web and improve advertising user experience.[7][8] In late 2014, he co-founded the Trust Project[9][10] with Sally Lehrman of the Markulla Center for Ethics at Santa Clara University. The Trust Project is a global effort of the journalism community to explore how the architecture of journalism can be enhanced to improve the perceived credibility of high-quality journalism.

Until July 2011, Gingras was CEO of Salon Media Group which operates the news site Salon.com and the pioneering virtual community The WELL. He has had a long association with Salon having assembled its initial seed financing in 1995. During 2007 and 2008, he served as a strategic advisor to the executive team at Google focusing on strategies relating to the evolution of news and television.

In 2002, he co-founded Goodmail Systems and served as its CEO and chairman. Goodmail Systems developed certified email services offered through large email providers including Yahoo and America Online. He also served as interim president of MyPublisher from 2000-2001 and guided the design of a custom hardcover photo book service introduced by Apple Computer as part of iPhoto.

From early 1996 to mid 2000, he led online service efforts at Excite@Home as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company's consumer-focused product division, Excite Studios which included the Excite search engine.

In January 1996, he joined the early consumer broadband network @Home Network, as vice president of programming and editor-in-chief where he was responsible for the launch of @Home's broadband-enabled online portal.[11] @Home was founded by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in partnership with major US cable companies to offer high-speed Internet access. In mid 2000 @Home merged with Excite and Gingras became head of both the Excite and @Home portals.

At Apple Computer in the early 1990s he led the development of the online service eWorld. A pre-Web online service, eWorld was considered innovative for its time, but it was expensive and failed to attract a high number of subscribers. The service was only available on the Macintosh, though a PC version had been planned.

Gingras's work in interactive digital media began In 1979, when he produced one of the first interactive online news magazines which was delivered to several hundred test households using interactive television technology known as broadcast teletext. He led the effort for the PBS service (KCET in Los Angeles) which also included service components for use in schools.[12]

From 1987 to 1992, he was the founder and president of MediaWorks, an Apple-funded startup that developed early news-agenting and executive support software for Fortune 500 corporations.[13]

From 1983 to 1986, he assembled and managed a network of television stations in the top fifty US markets to provide sideband data distribution for a news and advertising service, Silent Radio, which was presented on electronic displays in retail locations.

Boards and honors

Gingras serves on the boards of the First Amendment Coalition, the International Center for Journalists and the World Computer Exchange

In the fall of 2012, he was recognized by Louisiana State University with the Manship Prize[14] for contributions to the evolution of digital media. In May 2013, he gave the commencement speech at West Virginia University for the Reed School of Journalism.[15]

In 2013, he was a subject of the digital media oral history project[1] produced by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. In the fall of 2015, he gave the commencement address at the Manship School of Communications at Louisiana State University.[16]

Personal life

In February 2003, he launched a satirical website called the Total Information Awareness Gift Shop in response to the disclosure of a secret surveillance project managed by John Poindexter within the US Defense Department. According to Gingras all revenue from sales have been contributed to the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU.[17][18]

Upon giving a commencement speech[15] at West Virginia University he was introduced as “Google's own 'burning man'”. This is an apparent reference to the complex fires Gingras is known to build on the northern California coast.[19] Gingras gave a talk about the fires at a Newsfoo Unconference in November 2013.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 Huey, John; Nisenholtz, Martin (April 1, 2014). "Riptide: An oral history of the epic collision between journalism and digital technology, 1980 to the present". Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Google's Gingras: 'The future of journalism can and will be better than its past.'". Poynter Institute. August 15, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ Guimareas, Celia (May 6, 2014). "Richard Gingras and the evolution of the ecosystem of the news: 'We need to rethink everything'". Rai News24. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  4. ↑ Ingram, Matthew (May 12, 2012). "Google's head of news: Newspapers are the new Yahoo". GigaOm. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ Skok, David (May 10, 2018). "Google's news chief Richard Gingras: "We need to rethink journalism at every dimension"". Nieman Lab. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  6. ↑ Gingras, Richard (May 28, 2018). "News Then, News Now: Journalism in a Digital Age". Medium. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  7. ↑ Jarvis, Jeff (October 15, 2015). "To a Fast and Distributed Web: AMP HTML". Buzz Machine. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Instant Everywhere". AMP Project. October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  9. ↑ Lehrman, Sally (October 16, 2014). "Online Chaos Demands Radical Action by Journalism to Earn Trust". Markkula Center for Ethics. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Trust". Newsgeist Unconference 2014. November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  11. ↑ "The @Home Network: Promotional Video". @Home Network. 1998. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  12. ↑ "KCET Broadcast Teletext Test". YouTube. September 19, 1980. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Executive Workstation: Promotional Video produced by Apple Computer". MediaWorks. April 15, 1989. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  14. ↑ Louisiana State University Media Center (October 23, 2012). "Google's Gingras Honored with 2012 Manship Prize". Louisiana State University, Manship School of Mass Communications. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  15. 1 2 West Virginia University (May 18, 2013). "Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, 144th Commencement, West Virginia University". West Virginia University. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Manship School of Communications Fall Graduation Commencement Address". Manship School of Communications. December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  17. ↑ Gallagher, David (February 10, 2003). "Compressed Data; Electronic Surveillance Spies Perfect Gift". New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2003.
  18. ↑ "The Total Information Awareness Gift Shop". December 2, 2002. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  19. ↑ Weisberger, Jason (June 4, 2014). "Driftwood Cairn by Richard Gingras". Boing Boing. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Making Fire". Newsfoo Unconference Ignite Talks. November 25, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
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