people: diamond fellows: david reed

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David Reed

Information architect Dr. David P. Reed focuses on designing the information space in which people, groups, and organizations operate. In addition to his work as a Diamond Fellow, David is currently active as a consultant, advising both startups and major enterprises on strategic technologies, and as an entrepreneur, developing new technology platforms involving computing and communications. He spends as much time in the hard fun of designing and building as he does in thinking, talking, and planning.

David’s projects focus on the exploitation of new technologies, hardware, communications, and software that make for richer information architectures, enabling people and organizations to function more productively. He actively shapes the development of systems and communications technologies that enable extremely portable computing systems, group information sharing, pervasive digital communications, audio and video media processing, and infrastructures for electronic commerce.

Until 1996, David was a senior scientist at Interval Research Corporation, a technology research organization based in Palo Alto, California. He joined Interval shortly after its founding in 1992 by Paul Allen and David Liddle, and spent four years there leading projects involved in highly portable natural media applications. Prior to joining Interval, David was Vice President and Chief Scientist for Lotus Development Corporation. During his seven years at Lotus, he led the design and implementation of many of Lotus’s key products, and spearheaded pioneering research in networked and mobile personal computer technology in order to facilitate interpersonal communications in dispersed work groups. He also ran product development for Lotus 1-2-3. Prior to joining Lotus, David was vice president of research and development and chief scientist at Software Arts, the creator of VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet.

David has also worked as an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Computer Science, where he was involved in the fundamental design of the Internet protocols known as TCP/IP. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and M.S and Ph.D. degrees in computer science and engineering from MIT. He holds a number of patents and is the author of numerous technical papers.