Tom Coates (technologist)

Tom Coates (Born 19 July 1972) is an early weblogger based in San Francisco, California, who has been writing [http://www.plasticbag.org/ plasticbag.org] since 1999. He's also well-known as an expert in social software and for his thinking on future media distribution and the web of data.

Educated at the Norwich School, the University of Bristol and the London College of Printing, Coates currently works for Yahoo! Tech Development with Caterina Fake, Jeremy Zawodny and Simon Willison [ Guardian Technology Blog Oct 17 2005 http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2005/10/17/tom_coates_is_off_to_yahoo.html] . Previously, he worked at the BBC running an R&D team for BBC Radio, and before that he developed the geo-coded online community [http://forums.upmystreet.com UpMyStreet Conversations] [Coates, Tom Upmystreet Conversations: Mapping Cyber to Space, The O' Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2003, http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2003/view/e_sess/3666 ] . He has also developed online communities for emap and was Production Editor of Time Out's website [ About Page, Time Out City Guides http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/timeout/about.html] . His professional written work includes film reviews for the BBC [ Contributions to BBC Film website http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/gateways/author/coatestom/ ] , contributions to Time Out city guides and comment pieces on technology for The Guardian. [Coates, Tom, Second Sight, The Guardian Aug 28 2003 http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,,1030323,00.html ]

His weblog has won a number of Bloggies including Best European Weblog (2001Winners and Nominations, Bloggies 2001 http://2001.bloggies.com/] , 2002 [Winners and Nominations, Bloggies 2002 http://2002.bloggies.com/] ), Best Gay/Lesbian/Trans weblog (2001), Best British or Irish Weblog (2004Winners and Nominations, Bloggies 2004 http://2004.bloggies.com/] , 2005Winners and Nominations, Bloggies 2005 http://2005.bloggies.com/] ), Lifetime Achievement (2005). He also runs the online subcultural community [http://www.barbelith.com Barbelith] - initially inspired by the work of comic book writer Grant Morrison [FAQ, Barbelith http://www.barbelith.com/faq/index.php/Main_Page] .

He is also on the advisory council of the Open Rights Group.

In June 2007, Coates co-organised the London Hack Day alongside Matthew Cashmore from backstage.bbc.co.uk [plasticbag.org, 18th June 2007 http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2007/06/i_cant_believe_its_al/] .

In October 2007, Coates was named as one of the Evening Standard's Most Influential 1000 Londoners [Evening Standard, 11th October 2007 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23415149-details/New+Media/article.do] .

In March 2008, Coates launched the Fire Eagle location brokerage service for Yahoo! at ETech. The service was opened up to the general public on Aug 12 2008.

References

External links

* [http://www.plasticbag.org/ Tom Coates' weblog]
* [http://www.barbelith.com Barbelith]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/gateways/author/coatestom/ Reviews for BBC Movies]