An Interview with Jeff Jonas

Haegwan Kim (HK); Why and when did you decide to be a researcher in the field of technology?

Jeff Jonas (JJ); I am not a researcher. I am a practitioner. I have been building software since I was a teenager. The first system being a word processor for the PET Commodore computer. This was sold to the Los Angeles School District while I was still in high school. Since this time I have been building system after system.

HK; What is the most important, or valuable thing that you learned at IBM?

JJ; Having spent over 20 years working for myself … one might have thought it would be impossible to work for an employer. To the contrary, I love working for IBM. The US$6B IBM spends a year on R&D and IBM’s US$10B+ investment in analytics makes IBM an exceptional home for me.

HK; For the young who want to be a figure at the cutting edge like you, what would be your suggestion for their education process?

JJ; My recommendation is go to university … but at the same time 1) engage in real world problems and real world data and 2) always explore why not or the other way than the normal/traditional way.

HK; Talking about the technology in general, what kind of change will happen for the coming decade? Especially I would like to ask about your emphasis on the words “Data find Data”.

JJ; We cannot expect users to dream up every smart question every day. For this reason, we must insist that the “data finds the data and the relevance finds the user.”I talk about this extensively here.

HK; Confronting with the development of technology, what kind of preparation would be required?; especially I want to ask about the future of private information, how much we should be opened? Also from the perspective of business, what kind of opportunities will be there?

JJ; The surveillance society is inevitable because it is irresistible. I talk more about that here. I believe it is the responsibility of the technology community to engage in conversation with the privacy advocacy community. I speak about there more here and here and here.

HK; As market shifts from US to China, India and other rising powers, would you say that the conventional model of innovation (creative capitalism) will change?

JJ; I think consumer demand will cause all societies to innovate to one degree or another. And the bigger the society, the bigger the demand!

HK; Could you tell me your thoughts on the power of collective intelligence today, as my research focuses on it. I presume the Internet has enhanced its ability radically.

JJ; Traditional physical sensors like credit card and license plate readers are one thing. The human is the sensor, thanks to Web 2.0, is altogether a different thing. Humans are creating huge volumes of extraordinarily useful data as they self-annotate their relationships and yours, their photographs and yours, their thoughts and their thoughts about you … and more. As increasing volume and range of data converges, a high definition picture of our lives unfolds, and with this extraordinary prediction.

So if this is what you mean by “collective intelligence” … then yes I agree.

HK; What is your definition of success?

JJ; Loving your job.

HK; Could you give me your advice to be successful in general life? 

JJ; Deliver what you promise. Honesty and integrity. And hard work!