Dick Jones Bio

Dick Jones is an electronic media futurist, consultant, speaker and writer on the continuing media revolution.

Dick's familiarity with leading edge communications technologies, and their applications and implications, comes from forty years of diverse hands-on experience with multimedia: the World Wide Web, Interactive TV, television, and film and video. His technical work in Internet, voice, LAN, computing, and bank trading room systems contribute to his insight into digital convergence, Internet Neutrality and electronic journalism issues he believes critical to American democracy.

In 2006, Dick appeared on The New Yorkers TV show twice, discussing the anti-democratic impact of consolidated media and telecommunications company ownership and America's need for high quality, unbiased news reporting.

Dick's blog on Media Reform, Network Neutrality, and demanding quality investigative journalism is NewsHacker.net — WHOSE news are you watching? Check it out!

Over the last ten years, Dick has been quoted on Internet and new media issues in: The @NY Newsletter and Web site, Crain’s New York Business, Computer World, Fortune, The Industry Standard, MSNBC.com, Newhouse News Service, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times.

As Director of Progressive Internet Action, a sole proprietorship, Dick leads a socially-responsible company that offers its clients the web services needed for success in the 21st Century: web site creation and hosting; e-commerce services, Internet marketing strategy; search engine optimization services; visual and information content development; database applications development; DVD & CD-ROM production; multimedia 2D and 3D animations; and, training.

Dick was CEO and an equity partner in PIA's predecessor company, Progressive Internet Action, Inc. from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, PIA Inc. was dissolved to enable financial investors to pursue exit strategies resulting from its leading a partnership which won the right to develop a 21st Century film studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This visionary project became Steiner Studios.

Over the years, PIA’s web clients have included: C. Virginia Fields, Borough President of Manhattan; The Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, Fuji Futures (Div. of Fuji Bank); Johnson & Johnson Inc.; and numerous other organizations.

Dick and Carole Wilbourn, The Cat Therapist, founded Strictly Cats Partners in October of 2003. They publish http://www.thecattherapist.com, which is based on Carole's thirty years of work in the behavior problems cats exhibit due to psychological and emotional problems. The site communicates Carole's persona, mission and the main premises of her work, provides helpful online resources for cat care-givers, and sells Carole's books, products, seminars and consultations, and products and services she recommends. Carole-branded products will debut in 2007.

As Chief Information Officer and web developer for Film Festival Reporter LLC during 2002, Dick developed FFR’s web marketing strategy, developed the FilmFestivalReporter.com web site through several iterations, initiated a search engine optimization program, organized content workflows, re-purposed existing newspaper content from the Film Festival Reporter newspaper, etc. http://www.FilmFestivalReporter.com.

From 2000 to early 2002, Dick was Operations Director of The Center For Non-Profit Technology, deploying the Center's web design, database development, programming, and technical support services to a large clientele of non-profit agencies and community action organizations. http://www.cnpt.org.

Co-founder and Marketing Communications Director of Access: New Age Corporation from 1995 to 1997. Dick developed and implemented the branding and virtual community marketing strategy and merchant services operations of this once-successful niche retailing and publishing site. Though eventually closed in 2003, ANA sold thousands of book titles, products, and services to a large worldwide clientele. Looking Deeper Magazine published free articles on New Age topics. The Esoteric Web Index reviewed and linked visitors to sites by interest category. http://www.AccessNewAge.com

Richard R. Jones Communications Before joining PIA, Inc. in 1998, Dick provided system development, implementation, and consulting services for interactive media and telecommunications technology projects dating back to 1987, with diverse computer system project management experience dating back to the days of punch cards.

Highlights:

"E-Commerce for the Fortune 500 Thousand", a marketing presentation for Microsoft Sidewalk.com, also delivered at other venues.
Student education in WWW strategy and web site creation using Microsoft FrontPage for the AT&T School of Business and Technology.
Web Futurist consulting for ICE, an Internet-based kid's TV program for Children's Television Workshop
New media strategy and communications systems consulting for The New York Shakespeare Festival
Educational program consulting for the SONY Wonder Technology Lab
New media strategy presentation for PolyGram Entertainment

Dick has spoken on the future of the Internet and interactive media at such venues as:

School of Industrial & Labor Relations, Cornell University
WWWAC, the World Wide Web Artists Consortium
The Sales & Marketing Roundtable of NYNMA
The Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College/CUNY in Tribeca.
The New York State Governor’s Conference on Arts & Technology
The Peekaboo Festival of New Music and Theatre
'Zine TV, a public access TV show
The New York University Center for Digital Multimedia Several seminar series on the future of multimedia technology
Numerous professional association meetings and trade events.

Professional Associations

The New York PC User Group is the oldest and largest user group in America. Dick has been a member and supporter since 1985, and was Webmaster from 1999 to 2002.
Dick started the FrontPage User Group in NYC in 1997 and was Chairman until April 2002. He also started the FrontPage Users Yahoo Group, which continues to assist FrontPage users worldwide.
The World Wide Web Artist's Consortium
International Interactive Communications Society, which later became the Association of Internet Professionals: 1994-95 New York Chapter President, 1992-93 Programs Chairman.