About Us0

Overview1

The Doug Engelbart Institute* was conceived by Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart as a vehicle for broad-based collaboration on how we can dramatically boost our ability to solve complex, urgent problems on a global scale collectively. 1a

Simply put, our mission is to inspire, demonstrate and propogate breakthrough foundational strategies, organizing principles, best practices, and open source tools -- the basic building blocks for boosting the Collective IQ of teams, organizations, networked initiatives, and even whole nations; to cultivate an active collaborative network of participants from a cross-section of disciplines and sectors engaging in cross-cutting hands-on participatory projects via our interactive website; to foster pilot trials in partner organizations; to facilitate the incorporation of resulting open source tools into mainstream software; and to make the work broadly available through the web, through publications, gatherings, workshops, presentations and consulting. Ultimately the Institute seeks to promote an international alliance of stakeholders engaging in this work.1b

The stratetic principles underlying this work are based on Doug's lifelong vision for bootstrapping our Collective IQ for rapidly increasing learning, innovation and effectiveness. Many of these organizing principles were embedded in his legendary research lab at SRI, which was responsible for more breakthrough innovation than probably any other lab before or since. 1c

• See our Vision & Mission statement for details.
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The Doug Engelbart Institute is also steward of Engelbart's historic work, including his papers, photographic and video records, digital files, and software, in collaboration with Stanford University Special Collections and the Computer History Museum. Visit our Library page for details. We also maintain a working version of Augment/NLS on a Sun server.1d

The Doug Engelbart Institute is a California 501(c)3 not-for-profit incorporated in the State of California.1e

Our Team2

Doug Engelbart2a

Founder Emeritus Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart has an unparalleled 50-year track record in predicting, designing, and implementing the future of organizational computing. From his early vision of turning organizations into augmented knowledge workshops, he went on to pioneer what is now known as collaborative hypermedia, knowledge management, community networking, and organizational transformation. 2a1

Well-known technological firsts include the mouse, display editing, windows, cross-file editing, outline processing, hypermedia, and groupware. Integrated prototypes were in full operation under the NLS system, as early as 1968. In the last decade of its continued evolution, thousands of users have benefited from its unique team support capabilities. 2a2

After 20 years directing his own lab at SRI, and 11 years as senior scientist, first at Tymshare, and then at McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Engelbart founded the Bootstrap Institute (now the Doug Engelbart Institute*), where he worked closely with industry and government stakeholders to launch a collaborative implementation of his work for over a decade.2a3

Engelbart has received numerous awards for outstanding lifetime achievement and ingenuity, including the National Medal of Technology, the Lemelson-MIT Prize, and ACM's 1997 A.M. Turing Award. His life's work, with his "big-picture" vision and persistent pioneering breakthroughs, has made a significant impact on the past, present, and future of personal, interpersonal, and organizational computing.2a4

• See also his 5 page biographical sketch A Lifetime Pursuit, as well as Patents, Awards, Curriculum Vitae, Bibliography, and Press pages.
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Christina Engelbart2b

Co-Founder and Executive Director Christina Engelbart got her start in 1978 as a Customer Service and East Coast field representative for early customers of her father's NLS/Augment system, and helped spec the user interface for Augment's hyper-email program. She later joined forces with her father as co-Founder and Associate Director of Bootstrap Institute (precursor to the DEI*), working closely with Doug for over a decade on all aspects of his visionary work. She has also worked in regional retail operations and local economic development. Christina has a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley, with a special focus on applied anthropology and organizational behavior. She is experienced in business management, operations, marketing communications, customer service, community building, program management, webmastery, computer systems design, knowledge management, groupware, and continuous improvement.2b1

• See Christina's Bio and Resume for more details.
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Contact Info 3

To reach us at our new offices at SRI International click here.3a

Members of the press please see our Press pages before contacting us.3b