Jon Udell is an author, information architect, software developer, and new media innovator. His 1999 book, Practical Internet Groupware, helped lay the foundation for what we now call social software. Udell was formerly a software developer at Lotus, BYTE Magazine's executive editor and Web maven, and an independent consultant.

A hands-on thinker, Udell's analysis of industry trends has always been informed by his own ongoing experiments with software, information architecture, and new media.

From 2002 to 2006 he was InfoWorld's lead analyst, author of the weekly Strategic Developer column, and blogger-in-chief. During his InfoWorld tenure he also produced a series of screencasts and an audio show that continues as Interviews with Innovators on the Conversations Network.

In 2007 Udell joined Microsoft as a writer, interviewer, speaker, and experimental software developer. His portfolio includes an interview series, Perspectives, which explores how Microsoft works with partners -- universities, governments, NGOs -- to develop new and socially impactful uses of its technologies. Currently he is building and documenting a community information hub that's based on open standards and runs in the Azure cloud.