A self-professed life-long geek, Ryan Kawailani Ozawa has immersed himself in new technologies and online communities since the days before the web. From running a dial-up BBS in high school to exploring today’s dynamic world of “Web 2.0″ and social media, he has long embraced and evangelized the ways in which technology can bring people together.
Ozawa speaks regularly to and consults with professional, trade, and academic groups on technology, new media, and the social web. From leading workshops on online marketing and reputation management to media interviews exploring the latest tech innovations and their implications, he is passionate about educating and encouraging others.
Along with fellow technologist Burt Lum, Ozawa co-hosts Bytemarks Café, a weekly a one-hour radio magazine that showcases the innovation and creativity in Hawaii’s tech community. It airs at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays on Hawaii Public Radio, KIPO 89.3FM. In addition to his day job advancing web tools and social networking at local real estate data firm Hawaii Information Service, Ozawa is also the community manager for Wondermill Webworks‘ rapid polling site, Ask500People.com.
His blog, HawaiiWeblog.com, is one of the top five blogs in the state. And Ozawa also runs HawaiiThreads.com, an online forum devoted to the Aloha State that has seen over 1 million pageviews a month.
Having posted both poignant and pointless thoughts on the Internet since 1994 — long before technologists coined the guttural nounverb “blog” — he is a longtime advocate and fan of personal publishing on the web. He founded Diarist.Net in 1998, one of the first resources devoted to ‘escribitionism’ or online journaling, and convened the inaugural JournalCon in 2000, a first-of-its-kind “real world” gathering of an already thriving online community.
In addition to his obsession with the written word, Ozawa is also passionate about “new media.” He started podcasting in March 2005, producing “HawaiiUP” (a Hawaii-focused show) and “The Transmission” (a fan podcast for ABC’s filmed-in-Hawaii series “LOST”), which reached over 30,000 listeners around the world. He also produces regular videos, documenting both personal and community events. And he was an early local “lifecaster” — streaming live video over the internet while out and about in Honolulu.
His online initiatives have merited profiles and mentions in dozens of media outlets, local and national, including the New York Times, L.A. Times, National Public Radio, and Nightline.
Ozawa served as the Editor-in-Chief of Ka Leo O Hawai`i, the daily student newspaper at the Univ. of Hawaii-Manoa, for two years (1995-1997), after holding the same post at Ke Kalahea, the weekly student newspaper at UH-Hilo (1994-’95). He has a journalism degree from UH, and won first place for investigative reporting from the Carol Burnett Fund for Responsible Journalism. A Mililani High School alumnus, he is married with three children.
Updated August 12, 2010
