Remembering Joe Ryan

I learned yesterday that a close friend during my Ph.D. program had passed away. Joe Ryan and I were doctoral students back in the nineties and I owe him so much. He took a kid fresh out of an undergraduate program, and taught me how to survive in a Ph.D. program. He taught me how to write (he published my first vita hit – a book review in Internet Research), how to be edited (“I edit the words, not the person), he even gave me fantastic travel advice (“All you will ever see of the world is the inside of hotel rooms, taxis, and airports if you don’t force yourself to walk around”). He even helped me buy my first suit for a gig in DC. He was always there with advice. He always had something useful to say.
He also did a fair bit of inspiring my passion in libraries as a former librarian himself. He would tell the stories of packing books into the car of his trunk to circulate to the local neighborhoods.

Some of you may remember Joe and his work on Internet policy, the NREN (National Research and Education Network – true story we co-coached a school wide softball team for the School of Information Studies called the NRUNs), and his close work with Chuck McClure on library evaluation and broadband adoption.

After I started my job as a faculty member Joe and I didn’t talk much, and for the past few years not at all. It is unfortunate that only with his death do the “what’s going on with…” and the “I should call…” lines take on real urgency in the form of regret. I will miss Joe, and now I will always miss the opportunity to re-engage with him. I owe Joe a lot, and his passing is a very sad day.