We are saddened to share the news that our friend and colleague, Steve Cisler, passed away on Thursday morning, May 15th.
Steve joined the Center in 2007 as Project Manager for the KnowledeX program, which is focused on research and development in communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing in virtual communities. The first constituencies considered in the program were the Laureates in the “Technology Benefiting Humanity” awards program (which the Center has judged since 2001) and the participants in the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) program. At the time of his passing Steve was actively involved in the creation of an innovative online environment to serve these communities, and coordinating the production of videos for nine Tech Laureates by community volunteers.
Prior to the Center, Steve had a long and distinguished career as a librarian, first in a public library and then as a Senior Researcher in the library at Apple Computer, where he also headed the Apple Library of Tomorrow program. He supported a wide range of community networking projects, served on the board of the Internet Society, and was among the first people lobbying for the allocation of radio spectrum for wireless computer networks—an effort that led to the establishment of the 802.11b standard commonly used today.
In the early 90′s Steve Cisler worked for Apple as their “Apple Library of Tomorrow” digital libraries guy. Steve saw the Internet as a great place for public libraries even then. He had been involved in WAIS, Gopher and other projects. At a VLA annual conference Steve Cisler heard about Steve Helm’s work at the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library offering broadband access to the Internet via the Blacksburg Electronic Village project. Steve Cisler quickly offered offered to donate an Apple server, software, and a digital digital camera to assist MFRL with bringing local non-profit oraganizations into their own web space on BEV.
Steve was not only interested in technology, but he also cared deeply about the social consequences of technology innovations and their impact on cultures and peoples with limited or no access. Part of this interest can be traced to the time he spent in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer early in his career, and later in the Coast Guard stationed in Puerto Rico. In 2003 Steve undertook a long road trip throughout the United States to explore what living “off the grid” was like—no email, no cell phones, no Internet access. Like he did in all his travels, he wrote thoughtful and insightful travelogues and published them on the web (his off-grid chronicles were posted by friends and family while he traveled), leaving us with a wonderful record of his time and presence.
Steve is survived by his wife Nancy, sons Erik and Geoff, daughters-in-law Tiffany and Karen, twin granddaughters Anna and Lena, and countless friends all over the world who have started to assemble a multimedia tribute in his memory. A memorial service has been planned by the family to take place on Monday, June 2nd at 4:00pm in Sanborn Park (16055 Sanborn Road, Saratoga, California 95070). In lieu of flowers, Steve’s family requests that donations be made in his memory to the Friends of African Village Libraries (www.favl.org; P.O Box 9053, San Jose, CA 95109-3533).