Adrian Holovaty
| Adrian Holovaty | |
|---|---|
| File:Adrian Holovaty in 2009.jpg
Adrian Holovaty in 2009
(photo by Matt Biddulph) |
|
| Born | 1981 (age 42–43) Naperville, Illinois |
| Nationality | USA |
| Alma mater | Missouri School of Journalism (B.A., 2001) |
| Occupation | web developer, journalist, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Django Web framework |
Adrian Holovaty (born 1981) is an American web developer, journalist and entrepreneur living in Chicago, Illinois. He is co-creator of the Django web framework and an advocate of "journalism via computer programming."
Life and career
Holovaty, a Ukrainian American, grew up in Naperville, Illinois. He graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in 2001 and worked as a web developer/journalist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lawrence Journal-World and The Washington Post before starting EveryBlock, a web startup that provided "microlocal" news, in 2007.[1]
While working at the Lawrence Journal-World from 2002 to 2005, he and other web developers (Simon Willison, Jacob Kaplan-Moss and Wilson Miner[2]) created Django, an open source web application framework for Python. He and Kaplan-Moss served as the framework's Benevolent Dictators for Life until January 2014.[3] The pair wrote The Django Book, first published in 2007.
Holovaty is also a guitarist. In 1999, he recorded an album of his own guitar compositions,[4] and since 2007 he has posted videos of his acoustic guitar arrangements on YouTube, building an audience of more than 20,000 subscribers.[5] In 2012 he and PJ Macklin founded SoundSlice, a collaboratively edited website which shows YouTube music videos alongside simultaneous animated tablature, intended to help guitarists learn new musical pieces.[6]
Crime mapping innovations
In 2005, Holovaty launched chicagocrime.org, a Google Maps mashup of Chicago Police Department crime data.[7] The site won the 2005 Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism[8] and was named by The New York Times as one of 2005's best ideas.[9]
As one of the first Google Maps mashups, it helped influence Google to create its official Google Maps API.[10] Newspaper sites such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times have incorporated a map from EveryBlock, the successor to chicagocrime.org, into their web sites.[11]
In 2007, Holovaty was awarded a $1.1 million Knight Foundation grant and left his job as editor of editorial innovations at washingtonpost.com to start EveryBlock, the successor to chicagocrime.org.[12] On August 17, 2009 EveryBlock was officially acquired by msnbc.com.[13] The terms of the deal were not disclosed.[14] In February 2013, NBC News announced that it was shutting down EveryBlock.[15]
References
- ↑ Goodbye hyperlocal, hello microlocal | Holovaty.com
- ↑ Django committers
- ↑ Adrian and Jacob retiring as Django BDFLs | Holovaty.com
- ↑ Music | Holovaty.com
- ↑ YouTube - adrianholovaty's Channel
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Announcing chicagocrime.org | Holovaty.com
- ↑ Batten award
- ↑ Do-It-Yourself Cartography
- ↑ Official Google Blog: The world is your JavaScript-enabled oyster
- ↑ Street Wise: http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2009/Street-Wise/
- ↑ Knight Foundation grant | Holovaty.com
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32443365/ns/business-us_business/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
