Tim O’Reilly, founder and president of O’Reilly & Associates, will receive the 2002 RIT Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing, sponsored by Xerox Corp. The honor is presented annually by Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Printing Management and Sciences (SPMS). The Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing, named for one of America’s great patriot printers, recognizes outstanding contributions made to the publishing industry. O’Reilly becomes the 23rd recipient of the award. The official presentation will be made Feb. 20 at Seybold Seminars New York 2002 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. O’Reilly is hailed for creating one of the leading computer-book publishing companies in the world. The Whole Internet User’s Guide & Catalog, an O’Reilly publication, was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the most significant books of the 20th century. A pioneer in the popularization of the Internet, O’Reilly created the Global Network Navigator site, the first Web portal and the first true commercial site on the World Wide Web. "Tim O’Reilly has truly documented the digital revolution," says Frank Romano, SPMS chair. "Programmers, IT professionals, and many other users have learned and applied new electronic tools through his company's books. If there is a foundation for the digital age, it rests with O’Reilly publications." "Xerox created, and remains a leader in, the digital publishing industry, so we are proud to again sponsor this award with RIT, a university with a rich heritage in printing and publishing," explains Elaine Wilde, senior vice president and general manager, Xerox Worldwide Graphic Arts Industry Business. Publishing is part of Xerox’s $3 billion graphic arts industry, which also includes commercial print/prepress, creative services, quick and franchise print, and service bureaus. O’Reilly is an activist for Internet standards and for Open Source software, which is available to the public in source code form and does not have licensing restrictions to limit use, modification, or redistribution. His efforts on behalf of key Internet technologies helped block Microsoft’s 1996 limits on TCP/IP in NT Workstation. Most recently, O’Reilly led a series of protests against frivolous software patents. In 1998, he received Infoworld’s Industry Achievement Award for his advocacy on behalf of the Open Source community. O’Reilly has also written numerous books on computer topics including The X Window System Users Guide (with Valerie Quercia), The X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual (with Adrian Nye), UNIX Power Tools (with Jerry Peek and Mike Loukides) and Windows 98 in a Nutshell (with Troy Mott and Walter Glenn). The RIT Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing is named in tribute to an early leader of the American printing industry. In 1779, Isaiah Thomas established The Massachusetts Spy at a print shop known as "the sedition factory" by the British colonial government. Legend has it that Thomas rode with Paul Revere to rouse the militia for the battles of Lexington and Concord. He continued his publishing career after the Revolutionary War, and in 1810 wrote The History of Printing in America, regarded as the basic source of information on early American printing and publishing. Recent recipients of the Isaiah Thomas Award include John W. Seybold, founder of Seybold Consulting Group; William Burleigh, chairman of E.W. Scripps Co.; Gary B. Pruitt, president and CEO of McClatchy Co.; and Dona Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, former president of Nicaragua. Internationally recognized as a leader in imaging, technology, fine and applied arts, and education of the deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology enrolls 15,000 full- and part-time students in more than 250 career-oriented and professional programs. RIT’s School of Printing Management and Sciences, considered among the best of its kind in the world, offers programs in graphic media, printing systems, and traditional and electronic publishing. For the past decade, U.S. News and World Report has ranked RIT as one of the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. RIT is also included in Yahoo Internet Life’s Top 100 Wired Universities, Fisk’s Guide to America’s Best Colleges, as well as Barron’s Best Buys in Education.