The accidental guru – Craig Cline 

“the one about Craig and the guy from Apple, how he looked him in the eye and told him in his Craig-like way”

Wikipedia entry theaccidentalguru mycraigclinestory craig’s blog O’Reilly

Craig Cline (1951–2006) worked at Atex and then served as an editorial director of Seybold Publications, conference director of the Seybold Seminars and vice president of content development for the Seminars.^[1] He began with Seybold in the mid 1980s when the Seminars were the major conference for the growing electronic publishing industry and helped make them into “milestones for designers, developers, and production folks of all stripes in their struggle to understand what is going on with the technology.”^[2]

Cline is credited along with Dale Dougherty of O’Reilly Media with coming up with the term “Web 2.0.”^[3]

He died on 2 September 2006 after a strenuous battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig‘s Disease). He leaves behind a wife and six children.

They always say a decision is made within the first 15 seconds.

Craig impacted many peoples lives and was a true agent of change in the hi tech industry. I think everyone who knew him has a story like me to tell.

There was a guy called Craig Cline i once had the privilege to know, who whilst describing the internet and the profound changes it was having on the publishing industry and our every day life, pulled bits out of a card board box building a new PC. His passion, enthusiasm and fresh way of thinking was delivered in both a gentle and at the same time ‘explosive’ way.

I left University in 97 and with my (now) wife we decided to live out in Woodside, CA with her auntie and uncle which happened to  be Craig. Little did i know how those lazy days with ‘no life baggage’ would set me off on my hi tech journey.

My foundation is the internet – I saw it straight away and could see the opportunity, I had an uncluttered mind, no preconceived ideas only potential. Throughout my career, I have always seen the opportunities to ‘connect and create’ value using the internet. It’s always been difficult because having that foresight puts you at the head of the curve – I suppose I have worked backwards linking the internet up with the communications industry and using software to bridge the gap.

Unfortunately Craig died in September 2006 after a long battle with ALS. I didn’t know him for that long but with the time we had in 1997 he inspired me, it crafted my thinking but importantly he gave me insight into how the internet was going to change everything.  The one thing that you could say about Craig was he was always looking for ways to ‘change’. What if’s were his passion and he led his life with conviction.

There are so many stories about him that make you smile, like the the one about Craig and the guy from Apple. He was an under current of the web whilst leading Seybold  through its transition, in retrospect he never seemed to be the guy who wanted the recognition, he just wanted to help other people to make the change.

Reading about the experiences others have had with Craig prompted me to start something that Craig had an appetite for, blogging.

Irrespective of whether i have the same ‘appetite’ to keep this up, Craig should be remembered for his contribution to the web.

I cannot take the credit for the ‘accidental guru’ – this comes from someone else’s Craig Cline story – however when you are sitting there thinking, ‘what do i call this’ the Accidental Guru seems appropriate.

Dedicated to Craig Cline.

I have ‘pasted’ in some of Craigs content – it seems so sad that many of the links are now inactive, so I thought I would post this to try and keep some of these going.

Friends of Craig Cline In celebration and memory of the life of Craig Cline. Friday, October 20, 2006 Memorial meetup/salon/discuss in Berkeley. Picture. Gene Gable brought a CD of pictures from Seybold with him to the Craig Cline memorial. Friday, October 13, 2006 Roger Black: “Craig was one of the few who could see the patterns forming in front of the train.” Wednesday, September 6, 2006 Dave Winer: “There are very few people who will stand with you when you know you’re right. Everyone who knew Craig knew someone like that, and that made us special too.” Dale Dougherty: “Craig was big like a brown bear: slow and watchful, deliberate yet excitable.” Tuesday, September 5, 2006 From Gayle Cline: “Regards Craig’s ‘family’ funeral, this Saturday — we are creating a memorial garden spot on the ranch (his wish to be there with us), so if anyone wants to contribute potted plants, or memorabilia, they should have them sent here: 6100 Johntown Creek Rd, Garden Valley, CA 95633. David Weinberger: “Craig was knowledgeable, helpful, honest and friendly.” Tim Bray: “I owe Craig a lot.” Craig’s weblog. Joseph B. Solorio (via email): “Craig Cline was more of a father to me in my relatively short time knowing him than my own father ever cared to be. I had the honor of cooking for Craig on his last father’s day before he passed, it was pretty hard seeing him in such a state, having remembered how vibrant an individual he had been, but I am really very glad that I was able to be there with him in some small way. He taught me alot, probably more than he even knew, about how one is supposed to care for their family, especially their children. He will be sorely missed.” Alexis Girard (via email): “Craig was one of the few people to whom you could apply today that phrase from more genteel times: A Gentleman and a Scholar. But he was more than that, he was also a powerful agent of change who impacted countless lives for the better through empowerment. His work on the Seybold conferences and publications puts him among the handful of people most responsible for enlightening people about the tremendous enablement that technology had laid at their door, in the form first of desktop publishing, then of web publishing. Thanks in great part to him personally, Seybold was for many years without a doubt the most important conference at the intersection of technology and culture, and he set the standard for how to do it right. Thanks Craig.” Monday, September 4, 2006 Jory Des Jardins: Craig Cline, The Accidental Guru. Sunday, September 3, 2006 Craig died yesterday after a long illness. His wife Gayle and six children were at his bedside. We’ve started this site to accumulate stories of Craig’s life, to provide information about the memorial service, and a mailbox for people to send messages to the family. Mike Zornek: “Craig was a great guy. I really enjoyed working for him.” A picture of Craig, leading the Mobile Blogging discussion at BloggerCon III, in November 2004. Mailbox If you want to send a message to the family, or if you’ve written a blog post and wish to have it linked into this page, please send an email to craigclinefriends at gmail dot com.