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By David Rothman

image This is the stuff of mystery fiction, except unfortunately it’s true—a disappearance from both Net and Life.

Phil Agre, an online pioneer known to thousands for his trend-setting Red Rock Eaters News Service devoted to networking, politics and other topics, has been missing for many months.

Agre, who has suffered from manic depression like so many other talented people, formerly taught at UCLA.

NPR’s Andy Carvin has the details. Also see the Chronicle of Higher Education. Spotted Agre him lately? If so, call the UCLA police department at 310-825-1491. The official PD description is, "White Male, 49 years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He sometimes wears a full beard. He is 6’0” tall and 120 lbs."

Just what does it all mean from an Internet perspective, especially when the missing man came up with such observations as,“The future hybrid sociotechnical practice of information service design will take these trends much further: more systematic analysis, deeper appreciation of the interaction between symbolic and practical aspects of design, best practices for the evolution of middleware, and a heightened appreciation of just what it means, both technically and morally, to design a wired life." What’s out there, beyond the jargon? A telling sentence appears in the Chronicle: “The scholar apparently had many professional contacts but few close friends. An expert on privacy, he was always guarded about his own, say those who know him.”

Of interest: ResourceShelf’s summary of Pew report that challenges fears that the Net increases social isolation. In Agre’s case, could the most meaningful words really be “manic depression” more than “online pioneer”?

Related: The All Tech Considered archive, a handy collection of NPR tech stories, including a few on e-book topics, such as this overview of the decidated e-reader market.

 
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