As I sit at my laptop in the air-conditioned comfort of my home office writing this letter, listening to a Spotify soundtrack to help me concentrate, I cannot help but think about the stark differences between my life and the lives of the MIT graduates who founded MIT Technology Review and laid out its pages by hand. My life, and the lives of all of us, would amaze Arthur D. Little in more ways than I can count.
(It’s also significant that I’m writing this letter: when MITTR was founded, women’s suffrage in the United States was still 20 years away. There were women at the Institute, but they were few in number. Today, I am honored to serve as CEO and Publisher of this historic magazine, and proud to work at an Institute where both the president and vice president are women.)
I joined MIT Technology Review to lead its digital transformation. But despite the pace of change over the past 125 years, my responsibilities are not all that different from those of my predecessors. I'm here to ensure that the publication continues to run in all its formats: digital, app-enabled, audio-enabled, livestreamed. I'm deeply committed to our mission of providing our readers with trusted insights and information about the potential of technology to change our world.
At some stages in its history, MIT Technology Review was merely an alumni magazine, but at other stages it leaned heavily towards academic and journal-style publishing. During the dot-com era, MIT Technology Review invested heavily in growing its circulation, seeking advertising page counts to rival those of its peers at the time, Industry Standard, Wired, and Business 2.0.
I believe that certain core principles remained consistent throughout these chapters: an emphasis on innovation and creativity in the face of new challenges and opportunities in publishing.
Today, MIT Technology Review finds itself in a privileged yet precarious position in an industry that is struggling to survive and, frankly, in a time of crisis for print and online media. We are fortunate to have the support of the Institute, which allows us to cover the technology stories that matter most to our readers. We are focused on generating impact, not investor returns.
While we're incredibly grateful to our advertisers, they're not why we exist. Rather, we're focused on our readers. We're here for people who care deeply about how technology is changing the world. We want you to think, imagine, discern and dream. We want to inspire you and ground you in reality. We hope you value our journalism and support our mission by subscribing.
Running MIT Technology Review is no cheap endeavor. Our editorial team is made up of the most talented reporters and editors working in the media industry. They have a deep understanding of how technology works, and they ask the tough questions of tech leaders and creators. They're great storytellers.
