I remember talking to Nick Givotovsky the first time at an early Internet Identity Workshop, when he pulled me aside to share some ideas, and immediately stripped my gears. The guy was as smart as they come, and articulate to an extreme equaled by few. I had to stop him every few sentences to get him to dumb it down a bit, or at least to let me catch up. Many conversations followed, in many settings. Every encounter with Nick was engaging and mind-sharpening.
We became friends — or as close as people get when they’re mutually engaged in a number of projects, and enjoy each other’s company, as well as each other’s minds and hearts. I called him “Nicky G.”
Best I can recall, Nick came to nearly every IIW, plus workshops on VRM, networking and much more. He always contributed, always brought a warm smile and good sense of humor. He was serious, but didn’t take himself too seriously. A rare combination. Also notable was Nick’s mode of engagement. He was always original, often challenging, but never hostile or obstructive. And his mind was always open, always curious, always ready to step up and participate.
As I recall, the last I saw Nick was at the IIW this past May. He left a bit early to get back to his farm in Cornwall, Connecticut. I remember him talking about this old tractor he had, and how much he enjoyed operating it. He died this last Friday after falling off (what I assume is) that tractor. More of the story is here and here. (I share those links there for the record, but they are not pleasant reading.)
Nick’s last post on one of the many lists in which he participated told the story of his older brother’s death. “I think he did it astonishingly ‘right’, if such a thing can be said of dying,” Nick wrote.
Alas, Nick died wrong. And way too young. He was just 44. He leaves his wife and two kids. Plus many shocked and saddened friends.
Tagsiiw, Nick Givotovsky, NickyG, VRM
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July 7, 2009 at 11:57 pm
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July 11, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Russ Nelson
I have an old tractor and a bush hog. I hope Nick died quickly, because there are many horrible deaths I can imagine one might receive at the hands of a bush hog.
July 13, 2009 at 1:58 am
Doc Searls
Russ, I can only hope too. I also just don’t want to know. I just don’t want to have that knowledge in my head.
July 13, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Suzanne
Doc – thanks for the story. Nick and I were friends and colleagues many years ago after doing a very intense project together. Incredibly brilliant and likable guy. Was just reminded of him last night while watching a Hugh Grant movie. Still really in shock from this…
July 14, 2009 at 11:07 am
Doc Searls
Thanks, Suzanne. We’re all still dealing. Nice was an ace. He’s missed as a friend and colleague. And what he’s not contributing is missed too.
July 14, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Howard Greenstein
Thanks for a great memory of Nick, Doc. I met him at the first Jerry’s retreat I think, and always enjoyed our great long talks. In the last few years they tended to focus on our kids, as dads often will. I’m so saddened for his family, and especially for those kids who will miss his influence as a real mensch in their lives.
July 15, 2009 at 2:10 am
Russ Nelson
I can but wish for Nick what I would hope for myself in the same situation.
(I saw a Friend–Bonnie Tinker–lying badly injured and dying a minute after a bicycle accident while at the Quaker Gathering a few weeks ago. … There but for the Grace of God go I. But I’m not going to let her death stop me from bicycling, nor Nick’s death from bush-hogging.)
July 15, 2009 at 2:51 am
Doc Searls
Whoa… Bonnie Tinker… Did she have any connection to Guilford College, by any chance? She seems very familiar to me. We’re about the same age. I went to Guilford, married a quaker girl… might have crossed paths somewhere back there.
July 15, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Wes Kussmaul
Oh, what distressing news!
What a loss!
Nick had as keen a grasp as anyone of the real issues around protection of privacy while living life in the information world. I recall a wonderful conversation with Nick and Owen Davis about bringing authenticity and privacy to child-oriented social networks. A very insightful guy, and lots of fun to klatsch with about not just privacy but his family, his farm and… his tractor.
My heartfelt condolences to Laura Ellen, Nina and Sasha, if they happen to read this.
July 21, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Russ Nelson
Bonnie Tinker was the founder and executive director of Love Makes a Family, an advocate for eliminating discrimination against families who are out of the majority for reasons of sexual or gender identity. She attended Grinnell College, was a firebrand even then, and may very well have visited or spoken at Guilford.
I wish I’d known Nick. We would probably have enjoyed tractor-geeking.
July 22, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Adrian Blakey
I am oh so sad about this. I met him last year at the IIW in Santa Clara – he pitched the “digital deal” – what a plainly simple great idea. I am crying.
July 22, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Doc Searls
Adrian, we are trying to get details of that “digital deal” together. Can you write down or share with us what you remember of it?
September 24, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Adrian Blakey
“Digital Deal” – a simple idea as I remember it – let me try, (ask Johannes Ernst about it too).
A consumer often unwittingly agrees to the terms or an agreement presented to them by a service or product provider by either checking the box marked “I agree” on the web page, or by “opening the box.”
The terms are often presented in a manner that are hard to understand. And, for the vendor to make money their business model (might) have to claim rights that an unsuspecting consumer might not give up if they were fully understood the agreement.
There is no explicit description of that exchange of value between the provider and the consumer that is written in a form that is easy to understand. If there was, it might be branded “the digital deal.”
If I remember rightly he was very concerned that as technologists we were the people who should be engaged in this debate, since we were unwittingly creating complex systems with embedded rules that have enormous consequences and impact people’s privacy and fundamental rights. Sure as heck government is not helping the consumer, so why don’t we help ourselves, and at least expose it? At the time Johannes was also proposing a reestablishment of “digital human rights”, which he should talk about (also remember Bush was still around …)
Just taking this a step further. If there was such a thing, maybe it would open up the opportunity for a consumer to negotiate their own deal. This might not be such an extreme thought if you add up – ownership of your own digital identity+the long tail+Web 2.0+collaborations etc. PLUS an explicit rendition of the terms and then maybe negotiation protocols?) It might facilitate a more equinanimous distribution of wealth – maybe Google would be more like a mutual society than a (not so) evil empire