My Life at AOL [Paperback]

Julia L. Wilkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

For the first time, the story of America Online is told from the perspective of an employee in the trenches. Learn what it was really like to be at this company that was at the epicenter of the Internet revolution.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wilkinson's e-book, a personal account, is something different. ...one of those former employees...from the proverbial trenches." -- The Washington Post, May 3, 2001

"Wilkinson's e-book, a personal account, is something different...She's one of those former employees...from the proverbial trenches..." -- The Washington Post

About the Author

Julia Wilkinson is uniquely qualified to write about the Internet and online services. She combines a nine-year career at AOL with her strong writing skills and record as a prolific columnist.

She has been quoted in USA Today, The Washington Post, and on National Public Radio. Her articles have appeared in many industry publications, and she has been a columnist three times for various magazines and online services.

Ms. Wilkinson was most recently a contributor for Bisnow.com, a web site about high-tech CEOs and their lifestyles; and recently wrote weekly columns on business, technology, and home office issues for the women’s business web site womenCONNECT.com.

At AOL, she worked as production manager, responsible for all design and production for four major AOL channels: Life, Styles & Interests, The Newsstand, Hobby Central, and Religion & Beliefs.

In her career as producer, Julia created online areas in conjunction with major media partners such as The New York Times, Scientific American, Hachette Filipacchi magazines, Business Week, Wired, the Army Times, and Windows Magazine; as well as for the News, Personal Finance and Media departments. She designed the Life, Styles & Interests web site and wrote original content for it; and developed original programming, including seasonal features, games, and interactive entertainment for the People Connection area of AOL's former services Q-Link and PC-Link, as well as for the America Online service.

Her early experience with the interactive channel of AOL, “People Connection,” gave her a unique perspective on the stories of people in cyberspace and how dramatically it could affect their lives.

She has written for various publications, including Multimedia Online, Boardwatch, COMPUTE!, CONNECT, ComputorEdge, and Digital Publishing Strategies.

Julia is married to J. Nicholas Gallagher, an attorney. They have a daughter, Lindsay; and a son, Kyle; and live in Alexandria, Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: 1st Book Library (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075961525X
• ISBN-13: 978-0759615250
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,775,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Insiders View, July 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Life at AOL (Paperback)

I worked with Julia at AOL and she offers tales from a perspective I guarantee you haven't read anywhere else.

Kara Swisher's "AOL.COM" told the story from the executive level. Julia's "My Life At AOL" tells it from the perspective of the regular employees who made the service run on a day to day basis. It's a look at things that happened when AOL was a wacky little company; very different from today's media behemoth.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insider's Tale, May 23, 2001

By 

Barbara Morris "author" (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life at AOL (Paperback)

This book is a lively read--a brisk account of the energetic, imaginative and bright young people at the birth of AOL. It's enlivened by Ms. Wilkinson's breezy and engaging "voice." She mangages to give a sense of the atmosphere in the offices of the growing company with descriptions of brainstorming sessions illustrated with lots of colorful quotes. She presents well-thought out examples of the Internet as a powerful double-edged sword. While acknowledging its potentially negative aspects, she makes a strong case for it as a positive and highly beneficial tool. Being technologically challenged, I esepcially enjoyed the Appendix--A Cyber-Lingo Glossary:How To Speak AOL and the list of "smilies" and "emoticons," those wacky little lighthearted symbols that are shorthand ways of expressing emotions.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Writing by a Great Writer, December 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: My Life at AOL (Paperback)

This book is great for anyone interested in finding out about how it feels to work at a small iffy start-up company. The author lets us climb on for the rollercoaster as the company goes through the initial ups and downs, on its way to becoming the largest internet provider in the world. It's filled with interesting facts and spiced up with enough personal accounts to make the reader feel like a real insider. Bravo!