Ryan Ozawa

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Ozawa at Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Hawai'i.

Ryan Ozawa is a Hawaiian writer, journalist, and tech entrepreneur. He is noted for having published an online diary and a podcast before such media had become popular.[1]

Journalism[edit]

Ryan has contributed as a technology correspondent for every major media outlet in Hawaii. He is a technology columnist for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and a former technology talk show host at Hawaii Public Radio. He appears regularly on Hawaii News Now, Civil Beat, KHON and KITV where he has advised on topics ranging from the Hawaiian Labor Department's computer system, which he identified as outdated, as well as the potential of telecommuting for Hawaii workers. [2][3]

He was among 25 independent journalists nationwide selected to participate in Facebook’s Bulletin platform launch in 2021. [4] Ryan Ozawa served as the Editor-in-Chief of the daily student newspaper at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Ka Leo,[5] and the weekly student newspaper at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

He founded the website Diarist.net.[6][7] in 1994 and is an early example of an online diarist. Ozawa also established the website Hawaii Stories, which focuses specifically on writing about the community.

In 2004, Ozawa participated in the Honolulu Community-Media Council luncheon, where he participated in the discussion surrounding "Technology and Digital Journalism."[8] As part of this luncheon, Ozawa argued that the Internet's potential had not yet been tapped by that point.[8]

Startups[edit]

Ozawa has been involved in a number of startups including Smart Yields, an ag-tech startup founded in 2015.[9] [10] Ozawa was named CEO in 2022.[11] He also co-founded an organization called Kahanu, which brings together "entrepreneurs, engineers, designers and developers" to design and build open-source ventilators during the ventilator shortage in the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

COVID-19[edit]

In April 2020, Ozawa developed a map that combines Hawaii's rate of COVID-19 infection by ZIP Code in Hawaii with Google Maps.[13] He did this to address flaws in the official data from the State of Hawai'i.[14] He used reports from 250 locations as of August 26, 2020 from businesses of COVID-19 cases.[15] Ozawa noted that such information should have been compiled by the Department of Health. He was also highly critical of the fact that the DOH frequently changed the parameters of the data.[16] His data was utilized by researchers to help with both studying and developing a response plan for the virus. These include a mathematical model for the University of Hawaii and by the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center.[16] Another COVID-19 project Ozawa worked on was a registry to help Hawaii residents find where they can buy face masks.[16] Ozawa and his daughter were also among the first to participate in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trials in Hawaii.[17]

Awards[edit]

In 1999, Ozawa received the "Carol Burnett Fund for Responsible Journalism" award. In 2017, HVCA awarded him the "Startup Champion of the Year" award.[18] In 2013 he was named a "SBH Business Booster" by the Small Business Hawaii Entrepreneurial Education Foundation, due to his involvement in his community, as well as trying to speak up for businesses and entrepreneurs.[19] In 2017, HVCA awarded him the "Startup Champion of the Year" award.

Culture[edit]

Ozawa and his wife produced a podcast about the television show Lost,[20][21] and will be featured in a 2024 documentary about the show.[22]

When a federal judge in Hawaii placed a temporary block on President Donald J. Trump's travel ban, supporters of the ban spread the Twitter hashtag campaign #BoycottHawaii. Ozawa, whose Twitter account has the handle @Hawaii, was the subject of a significant amount of invective from these protesters, due to the impression that the Twitter account was associated with the State government.[23]

Personal[edit]

In addition to his online projects, he has also worked as the communications director for Hawaii Information Service.[24] and as the information security officer Internet banking manager for Hawaii National Bank.[8] He received a degree in journalism from the University of Hawaii.[25] He has three children,[26] and lost his wife Jennifer to cancer in 2021.[27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Who's Blogging Now?". Newsweek. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Technologist Ryan Ozawa discusses issues facing the Labor Department's computer system". KITV4. April 24, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  3. ^ March 4, 2021. "Could Tech Companies Help Diversify Hawaii's Economy?". KITV4. Retrieved November 8, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "Hawaii Hawaii Tech Writer Selected For Facebook Journalism Initiative". Civil Beat. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  5. ^ Dicus, Howard (October 12, 2004). "Hawaii becomes newest page on Metblogs". Pacific Business News. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  6. ^ Ramirez, Tino (October 18, 2001). "Make sense of contracts, pidgin and writing stuff". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  7. ^ Lum, Burt (August 13, 2002). "Bloggers always have the last word". Honolulu Advertiser. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Engle, Erika (November 16, 2004). "Local Web publishers face challenges in brave new world". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  9. ^ NOELLE, FUJII-ORIDE (29 March 2016). "Data-Driven Farming". Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Smart Yields makes final pitch in Vatican-blessed accelerator program". Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Five questions with Ryan Ozawa, the new CEO of Smart Yields". Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  12. ^ Lippert, Dawn (April 26, 2020). "Column: Entrepreneurial mindset is vital during the COVID-19 crisis". Star Advertiser. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  13. ^ "UPDATE: COVID-19 cases by zip code". KITV4. April 10, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  14. ^ Jung, Yoohyun (2020-09-24). "The Most Comprehensive Hawaii COVID-19 Maps Come From This 'Data Geek'". Honolulu Civil Beat. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  15. ^ Drewes, Paul (August 26, 2020). "An app to track Hawaii's COVID 19 cases". KITV4. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c Jung, Yoohyun (September 25, 2020). "The Most Comprehensive Hawaii COVID-19 Maps Come From This 'Data Geek'". Civil Beat. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  17. ^ Blair, Allyson (October 20, 2020). "500 Hawaii volunteers participate in COVID-19 vaccine trial". Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  18. ^ "2020 Excellence in Journalism". Hawaii Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
  19. ^ Slom, Sam (August 9, 2013). "Small Business Hawaii Education Foundation announces business, education all stars". Hawaii Reporter. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  20. ^ Audi, Tamara (May 22, 2010). "Hawaii Feels 'Lost' Without That TV Show". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  21. ^ "Finding Themselves in 'Lost'". New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  22. ^ Morden, Taylor (January 20, 2024). "Ryan Ozawa is Getting LOST". Instagram. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  23. ^ Murphy, Paul P. (March 16, 2017). "Quit tweeting your travel ban anger to @hawaii". CNN. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  24. ^ Samenow, Jason (March 25, 2020). "NOAA tsunami website faltered Tuesday while Hawaii faced a potentially 'destructive' threat". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  25. ^ "Q&A with Ryan Ozawa: Find meaning in any job". Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  26. ^ Wu, Nina. "Raising kids in the digital age". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  27. ^ "Obituary: Jennifer Ann Eno Ozawa". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
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