Ali Hossaini

Ali Hossaini (b. West Virginia) is an American artist, philosopher and businessperson. In 2010 the New York Times described him as a "biochemist turned philosopher turned television producer turned visual poet" in reference to a body of work which spans art, science and philosophy. He has served as an executive in a number of media and technology-oriented businesses, where he has been responsible for introducing innovations in content, interaction and distribution that developed into industry standards.

The son of an Iraqi father and American mother, Hossaini came of age during the Reagan Era, when he became a producer for Alternative Views, a television program that offered progressive news, commentary and interviews. He also produced short films that were distributed by Deep Dish Television. He went on to write for the Village Voice and other publications. In 1994 he received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, then became involved with academic publishing and the Internet. He launched The Surrealist Revolution at the University of Texas Press, a book series whose inaugural volume, Surrealist Woman, revealed the suppressed histories of female artists. He also published one of the first electronic books, Istanbul Boy, in 1996. and produced one of the first public webcasts, Come to Me, that same year.

Hossaini left Texas to join the staff of The Site, a San Francisco-based television newsmagazine on MSNBC, as a producer and commentator. His focus was on involving audiences in television broadcasts. He moved to ZDTV where he continued to develop interactive projects that integrated audience tools like chat and webcams into television programs. As vice president for community at Oxygen Media, he developed applications for video sharing and managed presence to integrate numerous corporate acquisitions into a single network. He served as executive producer and director of programming for Equator HD, high-definition television channel devoted to travel, culture and natural history until 2009.

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