work

 

The kind of work I do

Through academic and commercial research and development projects over the years, I have built up a wide experience of online content management, java, javascript and xml technologies.


I work as a self-employed consultant and developer all over the world, for companies that want best practises in Open Source software solutions. I have worked on projects involved in banking, insurance, publishing, governance, the arts, education and science.


A lot of my work has involved developing online web applications for managing and publishing content of different kinds. I have worked on generic CMSs like Hippo and developed custom web applications for specific tasks like high-scale pan-European news publishing at VNUNET, managing coursework at Warwick University, research project data at Zurich University, digital programme making at the BBC, mortgage applications at Standard Life Bank, artwork, exhibitions and artists at inIVA, award winning websites for the Future Sound of London, online governance for Ancona and many more.


I was elected a Member of the Apache Software Foundation in 2005. I am a comitter to the Apache Cocoon project, Cocoon is an Open Source project to develop a dynamic standards-based XML XSL publishing and web application framework, written in Java.


I first started using Java, XML and XSL for n Ø 1 s e, statically rendered using XSL, which explores a large set of XML content files to discover relationships between a large set of assets, people, ideas etc. and builds a site from it. Used to take about 50 minutes to run.


There have been some unlikely long-term relationships in my career, with organisations like the BBC.

I designed furniture and interiors for them at one stage, I helped train many of their most creative multimedia artists at another, then eventually developed software for their research department.

It is a strange world. Gawd bless the BBC guv’nor.

The kind of work I did in the past

Researcher/Lecturer

The HyperMedia Research Centre is a research group based at Westminster University, set up in January 1995 by Andy Cameron, Richard Barbrook and I, as a platform for our joint research into the then emerging field of HyperMedia. The HRC ran an MA in HyperMedia Studies with 25 students per year. I used to run one of the modules, "Virtual Communities". Some of my really old design work can be seen here.


Green Design

In 1991 I was invited to join O2, the international sustainable design research group. We organised conferences, workshops, exhibitions and design experiments all over the world. Even though my work has moved from the physical to the virtual realm, my work still has relevance.


Game Design

Back in 1993, I used to work on games for TripMedia. We produced Burn:Cycle and The Virtual Nightclub, for Philips. It was sheer hell but I learnt a lot.


Furniture Design

Between 1985 and 1992 I had a small furniture design company. I had large and small clients in the UK and Europe. Yes, I went bust like everybody else in the recession, which is how I got into computing. Here is a portfolio of some of my work. These images took several days each to render back in the early 90’s.

My clients have included:

ABN AMRO Bank, Amsterdam

AntiRom

Arcadia Group

Artek

BBC Radiophonic Workshop

BBC Research

Bristol University

British Airports Authority

British Council

British Telecom

Cambridge University

Cité de Sciences, Paris

Conran Design

cyberSalon

David Worthington Ltd.

Digital Diaspora

DNA

EMAP Publishing

Future Sound of London

Goldsmiths College

Guinness

Hancocks Ltd.

Hippo, Amsterdam

ICA

Incisive Media

Institute of International Visual Arts

Jamiroquai

Kettle's Yard Gallery

Live & Play, Amsterdam

Lewis & Hickey

Luminas

Mindquarry, Berlin

I sometimes get invited to speak

“Break My Site”, Cocoon GT ‘07 Rome

“LDAP & Cocoon”, Cocoon GT ‘06 Amsterdam

“Cocoon Best Practises”, Cocoon GT ‘04 Ghent

Danish Design School in ‘98, Copenhagen

O2 Sustainable Business Challenge ‘98, Rotterdam

O2 Event Next Step ‘98, Copenhagen

Design the Internet ‘96 London

RCA’s Centre for Design in ‘96, London

DEAF ‘95 Rotterdam

Colaboratorium ‘95 Melbourne

MultiMedia ‘95 London

CyberDesign ‘95 Århus

Art in Transit ‘94 Saint Petersburg

I occasionally get to exhibit my work

“Changer d’Ère”. Cité de Sciences, Paris ‘07

“HRC Retrospective”. ICA, London ‘03

“Exquisite Corpse”. Sigraph, Los Angeles ‘95

“J’sJoint”. Sigraph, Los Angeles ‘95

“O2 Collection”. Milan Furniture Show ‘92

“O2 New Ways”. Seibu, Tokyo ‘92

Mochila

New Media Knowlege

O2 France, Paris

Odoko

Ogilvy & Mather

Otego

Panic Productions

Philips UK

Planet Decode

Pronetics

Prospect Management

Public Records Office

Risk2Risk

Royal Air Force

Royal College of Arts

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Sainsburys

Sony Music

Spy Graphics

Standard Life Bank

Sym Publishing

TAXI Interactive

The Earth Centre

Thorn EMI

Trip Media

VIP

Virgin Records

VNUNET

Warwick University

Welcome Trust

Westminster University

Zurich University