Recovered

Every fact on these entries was found in a source and cited.

399 entries

2023

AilaOak National Academy's AI lesson assistant, open to every teacher in the UK.

2022

How to scale your data teamWith Thomas in’t Veld of Tasman Analytics, at dbt’s Coalesce London 2022: how On Deck pulled 400-plus SaaS tools into one data platform without a data team.
TranslucentAn early-stage fintech and data startup: a finance platform for the CFOs of multi-entity businesses.

2021

On DeckA San Francisco cohort-based learning platform for people with ambition, somewhere between an accelerator and an MBA.

2020

IndependentStartups applying AI, as their fractional CTO or lead engineer: an AI and VR healthtech spinout from Cleveland Clinic, and Aila, Oak National Academy's AI lesson assistant.
Oak National AcademyWrote the first code and led the technical development of Oak's free online lessons: v1 shipped in the first lockdown, and by the second wave it was supporting 4.5 million children a week learning from home.
Tech4Good Awards
The goal isn’t to run the marathon, it’s to become the kind of person who runs marathonsNow that the London Marathon is postponed, along with lots of other races, here’s why I’m keeping going and adapting.
Autism, kids, self-reflection and why I’m running the London Marathon for #AutismThis Summer, our two kids and I were diagnosed with autism. So what did I do? Start running, of course! Here’s why.

2018

ING LabsING's London innovation lab, building new ventures where finance, tech and sustainability meet.
Year of ColourYour year on Instagram as a palette. Over a million people had theirs read.

2017

Introducing The Thread on MediumFor the last couple of years, Makelight, the learning community that I help run has been really growing. It’s turned into a wonderfully…
LTV Conf podcast, episode 5After a life-changing illness at 19, Stef vowed to create something every day. He tried agency-life and the VC-world but it turned out working alongside his wife on her passion project was the way to finally to balance their family life with their work life.
Rainmaking Venture StudioNew digital ventures in e-commerce logistics and supply chain, built with DHL Supply Chain's backing.
✔︎ See the kids during daylight hoursWe should put what really matters at the heart of how we work

2016

Do what you love (and pay the bills)On growing a passion project into a passion business without taking investment.
EphemeraldsOn the temporary nature of the things we create
Building early-stage startupsA talk on building early-stage startups, while building Makelight, at the London Startup Growth Meetup.
MakelightAn online learning community for makers and creative small-business owners, led by Emily Quinton: video courses, analytics tools and a subscription community.
The EphemeraldHow to get things done as a serial side-project maker, at RedMonk’s Monki Gras 2016.
Quietly getting on with businessFor the last few months I’ve been unusually quiet online.
Sketching out the futureA talk at UX Brighton 2016 on sketching with code: making the thing to find out whether it should exist.

2015

Starting with a hackSoftware developer Stef Lewandowski kicks off the session with a talk about starting new projects, gaining ownership over your own process and keeping your business playful.
The Gender Setting: Flexible Technology, Narrow SexualityA FutureFest 2015 discussion session, billed with Stef Lewandowski as “Technologist, Artist and Startup Founder”.
Getting back to the drawing boardI’m leaving Makeshift, so what’s next?
Hacking happiness into the daily commuteHow rethinking part of my daily routine is having an effect on how happy I feel each day
Ignite AcceleratorOne of Europe's best pre-seed accelerator programmes.
If software is eating the world, who’s running the restaurant?There’s a gender gap in tech. Can we narrow it?
Rainmaking Venture StudioA venture studio to kickstart Jaguar Land Rover's InMotion newco: three teams on three areas of opportunity, each validated by building digital prototypes.
Hack, play, learn.A hack-first approach to prototyping ideas in parallel to find the ones that work.

2014

Cheers, Medium!You turned me into a writer
Clore Prize
Hospital Club HClub100
Sketching with DataA 15 minute talk about the “hackableness” and malleability of data, and some of the sketchy, playful hacks I’ve been doing in my spare time that perhaps point towards an opportunity to improve how playful we can be with data.
Internet of Things, where are you?Visualising the devices around you right now
Introducing “Founder Stories”Startup founders sharing what they’ve learnt
Teach Your Kids to Create as Well as Consume GamesA 20x20 Pecha Kucha lightning talk (I’d never used this format before!) including how to be a robot dad and how to play with Scratch.
Let’s distribute the futureWhat would you give a child to inspire an interest in technology? A box full of awesome things perhaps?
Lining things upHow do you choose your next project?
Monsters! Everywhere!Sharing my love of drawing monsters with my kids
An awesome team formingA big welcome to some new makeshift faces
Announcing: Twitter lists of your event attendeesWe have list off!
Drawing to thinkIs a doodle good for the noodle?
Are you building a hack, a product, or a hackquaduct?Bridging the Hack/Product Gap
Watch: Encourage your kids to code even if you can’t yourselfA 7 minute lightning talk at Kidcrafters
Leading at the code-faceBalancing technical leadership with writing code
Learning to say “no”On becoming a non-yes man
One hundred piecesCan I write one hundred pieces of writing in one year?
My dad turns into a robot!A tiny game you can play to encourage your kids to code
Startups—get a room!Pass the remote
Step away from the screenApply sunscreen instead?
Teh Guardian FTW!!!1!A tiny, subtle hack on TheGuardian.com
Towards a greater understanding of technology for everyoneIn response to the response to the Year of Code
The idea funnelIs killing ideas just as important as coming up with them?

2013

30 days of MediumWhat I’ve learned from my first month writing on Medium
A hack is worth a thousand picturesCould making a prototype be better than using words and pictures to communicate your idea?
A tiny act of feminismWhich child gets the pink beaker?
Accelerating serendipityCan you make happy accidents happen more often?
Back to #startuplife with MakeshiftI’m doing a new thing.
BitsyA tiny little service to help makers, musicians, designers, crafters, developers and small business owners sell their stuff directly to the people in their networks.
Crafty Fox BoxHelped Emily with design and tech around her monthly craft box subscription service.
Create something every dayWhy I made this my rule for living, and what happens when you decide to make things all the time
Hacking at Do Startup
DoacourseEasy to create online courses
Hack, Play, Learn — Slides from Google Campus
Heber Primary SchoolSchool governor at two schools, and chair for three years at Heber Primary School in South London.
Help Me WriteA very simple service aimed at bloggers and writers facing the common problem of 'what shall I write next?'.
Higher resolutionsCan you commit to doing something every day in 2014?
Hack, Play, Learn (Hacker News London)What we’re learning by building play, failure and parallelism into the Makeshift process.
HugbaseMaking Crunchbase more useful by adding Datahug
How do you decide whether your idea is worth making?For the last few years, concentrating on “getting good at getting fast”.
Ignore the newsWhy I gave up listening to mainstream news so I could concentrate on things that matter
Internet filtering will do more harm than goodI’ve written to my UK Member of Parliament about new opt-out internet filtering proposals aimed at protecting children
Learning by hackingI do hacks. Tiny prototypes for digital things that I show to people quickly. And for five years I’ve been doing, on average, one a month. I call it sketching with code. Here are some of the things I’ve learnt.
ListerlyMake and manage a list of people
Make it up as you go alongI’ve been making up bed-time stories for my kids.Could imagination and improvisation prepare them (and me) for the modern world?
MakefulnessIs seeking a state of flow what work is really about?
Hack, Make, ShiftAn overview of our stage-gate process for evaluating new ideas.
Don’t just do one thingCould parallelism be an appropriate way to find the thing you should focus on?
Hackathon and on and on24 hours of hacking! Crèche not included
Hey Twitter! Let me send a private link to a friend…URL be back
How can we teach all the kids that want to code, how to code?A shedcast with Clare Sutcliffe, co-founder of Code Club
How to lose form data and alienate peopleOn poor form
How to send links via direct message in Twitter now they’re bannedA couple of handy hacks for getting round the ban
Magnificent failures, hand made video game cheat books and the absurdity of startups: An interview with Ryan HooverTalking shop
Make a useful thing and don’t be a dickStartup or upstart?
Not just another blogOn making an article engine for Makeshift’s new website
On the joy of small software!Building things that just do one thing well
Shedcast #1: Stef on the early days of MakeshiftThe first in our series of podcast conversations from our two-story shed at Makeshift (yes you read that right)
Shedcast with Joe ScarboroOur first guest conversation in the Makeshift Shedscraper, with Joe from 3 Beards
Showing your work in progressShow people early, get feedback, listen
RumblerollKeep up to date with your favourite blogs
SavematesCreate a monthly savings group
ShhareShare passwords securely
Hack, Play, Learn (Tech Talkfest, Google Campus)“Hack, Play, Learn” is the part of the Makeshift process that precedes the “Build, Measure, Learn” workflow that many people will be familiar with.
The ideas won’t run outSo don’t worry if you have the idea fear
The Little, Big IdeaHow just doing the first, tiny part of your idea can help you find out what you need to do to really make it a big idea
This is from everyoneThe Web will only be for everyone when we can say that it’s from everyone too
University of BirminghamOne of the governing bodies of the University, with responsibilities including approving the appointment of the Chancellor.
In conversation: Max Fraser, Stef Lewandowski and Christopher RaeburnWhat a collaboration between a fashion designer and a creative technologist looks like, at Wearable Futures 2013.
What gets done is what gets doneHow long working hours don’t help you in the long term
When to give upThe right course of action might be to stop what you’re doing, and regain your biggest asset – yourself.
Will I really steal your idea?Some people demand signed non-disclosure agreements before they will tell you their idea. I’m not one of them any more and here’s why.
WranglerA simple way to query and analyse data, and collaborate with your team around reports.

2012

A place to make and do
Artist or Hacker?“Arthacking and exhibition to remember” is the theme of the next Digital Sizzle hackday , one of East London’s many tech industry meetup events.
Business to Arts Award: Best Creative Staff Engagement
Change Nation - the tech behind the scenes
Change NationAn Ashoka initiative to address some of the societal problems that Ireland was facing.
ChircleA little charity idea — a single direct debit with a nice interface that let you give to charities really quickly and split up a fixed amount.
Concluding thoughts on my researchConcluding thoughts on the research
Sidekick StudiosA mobile skate and BMX video app funded by Red Bull, a rapid-prototyping project with Comic Relief, and Buddy, for the NHS.
ConvotateA web-app to make sense of hundreds of conversations happening simultaneously at a conference or event.
Croft 6A git-powered site for a small museum
Culture Hack East 2012 (Video)
Culture Hack Scotland 2012 - 3 of my hacksCulture Hack Scotland 2012 - 3 hacks
Dare RouletteGet your mates to do stupid stuff for money
Digital Sizzle - a short documentary
Hacking an island?
Eiggbox - Geek in ResidenceEigg's 'geek in residence', on the Inner Hebridean island — an artist in residence programme for technologists and designers.
The Exploralaboratorium - six week-long hacks for Comic Relief
Finance apps for a small business - what I'm using to make my life easierFinance apps for a small business
Red Bull FlowA camera app and web viewing experience for Red Bull: sequences of very short sports video clips.
FundeerGet sponsored to give your skills to Comic Relief charities
Getting good at getting fastI’m about to write up my research for NESTA/Clore’s paper that set me off on the task of researching culture and hacking.
Hack, Play, LearnBuild, Measure, Learn.
How and what are cultural organisations learning from hacker culture?For the past few years I’ve immersed myself in the world of hack days, and become pretty interested in collaboratations between hackers and artists / cultural organisations.
Hacking with GLA environmental data
Is it smoggy in London?Mobile and web tool to find out about pollution levels
KittyHow could artistic residencies be crowd-funded?
LinetimeSimple visualisations of history
LoftifyTackling the problem of poor home insulation for older people
Loosely-coupled productivityA short conversation on Twitter made me realise something.
My Eigg residency, part twoIt’s the end of my second visit to Eigg and it’s been eventful!
Playfully hacking on things that matter
Refocussing the residencyI’ve been thinking about what I’m supposed to achieve with my residency on Eigg this autumn, and came to some conclusions today.
Returning to Eigg
RicherlistEnrich a mailing list of emails with more data to make it more useful
Speaking in Shetland about Eigg and Geeks in Residence [video]
SkitUse Dropbox to create and manage a small website
SmoggleAn urban pollution game
SpottedA mobile nature game
StorylandUser-contributed stories about Scotland made readable on mobile devices
Telling stories with hacksA couple of history hacks while on Eigg — two things that might be of use to others.
The Hack as the Message
Through the Lens of Demarco - Hack 3 for Culture Hack Scotland 2012
Topic TellyEducational video content for Schools from Comic Relief

2011

Aframe is a Smarta 100 winner
BuddyA software tool that helped people deal with depression by keeping a 'mood diary' via mobile, web and SMS.
BudgeAn Arduino-based game with a web-based tool for visualisation and tracking.
Did I mention I'm a photographer? Anatomy of an HTML5/JQuery Image gallery
The EuropasEuropa Finalist — for Aframe
Experimenting with Ruby application stacks
FilmFlexiconBrowse Filmflex films by their RottenTomatoes.com ratings.
Guardian MEGAs — Disruptive TechnologyFinalist for Guardian MEGAs — Disruptive Technology — for Aframe
Manage PlacesA pre-launch beta product that aimed to help people with large areas of land under management to comply with various environmental legislation.
MetchaMobile serendipity accelerator
Mini Pub CrawlMake it easy to arrange a multi-venue evening out with friends
Mo' Monsters!A random monster generator, the precursor to the company More Monsters
My resolution: answer some questions on Stack OverflowResolution: answer some questions on Stack Overflow
New HomelyA quick mashup based on scraping Pinterest to make a small single-page web-based mood board.
Phenomenal PeopleA quick experiment at a content site for Women of the World festival
Screened - a map visualisation of UK film screening data
ScreenedA demonstrator mapping where films of different kinds are shown around the UK, built on the BFI's archived film screening data.
Smarta 100
The loss of @towerbridge from a cultural point of view
Twitter BackupDownload all your tweets as a JSON file
Wake up monsters!
WranglA simple tool that visualised two sides of an argument.

2010

A letter to David Burrowes
A letter to my MP on the day of the Digital Economy Bill second reading
Email Your CandidatesSend an email to the people standing for office, to ask them all the same question
GeoPilsenBritish Council hack with the people of Plzn
Get geo-position coordinates from a UK postcode with RubyIntroducing Pat, an ultra-lightweight Ruby gem for postcode->geolocation in the UK.
I'm disappointed
Introducing Caboodle
LaserBlazerWrite words in the air using your mobile
Launching a monster startup - Aframe
Link “Scientists”I get frustrated when I see an interesting article on the web that starts with “Scientists have discovered…” and followed by a surprising new ‘fact’, backed up with a write-up, some quotes but no more information on what the research is, by whom.
NUJ Regional Journalism Awards
Plzen
Random Play
TesselationI’ve recently become reminded of an old fascination I had with tesselation. Earlier this year I helped Emily with a design refresh involving this pattern:
Urban Ideas Bakery - Pilsen
WPRipperIf your wordpress site died, scrape it back from the Google Cache using a sitemap
Yes and…Something I’ve unconsciously been doing to avoid those kinds of conversations is to start my sentences “yes and” instead of “yes but”.

2009

4IP idea: Dear Sir MadamIt’s a service that lets you as the ‘angry customer’ to make use of an expert tool to put together the perfect complaint letter, with little effort.
4IP Idea: Easter XEaster X is a geocaching competition that will happen in Easter 2009.
4IP Idea: How to Look Good OnlineIt’s “How to Look Good Naked” for social networking.
4IP Idea: MismashMismash: mashups that are plain wrong.
5 Counter-intuitive rules for creative peopleHere are some counter-intuitive rules that I’m following at the moment, and if you’re a ‘creative entrepreneur’ they might apply to you too:
A bunch of 4IP ideasLast year 4IP hit the West Midlands web scene and asked for our ideas for public service digital content and services.
A Google Wave HaikuI am also excited about Google Wave, and I like the way that on signing up for a developer account there was a box titled “Write a message to the Google team”.
A letter to my MP about Ian TomlinsonWatching the video of the police assault on Ian Tomlinson got me very angry, so I’ve written to my MP about it.
Artists Taking the LeadI’m involved in one of the shortlisted projects for Artists Taking the Lead, which is a competitive pitch to the Arts Council who will be awarding several groups £500,000 for artistic projects to tie in with the Olympic games.
Charles on SerendipityA very quick but enlightening conversation with Charles Hunter that’s given me some exciting angles to take in my research.
The Culture Question: What does Birmingham need?The Big City Plan is out for consultation, and it asks some pretty big, and open questions about the city.
Daedelus on SerendipityAn interview with the musician Daedelus on the subject of ‘accelerated serendipity’, the occasion of which in itself had serendipitous qualities - someone else Tweeted, I was nearby, we hadn’t seen eachother since he stayed at my house for a show a few years ago, I had my notebook, conversation ensued.
Does BCCDIY risk devaluing digital marketing?Here’s an interesting criticism of BCCDIY - that it risks “devaluing the commercial aspects of digital marketing”.
Observer / Courvoisier The Future 500Top 5 in the Observer / Courvoisier The Future 500 2009
Ruby GEOAPIRuby interface to GeoAPI
Guardian: Digital technology for public services and communities could make bottom up more effective than top downI just left this comment on an article on the Guardian site that seems to be very relevant to BCCDIY.
Help me choose my leadership research topicI have two ideas that I’ve been working up for areas to research during my Clore fellowship.
Introducing - Help Me InvestigateHelp Me Investigate.com is now in Private Beta, which means I can finally talk about what I’ve been busy building recently.
Mix: A Gift to Future SelvesAnother in my series of experimental, filmic, soundscape, found sound, ambient, folk, classical montage mixes.
Modern LoveMashed up Twitter and Soundcloud to make a neat label site: a new home online for Boomkat's labels.
New Type Records SiteSeven years ago John Xela and I started a label called Type.
St.Boredom’sI had an unexpected trip to hospital this week which wasn’t much fun, but I’m fine and just have ‘take it easy’ as medicinal advice to take away.
The best vampire film ever made?Last night I watched “Let The Right One In”, which is one of the best films I’ve seen for a long time, in any genre.
The search is on – we’re hiringI’m looking for three people to join the team at All In working on something very exciting indeed!
Twadio - “The Sound of Silence”Announcing Twadio - The silent radio station that plays in your head
TwadioA twitter-based silent radio station — a virtual DJ tweets the name of an 'ear-worm' track and you play it in your head.
Wedding Photographer of the Year 2009I’m incredibly proud of Emily Quinton for winning the prestigious title of Wedding Photographer of the Year 2009 this month.
What should the Library of Birmingham be and do?

2008

10 things to ask yourself about your new web site home page layoutI’ve just been chatting to a friend of mine, Chris Garrett, about a new home page layout for his new venture - a video production company operating in the UK with international clients.
3form Shortlisted for a Webby!A nice start to the week - we’ve been shortlisted for a Webby award for the First Light Movies website.
5alist - Top five lists to share with your friendsAnother week another rapidly-deployed Web idea from Andrew Dubber and me (with a little help from Jason).
A Webby Triple - One Nomination and Two HonoreesThe announcement of this year’s tranch of Webby winners is getting ever closer, and this year I’m feeling pretty great about having a triple decker trifle of awards cake.
Andrew Dubber does existI can confirm that Andrew Dubber does, in fact, exist.
Why Andy Burnham’s plans for censoring websites with film-style age certificates won’t workHow would you feel if everything you tried to access on the internet were filtered for “unacceptable content” by government censors?
Archive TV LaunchesI’ve been working with Cassie Leedham and Chris Garrett on the launch of a great new TV production company specialising in historical crime drama-documentaries based on true stories from newspaper and library archives.
As promised… bikehuggerWe’re in a ‘want us to do stuff?’ mood so we head over to Bikehugger at the request of someone who left a message at sxswm and got an interview with a Bikehugger blogger.
Ben made a wish and it came trueTo celebrate the launch of I So Wish, Dubber and I decided to grant a random wish that someone had made.
Birmingham Big City Plan - The VideoGiven away at the Big City Plan launch yesterday was a lovely little 5 minute video by Squint Opera.
Birmingham Bloggers Meetup 2The Birmingham Bloggers Meetup events look set for great things.
Birmingham Bloggers Meetup Podcast and PhotosThursday night saw the first ever Birmingham Bloggers Meetup happen at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath. I made it down for the first hour or so, and it was a small, cosy event in nice surroundings. More photos here.
Birmingham from the balcony one eveningI love living where I live - in the evenings we get fantastic views of the sky over Birmingham.
Broadcast magazine feature on digital media in BirminghamI was interviewed a couple of weeks ago for a piece that Broadcast magazine have written on the state of the digital media scene in Birmingham, and it’s been published today.
Clore begins
I’m a Clore FellowI’ve been awarded a fellowship with the Clore Leadership Programme, and today I am off to London for a day-long event welcoming the twenty-two people who are this year’s group.
Clore FellowshipClore Fellow 2008/09
Clore Leadership ProgrammeA two year creative and cultural leadership programme.
What other brands can learn from the Courvoisier Future 500Last week I was picked as one of the top 5 in the Future 500, which is sponsored by Courvoisier.
Creative Republic Launch Party and CharterLast night was the launch of Creative Republic and was a great evening.
Creative Republic Launch VideoVideo from the launch of Creative Republic, with speeches from Helga Henry and Pete Ashton as well as shots from the night and a few interviews with Creative Republic board members.
“Please don’t discount these voices” - accepting the Webby for First Light MoviesI’m in New York accepting a Webby award for the work that we did with First Light Movies - an organisation that enables young filmmaking all across the UK.
Dorking at DorkbotWe went to the fantastic Dorkbot party and met up with the organisers.
Emily has a photo blogWelcome to Emily, who has just joined us with her new blog at Emily Quinton Photography.
Emily is being featured in Professional Photographer MagazineProfessional Photographer Magazine asked Emily to write a second piece for them, this time a “day in the life of” piece documenting her day spent shooting a wedding and then a multi-millionaire’s birthday party.
Entering the Clore Leadership Programme with a Personal Organisation ChartIn brief - ever tried drawing a diagram of how you fit into your work environment?
Follow our progress at SXSW Interactive on sxswm.comI’ve organised a group of digital media types from Birmingham to go to South By South-West (SXSW) interactive (SXSWi) with the support of Digital Central.
From “Gold Rush” to “Good Rush” - Social Media gets ethical in 2008If 2007 was the year of the “Social Media Gold Rush”, 2008 is the year of the “Social Media Good Rush”.
Getting a fix on SerendipityAs part of my Clore fellowship I have agreed to produce a Masters-equivalent piece of research around a particular area of ‘leadership’ that interests me.
Give Powerpoint the Bullet. Do something interesting insteadYesterday I gave a talk at Birmingham City University’s Business School on the induction day for a new course - the MSc in Business Creation and Development.
“Going to be a dad” on TwitterA cute new service for new Twitter soon-to-be dads: Goingtobeadad.com
Guardian Innovation Awards ('MEGA') — Best Independent BlogJoint-winner of inaugural Guardian Innovation Awards ('MEGA') for Best Independent Blog — for Created in Birmingham
Hello WorldToday is the first day of Birmingham’s Hello World conference being held at Millennium Point.
How to make a Life FeedYou make yourself a Life Feed — a single RSS feed that combines all of those disparate bits and bobs of content that you’re busy making and puts them all in one place for easy consumption.
How to recycle your old computer equipment in BirminghamI’ve been getting rid of lots of old computer equipment this week.
Hypercontext“It’s Mr Neologism again” was the first reaction to another of my on-the-spur-of-the-moment word-coinings.
I So WishA site all about users sharing 'wishes' and helping others to make them actually happen.
I’m blogging for the Birmingham PostIn an interesting turn of events I was invited by Joanna Geary of the Birmingham Post to join their new blogging team.
I’m blogging my new startupTo coincide with my thirtieth birthday I received the exciting news that I have just received £50,000 of seed funding for my new business idea.
Introducing Odadeo - a new site for dadsFor Fathers’ Day 2008 I have launched the ‘private beta’ of new site that I’ve been working very hard on for the last three months.
Introducing Tweetlet - twitter for pregnancyWouldn’t it be great if you could use Twitter to keep up to date with how your baby is developing during pregnancy?
Is The Wire better than an MBA?I’ve been obsessed with a TV show called The Wire for the last few months.
Jubilee Debt Campaign, BirminghamIntroducing a new blog for the Jubilee Debt Campaign in Birmingham.
Let’s take the ideas in the Big City Plan and run with themIn the first of my video blog posts I was pretty amazed by one of the comments in particular that came back and it looks like we’ve spawned a project if I can find some people to collaborate with to make it happen (open invite).
Mass intimacyIn a great write-up, Daneil W. E. Light talks about a collective sense of connectivity, opened secrecy and intimacy based around the idea of ‘we’ instead of ‘i’.
Give your homepage a mini facelift in about 3 hours“The plumber’s tap always drips”, or so they say. The same is true of web consultancies.
My leadership development day on the cultural leadership programmeLeadership development day on the cultural leadership programme
One of my images on the first Birmingham Journal of Literature and LanguageI’ve just received my complimentary copies of the first Birmingham Journal of Literature and Language, and on the cover is one of my images.
Peter Broderick - “Float” CD and VinylPeter Broderick’s amazing debut album is now out, and my first copies arrived on my desk today.
Podcast of The Big City Plan LaunchThe Big City Plan launched yesterday and I was there to see (and hear) it happen.
Rationalise Your Online Identity with Profilactic and ClaimID“Identity” is a hard-to-pin-down concept, especially when it comes to your ‘online identity’ in a world of Facebook profiles, Twitter and what seems to be becoming ‘multiple online identity disorder’.
Recession busting business modelsNesta asked some of their contacts what they thought were the best business areas to be working in to weather the storm of the recession, and they’ve used a Wordle to visualise the results.
Snowladen BranchesI’ve been getting slow on processing my images - getting them off the camera and onto the internet.
South by South West (Midlands)In short - a bunch of Birmingham digital media types are going to SXSW Interactive in Texas next week, and we are doing a ‘remote control blogging’ thing where you get to ask us to attend stuff and report back for you.
“Surface Unsigned” - How not to score a PR own goal when criticised onlineSocial media enables anyone to be a critic of anyone else and to have their criticism heard by all online, which means we must all be careful about what we say and how we act online.
SXSW BacklogOookay…. So it’s been a bit quiet around here since I came back from SXSW Interactive.
Tagged Audio: An interview with Hugh Forrest from SXSWI have converted this recording to a ’static video’ and used Viddler to tag the timeline so that it is more searchable and scannable.
The Big City Plan Charter - Any Questions?Today is the launch of The Big City Plan Charter, a document that puts down in writing some of the ‘big ideas’ that are under consideration for the future of Birmingham.
“Thank you” to the Cultural Leadership ProgrammeThe Cultural Leadership Programme are generous sponsoring my Clore Fellowship, and they just released the news about the five of us that they are funding.
The Art of Influence for the Arts CouncilPete and I presented at our first ‘double act’ speaking event today.
The Big Picture - A huge photography project in the West MidlandsToday is the launch of The Big Picture.
The Big Picture breaks a World Record (and generates a mini debate)It’s official - the West Midlands, UK has made the world’s biggest photo-montage according to the Guinness World Records officials.
The Big PictureA web-art experiment to win the world record for the largest ever photo-montage - in fact it was the size of a football pitch.
Top 5 in The Future 500I’ve been picked as one of the top 5 in the Observer newspaper’s Courvoisier The Future 500 list for 2008 (a bit of a mouthful!)
The New Created in Birmingham DesignWe’ve spent some time rebuilding the Created in Birmingham site, updating the design, adding some extra features and generally adding improvements throughout.
The Post-SXSW Interactive “Brain Dump”Last night the crew from the SXSWM trip got together for what we were calling the ‘Post SXSW Brain Dump’ which is available as a 1 hr 15 min video on Bambuser.
The pre-startup preparationI only found out on Friday that I’d been given that all important ‘yes’ on the seed funding to make this thing happen, but already I’ve been making some great progress as well as encountering some pretty tough obstacles to overcome.
TweetletA pregnancy twitter service that would direct-message you child development information in the first person
Video: Is the future of ‘online’ actually ‘offline’?With my head fried from the SXSW Interactive experience this is a short (1:47 min) video piece of me talking about how it’s the offline impact that social media can offer that will validate out use of these technologies.
Webby Award Honoree (NetArt)Webby Award Honoree in the NetArt category — for The Big Picture
Webby Award
Webby Award Honoree (NetArt)Webby Award Honoree in the NetArt category — for Name in Lights
What do the BBC leadership have to say about the future of Birmingham?In short - they’re investing in media production outside London and they see Birmingham as being important to delivering on that promise.
What do you wish for in 2009?If you could wish for one thing in 2009, what would it be?
Why are we podcasting instead of using text?Tom Scotney just put up an interesting blog post questioning the usefulness of the video and audio that we’ve been putting online.
Why doesn’t Birmingham have wifi like Austin?A conversation with Pete Ashton at SXSW about Birmingham’s woefully inadequate and probably very expensive wifi solution, compared to the ‘everyone just make their connections free’ model that Austin has.
Why “Power or Powerless”?I woke up this morning in New York - I’m here for the Webby Awards this evening, and to start the day I tuned into a debate that was happening courtesy of the Birmingham Post, back home in the UK.
“Why South By Southwest?” VideoChris Kershaw from Ideas For Life has been following us on our SXSWM trip.
WordcampUK comes to BirminghamGreat news for Birmingham’s ever-growing blogging and social media scene!
Joint World Record — The Big PictureJoint World Record holder for The Big Picture 2008 (along with several thousand others)
Yay for Created in Birmingham! A joint Guardian Media Innovation AwardWhat a nice way to start the week - Created in Birmingham has picked up some national interest and gone and hit the big-time with a big ‘ol compliment from the Guardian in the shape of a MEGA award nomination for Best Independent Blog.

2007

10 sites that make running a business easierFor the launch of the new Digital Central website, I’ve written a feature on useful web tools for business.
100% GeekThis week I attended the bTWEEN conference on interactive media in Bradford.
30 albums on TypeThis month sees the release of TYPE30. Thirty albums in five years isn’t bad going really.
A List Apart Web Design SurveyA List Apart (I think I last looked at this site some time around 2000) are running a web design survey.
All my mixes in one podcastThis weekend I’ve collected all of the music mixes I have published on the web into one podcast.
Am I getting behind the curve?Yesterday I took part in a survey I found through the Digital Birmingham site, called the Digital Curve.
Are my posts too long?Am I being too verbose? Should I be posting shorter, snappier blog posts?
Artsfest: Friday was a BlastArtsFest, Birmingham’s free arts festival (and Europe’s largest apparently, if that means anything) kicked off on Friday with a fantastic piece of performance art/theatre/engineering/pyrotechnics/steampunkery called Blast.
AutumnThere’s something about that particular light you experience when walking under old trees on a cold, blustery day’s end, with a clear sky overhead and leaves scattering underfoot that summons memories of years past and thoughts of the future.
Backlog!Taking some inspiration from the recent postal strike, I think I’ve also generated a backlog of bloggable bits and bobs to post here.
Birmingham Clone TownBirmingham is a ‘clone town’.
Birmingham - the Big City Plan “City Team”I’ve been invited to be part of Birmingham’s ‘City Team’ which is a group of people brought together to come up with big ideas for how Birmingham might change for the better over the coming ten to twenty-five years as part of a ‘masterplanning’ process being branded as “The Big City Plan”.
BoostedYesterday I spent a couple of hours facilitating a panel at a one day mini conference called Boosted.
bTween Festival Quickfire
Change your wireless router password right nowYesterday I was honoured to attend my first School of Computer Science Industrial Advisory Board meeting at Birmingham University.
Compton VerneyAt last week’s Bank Holiday we had a day out at Compton Verney, which was lovely.
Create Something Day 1: SplotTo be honest, Monday was a very silly choice of day to start my “create something new every day for a week” idea.
Create something day 3: Searching for bokehSummer seems to be upon us for a short while, so I took a few minutes out of the day to find some nice bokeh in and around Moseley/Kings Heath on my way into work.
Create something day 4: A Certain AmbiguityThe news today is that Penguin Books’ Indian branch have decided to use one of my Flickr photos in the cover of one of their books - A Certain Ambiguity by Gaurav Suri & Hartosh Singh Bal.
Create something day 5: A rebrand?I’m posting this on Sunday - day seven of my “create something” week.
Deaf Center and Skallander photosSome photos from the Skallander / Deaf Center show in Manchester at the Sacred Trinity Church, Salford.
British Council Digital Pioneer
Doing The National Wedding ShowI spent the weekend helping Emily with her stand at the National Wedding Show at the NEC.
Emily Quinton PhotographyWedding and portrait photography website.
Facebook apps are the new blackThis week I’ve somehow seemed to strike a nerve with a few of my clients by talking Facebook Applications.
Fierce! Festival hits 10 yearsThis year’s Fierce! programme has been announced.
Fierce! Festival Ltd.An annual festival of cutting-edge performing arts across the West Midlands, UK.
Fierce Ten out of TenMany congratulations to the Fierce! team who deservedly won the Birmingham Creative City Award for Best Brand on Thursday.
First Light MoviesWebsite rebuild for a UK-wide fund for inspiring young film
Futurology for the Cultural sectorI was asked by Ben Payne from the Birmingham Rep to put forward some thoughts on a significant issue that the cultural sector will face within ten years.
Get your Name in LightsFierce! Festival launches its Name in Lights project today and we’ve been working into the night to do our best with the new website.
Going greyWell, it was bound to happen sooner rather than later but as of today I am now officially past it…
HomeIt’s been a long month… I’m happy to be home again.
Hong Kong - CyberportAnd so begins our Digital Pioneers programme in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Day Two – BokehSunday in Hong Kong feels much like any other day with its bustling urban sprawl during the day and Bladerunneresque neon blaze by night.
Hong Kong - Receiving our Digital Pioneers awardsI’ve been made to feel really welcome here in Hong Kong.
How about we design Birmingham with a WIKI?Too many ideas, not enough time to write them all down before I’m on to the next thing. That’s my problem.
How to set up a simple professional portfolio site/blog in about four hours
I am going to create something every day for a weekFor the past few years, I’ve had a pretty simple personal rule that I try to abide by every day.
Igloo ImpossibleIt’s that time of year again, and in time honoured fashion I’ve put together a little festive game for your mouse-clicking enjoyment.
Impressions of Hong KongI’m back in the UK after an intense few weeks, first in Texas, then Hong Kong.
Is having your music licensed in a TV ad “selling out?”Over the Christmas break we had some success at Type when a track from one of our artists was used in the latest Honda advert.
Jamie At HomeTips sharing platform for Channel 4's Jamie Oliver series.
Khonnor in shock TV appearance (sort of)If you were particularly observant you might have noticed that last night’s episode of the IT Crowd on Channel 4 had an assortment of Type goodies on the set in the background, including Khonnor’s Burning Palace seven inch.
Kong Kong - Behind the Scenes at Happy ValleyTo top off a great day, last night we had a behind-the-scenes tour of Happy Valley, Hong Kong’s horse racing stadium.
Live blogging my new iPhone purchaseI’m in the Apple store Bullring right now taking early adoption to a whole new level (maybe).
Live blogging SXSWiI’m starting to find other people blogging SXSW… first up it’s Coline Devroe who’s already finding out about free beer and t-shirts!
Name in Lights is going viralI’ve just looked through the statistics for the Name in Lights site that we launched before I went out to Texas last week.
Name in LightsA UK-wide competition for a member of the public to have their name made into fifteen-foot Hollywood-style lettering and lit up on a Birmingham landmark.
Nought for the DayDid you know that atheists, agnostics and humanists are banned from expressing their thoughts on Thought for the Day?
Oh No Logo – an article for the Birmingham PostFollowing the blog post I wrote about the new 2012 Olympics identity, I was invited to write a short piece for the Birmingham Post which was published today.
One of my photos is in the Guardian photography supplement todayI haven’t seen it yet, but this image was chosen with five others for inclusion in the Guardian’s photography week series of supplements.
“Photo Finish” for Channel 4’s 4TalentThe guys at Channel 4 have started a new site called 4Talent and I was invited to put together a “how-to” guide for photographers looking at setting up a portfolio site using free tools and software like Flickr and Wordpress.
Plus Festival 07 - Moving Type FoundAs a first post on Plus 2007, here is a series of ‘found type’ photographs I took during the event.
Plus Festival 2007 OpensAfter a year of work, we’re all very proud to announce that Plus - the international design festival opens its doors at 10am tomorrow for five days of inspirational design events, perfomances, talks by leading designers, exhibitions, interactive installations, even a real-life version of Pacman played out by humans and cameras!
Plus Festival: Live Pacman front-pages YouTubeOne of the funnier parts of the Plus Festival was the ‘live pacman’ game that was running for most of the five days.
Portable Film Festival - an interviewWhile I was at SXSW I had the opportunity to have a chat with Andrew Apostola, the Creative Director of the successful Australian ‘virtual film festival’ Portable.
Birmingham Post's Power 50#20 in the Birmingham Post's Power 50 – 2007
Reporting back on CrowdsourcingSo - I’ve just got back from two days of discussions, speeches, presentations, private chats, video interviews, and so on.
Royal Television Society Innovation Award — User Generated ContentFinalist for Royal Television Society Innovation Award – User Generated Content — for 4tips (with Maverick TV)
Sharing the Web - Mouse, Camera, ActionI was interviewed yesterday by Dr. Simon Davey on behalf of the Media Trust New Media Thinktank and the ICT hub for an article to be published in their forthcoming newsletter.
Shortlisted for an RTS awardWe found out on Friday (yes I know I’m slow) that our work at 3form with Maverick for Channel 4 on the 4Tips project has been shortlisted for a Royal Television Society Innovation award!
Sofia without StefanThis week I was in Sofia, attending the funeral of a trusted friend and work colleague at 3form, the designer Stefan Marinov, who died very suddenly and unexpectedly last week.
SXSW - Colin Devroe of Viddler gives me the lowdown on how to grow a video sharing siteI finally met up with Colin Devroe from the online video sharing site Viddler.
SXSW - Fortune telling with Chris Messina: the future of online identityI had an interesting discussion with Chris Messina, one of the brains behind the OpenID project.
SXSW - Lego playpenThere’s a Lego playpen for anyone tired of talking about ‘building’ things in the digital sense and get some real hands on fun… funny that this seems to be more popular with the adults than the kids!
SXSW - The $100 laptopThere was a chance to play with a new ultra-lightweight $100 laptop.
SXSW - The Great British Booze-UpI went down to a party thrown by Clearleft, Boagworld and @media 2007 called the “Great British Booze-up”.
SXSW - Urban regenerationI took a short walk around Austin, TX while I’m at SXSW… the streets are quiet, traffic is calm and they there was an eerily quiet demolition site in amongst the bland architecture.
SynaesthesiaI am currently working towards a photography accreditation with the Royal Photographic Society (Associateship).
Ten 4 Magazine Issue 7 is outIssue 7 of Ten 4 Magazine is out, and the images I shot at the Channel 4 Inspiration Sessions day are in it.
Ten4 Magazine Feature - The Sound of SellingTen4 Magazine have uploaded a selection of features for Issue 6, due out soon.
The Creative InboxGood sources of information are few and far between, and with the constant rise of RSS feeds and email lists I’m often feeling overwhelmed with ‘input’.
The London 2012 ident - a flop of Olympic proportions?The new ident for the London 2012 Olympics has just been launched.
Type Records and Red Deer Club Present…Tonight is our Type Records night in Manchester with a line up to be proud of.
Use your webcam to make video micro-contentOn the last day of SXSW2007, Texas I was hanging out with the guys from Viddler and we decided to do an SXSW video wrap up.
What is Birmingham’s Creative Direction?Another in my series about Birmingham’s Big City Plan.

2006

A new photoblogHaving been banging on about how amazing blogging and photoblogging is, I’ve finally found the time to set up my own little piece of the web.
Channel 4 IdeasFactory / Nesta - Creative Hub launchI gave a speech at the launch night of the Creative Hub series of events.
Channel 4 IdeasFactory / Nesta - “Photo Finish”Photographer and web designer Stefan Lewandowski - whose clients include Vivienne Westwood and the V&A - will explore the huge potential in gaining international recognition for your work through the Internet.
Created in BirminghamBlog about the creative and cultural city of Birmingham.
Ryan Teague
St George's School, EdgbastonSchool governor of St. George's School - Birmingham's first fully co-educational independent day school for ages 2½ to 18 years.

2005

Champion of Industry, Mustard
Channel 4 Ideas Factory Creative Class Award
O2 / Arena magazine — Entrepreneur of the Year in BirminghamO2 / Arena magazine – Shortlisted for Entrepreneur of the Year in Birmingham (2005)
V&A Arts and CraftsThe V&A's International Arts and Crafts exhibition microsite: a virtual tour in QuickTime VR, a zooming object viewer, and a tile designer that drew over 14,000 visitors' designs.

2004

BBC Midlands TodayA touchscreen game for the Public Space at the BBC's new Birmingham home
Khonnor - I See StarsA Flash game to promote the new Khonnor album "Handwriting"
LINE / ACG SnowballingA flash game for the LINE / Nike ACG UK ski team
Neo Ouija showcase, BernA recording from the Neo Ouija Showcase at Dachstock Reitschule, Bern, Switzerland of minimal and warm electronica.

2003

Default at the Bull’s Head, BirminghamA recording from one of our regular, now defunct Default events that took place in the then newly-renovated Bull’s Head in Moseley, Birmingham, UK.
Type SamplerThis was the original hour-long sampler when we started Type and is a mix of music that was forthcoming at the time, as well as some unreleased material that never saw the light of day, including one of my tracks (8 minutes in) called “The sun, the sky, the sea”.

2002

3editA website updating system that let site owners keep their own website up-to-date quickly and easily.
DefaultA 'warm electronica' night in Birmingham with various electronica musicians performing.
VivienneWestwood.comA content-managed website for this international fashion house

2001

Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery websiteA showcase for Birmingham's world class collections of Art, History and Science.
Sprite Freestyle ArenaPromotional site for a £500,000 extreme snow sports arena at the Sheffield Ski Village.
Gold Award for Best Non-Profit Organisation Website — World Media Festival HamburgGold Award for Best Non-Profit Organisation Website – World Media Festival Hamburg 2001 — for the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery website

2000

NASTA — Best Title SequenceNASTA winner of Best Title Sequence 2000 — with Toby Harris as VJ crew "Robots in Disguise"

1999

WebXpressA web agency; I was responsible for all of the company's visual output.

1996

BSc Computer Science and Software EngineeringUniversity of Birmingham.
Robots in DisguiseVJ crew with Toby Harris — seven years of live visuals at some pretty great shows around the country

1995

FreelanceSold my first web project before university and freelanced through a Computer Science degree: animations, video graphics, websites, micro games.