My strengths lie in requirements gathering, technical architecture, information architecture and content strategy. I believe strongly that Agile methodologies and user-centred design are essential to producing high quality, engaging, usable and useful web applications.
I enjoy interesting technological challenges, working with and managing teams to create great user experiences. I have experience working with Rails, WordPress, Drupal and Sinatra, running in a variety of environments. I have strong skills in HTML, CSS and jQuery.
Outside work, I invariably have side projects on the go, from making my own bacon infused bourbon, honing my burger making skills, or building clocks with Arduino (a physical prototyping device and programming language) and nixie tubes. I'm a keen cyclist, climber and surfer. I'm very geeky about literature, whisky and hi-fi, dabble in publishing and moonlight very occasionally in cocktail bars.
A full time position working with a wide range of clients, in the public, private and third sector; this role spans the entire process from sales, through requirements gathering and specification, to technical architecture and even a little development. I also play a role in ongoing support and new work for sites we have worked on. I have worked on projects including BBC Blogs, cdkn.org, oneandother.co.uk and blog.logica.com. I have also done strategic work with Amnesty International, NESTA, The Red Cross and The Young Foundation, amongst others. I have worked across the 'whole stack' (sales, consulting, design, development and infrastructure) on several projects, including the aforementioned cdkn.org, www.bondvigilantes.com, www.mablaw.com and network.civilservicelive.com, a social network built for civil servants and the public sector, which has served over 2 million page views to nearly 600,000 unique users (100,000 of whom have visited more than 10 times) in 18 months.
A large part of my job is as a platform consultant, deciding on appropriate technologies to build a site, and providing implementation detail. My work here involves use of PHP, CSS, JavaScript (especially JQuery) and Ruby on Rails. I have also architected systems for heavily load-testing and scalable sites.
In my role at Headshift I have been client facing in the majority of my work, including running workshops with organisations, presenting at conferences and user groups and working with technical staff from other businesses.
A full time position responsible for managing all aspects of openDemocracy's technical and administrative operations, as well as journalistic and editorial responsibilities for copyright and technology focussed content. I managed the process of migrating openDemocracy.net from a 5 year old bespoke CMS to Drupal 4.7. This project came in ahead of schedule and under budget, and the new site was very well received by users in terms of usability, aesthetics and participation. This allowed me to develop my design skills, especially using Photoshop and implementing wireframes using PHP, CSS and ensuring accessible and semantic content. I also gained extensive experience in server administration, setup and specification.
The focus of the modules I chose was varied, but predominantly cognitive psychology, mathematics, computing and philosophy. I spent my placement year beginning an extensive study of the motivations of F/OSS computer programmers for my dissertation.
A Levels in; Maths (A), Further Maths (A), Physics (A), AS Drama (A).
My academic background in psychology has left me with a strong grounding in the principles of usability, user centred design and community behaviour and formation. Coupled with my ability to work with CSS, PHP, Ruby and HTML, I have been involved in the design and implementation a number of very successful and stable websites for a wide range of clients and employers. I have helped with the specification and administration of highly redundant large scale hosting solutions, mostly using Linux, but also with Mac and Windows server technology. Even this CV is built using HTML and CSS, using the 960.gs grid framework.
I have used Arduino (a physical prototyping device and programming language) for a number of projects, and also used Sinatra for building fast web based prototypes. Last year, I wrote a web application for building books from web feeds (which you can try here), and have since helped typeset and publish two books.
I sit on the technical advisory board of http://chinadialogue.net, and have been involved with the Open Rights Group for several years
I run a number of personal websites, including my blog, openlettertothelibdems.net, 5minutesfrom.me and Worship St Irregulars, which is a music/culture/politics blog I co-write with friends.
I have written for the Guardian, openDemocracy, and been quoted several times in the Telegraph on social media and technology issues.
I have worked very closely with designers across all the projects I have worked on; from extensive user experience and interaction design through branding guidelines and tone of voice, to typesetting and photography. I enjoy the process of design, and have become significantly more able through working with brilliant colleagues. While I am not excellent at visual design, I believe that my strengths in interaction, information and user experience design help greatly in the work I do, and in producing excellent creative work.
My work at openDemocracy also involved ownership of the site design, both in terms of my own creative work and working with other designers.
I blog on my personal site, and I have had a number of articles published on openDemocracy and The Guardian (Comment is Free). The focus of my writing has been around technical, and especially IP/copyright issues.
I use twitter, tumblr, flickr and, of course, facebook.
My work at Headshift has involved a number of team lead and project management experiences; from long term engagements to ad hoc teams to solve difficult problems or respond to events. I am comfortable working in a supervisory or management capacity, as well as being part of a team.
At university, I was involved heavily in the students' union, in a number of elected roles, including as NUS representative. My proudest accomplishment was organising the SU Food Co-op, providing cheap, local produce to students (and myself) and supporting local farmers.
Through spending 5 years working with children from 4-18yrs, I increased my competence in a number of activities, become better able to lead groups, and more aware of the needs of individuals and teams.