I’m not sure you can get to nearly 50 and have not done a bunch of different things, some of them interesting, some of them no so much; some of them “successful”, some of them not so much. I’m also not sure that anyone else will necessarily give a crap, either – but I’m in the mood to gather these various bits together (see what I did there) and point to all of them from one place.
So, here are some of the things I’m fiddling with / have fiddled with / am involved in:
Printy bits
I love printmaking. I started learning a few years back, and did a bunch of courses with Adult Education, gaining various certificates along the way, then continued with my print tutor after that, before Covid bit us all on the arse.
Music bits
I’ve played piano, written music, been in bands and been in and around music for my whole life. It’s one of those core things to me: like a leg, only probably slightly more important.
Nerdy bits
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved taking things apart and putting them back together again, or just making stuff from scratch. Along the way: a Chaos wheel, a water driven music generator, a sort of feedback speaker thing that I made while really stoned at uni, a complete obsession with virtual life (in particular simulations of ants), numerous Raspberry Pi fiddlings, and endless – and I mean endless – web ideas. I’m aiming to slowly get what I can online.
Misc bits
This stuff includes writing, meditation, anything that doesn’t categorise terribly well elsewhere.
Business bits
Thirty8 Digital
Now 10 years old and still going strong, Thirty8 is “the day job”. We work with museums and other cultural organisations (although nowadays mostly museums) doing digital stuff for them: websites, consultancy, training. There’s lots more over at https://thirty8.co.uk
The Museum Platform
TMP grew out of a moment about 2 years ago when I realised that we were saying no to lots of work at Thirty8 – mainly smaller jobs with smaller budgets. I really like small museums: I like their intimacy and local nature, and I like the people who work in them, too. So I got thinking about how or whether we could find a way to help them with digital stuff. The Museum Platform was born: it’s a product, a sort of SaaS, a platform… Find out more at https://themuseumplatform.com