About

I am a Lecturer in Open Media in the Department for Media and Communication in Coventry University’s School of Art and Design. Teaching across a range of specialisms including emergent digital media platforms, digital culture and multimedia production mainly on the Media Production Degree Courses as well as on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Communication, Culture and Media.

My focus on Open Media looks at questions and pragmatic issues around the democratisation and transparency of media forms (text, image, sound, film) and the transformative ways through which open culture is making (or not making) these media more inclusive and diverse. This includes developing projects that address open access to knowledge, looking at participatory forms of content creation and analysing technologically enabled forms of collaborative and social production, new ways of working and new approaches to the way we go about doing culture. Lots of my work involves thinking about how we can unshackle the knowledge, content and networks of the university from its contemporary, and rather exclusive ties: rethinking how the academy can embrace how it goes about doing its work through decentralised and distributed mechanisms and technologies.

I see my work as performative and productive in the sense that the projects that I am involved in set out to challenge and critique through active engagement within the production of artifacts, tools, platforms and interventions.

I am involved in developing and initiating some of the university’s pioneering work in emerging digital platforms. This includes initiating and managing content partnerships with Apple’s iTunes U and Youtube Edu that have substantially enhanced the global reputation of the University. I have also developed a number of projects for Mobile Apps and Digital Archives.

When combined, these projects have helped to set free thousands of teaching and research resources onto the web and resulted in millions of downloads and interactions. I also have published academic work within the area of digital culture and have provided digital media consultancy work to major Universities in the UK, China and South Africa. On top of this I have spoken at a number of international conferences within the area of open and web-based digital media within education. I have been highly commended and recognised for this innovative work at National Awards.

I have also been involved in digital media related projects for a wide range of companies and organisations including the BBC, BT, HEFCE, United Nations, NHS, JISC, the FA, Sport England, Coventry City Football Club, Virgin Radio- including a number of UK and European funded Research Council projects. When I have time, I also like to volunteer myself for a number of creative community and charity based projects.

I have a first class honours degree in Communication, Culture and Media and have undertaken a variety of short courses in multimedia, web technology, video journalism, copyright and research methods. Before my current role I worked as Creative Multimedia Manager for Coventry University, as a researcher and project officer at the Centre for Media Arts and Performance and prior to this have I have freelanced with a range of media organisations including Granada TV and the BBC.

You can find out more about the projects I have been involved in or see some of my creative video work on youtube or on vimeo