I'm currently working on composing across the normal boundaries of computer programming, music composition, film, photography and modern digital technologies. My interests span a hybrid mix of technology, technology policy, computer science and the creative industries - notably music, writing, photography and film. These help me relax outside of a daytime existence that largely sees me pre-occupied with issues arising from the intersection of public policy and technology.
My background includes time spent working full time over 25 years or so in information technology across both private and public sectors; more traditional academic work (which resulted in a BSc and an MPhil in the application of artificial intelligence techniques to composition from City University, London); and composing and writing. I've had a few dramas broadcast on radio and published a novel (under a pseudoynm). I sometimes find time to write both factual articles and columns and short stories which have appeared in a variety of publications. And, yes, I still hack code too.
Over the years I've somehow acquired a long row of cryptic acronyms to tag onto my name, including as a Fellow with Chartered status of the British Computer Society (FBCS CITP), a Fellow of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems (FIMIS), a Fellow of the Institution of Analysts and Programmers (FIAP), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). And I'm also a professional member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics.
I find myself agreeing on a far too regular basis to speak on the conference and lecture circuit, often focusing on the way in which emergent technologies will impact us both as individuals and as a society. My blog containing new technology observations from a UK perspective can be found at http://ntouk.com.
Right now (or at least, when time permits outside of the day job), I'm working on a series of projects that bridge traditional notions of the sciences and the arts. As of January 2008, I registered as a part-time post-graduate doctoral student at the Institute of Creative Technologies to research the development of a composition portfolio using the latest digital creative technologies.