From 2005 or so

I’ve been trawling through my laptop, partly to try and make space on it for new software and to create space for work, but also to remind myself of things that I have done in the past so that I can create a cv with everything listed. Some past activities are so old I have forgotten them until I find an old email or mention on an outofdate cv and then it takes online digging to find traces of websites and images, even the award-winning projects are lost in the mists of time.

The illustration for this post is create-a-scape, a website I worked on with NESTAfuturelab that showed children and teachers how to use Mobile Bristol software. I wrote, tested and developed it alongside the futurelab education researchers and designers, leading sessions with children from a local primary school who are now in their mind-twenties! The aim was to make the website accessible for age 9 and up, with clear step by step instructions on how to use the software and how to approach the design mediascapes. We must have got it right as it won an award but I can’t remember which one. It’s almost 15 years ago now, and I realise the way I approached it embodies a lot of the way I still prefer to work with people regardless of the age they are, trying to build confidence to have a go at something new, open themselves up to their own wonderful talents and the possibilities afforded by playing with technologies. I love it when you have time on a project to encourage creative thinking and create enjoyable processes for everyone who is part of a project, not just focus on a shiny end product. It takes time.

I should find more about the other projects I worked on – Titanic shipyard history with Belfast schools, Wartime Childhoods in Southville, playground soundscapes with Dorset 5&6 year olds for the National Trust. I should add to this as I remember them.