So what's this all about? I must confess that at this stage I really don't know - it could just be a place to practice putting words on the screen and, over time, discovering the threads and common themes to my own rants and musings.
If some of the more sober assessments that I have read are true then this blog will be lucky to reach an audience in double figures (if that!) so I hope whoever's reading can forgive my somewhat self-conscious style. Its been a while since I shared my notebooks with anyone: most recently was probably the journal we were asked to keep throughout teacher training, and that was in 1991.
Professionally, of course, the internet and web are fundamental to what I do and have been since 1995 or so. I remember when these things used to be called 'homepages' and the only way to write HTML was in Notepad or BBEdit - how the world can change in a decade! N.B. for work-related stuff please drop by either Einstein's Attic or virtualised.net and send me a mail.
Posted by lankyphil at April 10, 2004 03:00 PM | TrackBackOk, went to Einstein's Attic, played the game, but still none the wiser about what you actually do... A typical marketus interruptus! If you did not have a comment section on this blog, I would not be able to ask the question outside the 'work-related stuff' context and so would never make the effort to learn what Eistein's Attic is about, which might be a pity. Why not tell all on your site? :-)
Posted by: Adriana at May 26, 2004 07:16 AMHi Adriana,
If I told you what I *really* do, I'd have to kill you! ;)
Nah, seriously - Einstein's Attic Ltd is a consultancy and IP (Intellectual Property) vehicle that I had to set up before signing a 'Producer' contract with the BBC in the late 90s. Otherwise, so the contract said, they would own all of my ideas, concepts and developments - in and out of business hours (which for me, at times, stretched well into the wee hours). I was happy for them to have what they paid me for, but not the stuff I had been and continued to develop outside of my role in Digital Media Education / Schools Online.
I use it mainly to work with clients who have projects that fit with or help forward what I consider to be my 'digital fundamentals':
1) Give absolute and outright ownership of their own personal information to each and every individual, from the cradle to the grave.
2) Create (empirical) frameworks & mechanisms that allow groups of individuals to collaborate via networks to discover the evidence base for their personal (quality of life) decisions.
3) Marry digital rights with responsibilities so as to create a human place where everyone can at least act as equals, and where power imbalances of the 'real' world can be redressed.
I also do grant-funded research in related arenas.
So, you see, I am actually in the somewhat unusual position of choosing my clients rather than the other way around. Also, a large part what I do is 'educational' - in the broadest sense of the word - so I prefer to engage with people conversationally and by referral when it comes to Einstein's Attic, rather than attempt to deal with all & sundry on a website.
When I have a project or development that requires a different structure or commitment (e.g. staff or partners) I have tended to adopt the 'film production' model and set up another dedicated company - hence virtualised (Virtualised Data Solutions Ltd), which is currently working on a number of things to do with service gateways (for, e.g. network security, eHealth & eLearning) and digital identity.
Infinite Ideas Machine is my personal blog, although I inevitably end up talking about things that I do in my professional life as I am fortunate enough to be able to work on things that I also happen to passionately believe in :)
I hope this explains things a little better.
P.S. The front door / game on www.einsteinsattic.com is actually a bit of a - these days too subtle - techie joke. I created it BEFORE Macromedia incorporated ActionScript into Flash (3), as a friend of mine [Tom Calthrop, see http://www.smudge.com/] and I were showing them that in incorporating frame-based movieclips into a stage with a timeline they had effectively made Flash into a states-based machine capable of logic, i.e. games. You should have seen their faces when Tom showed them their 'animation tool' playing Connect 4!
Posted by: lankyphil at May 26, 2004 10:09 AM