Archives

Research Associate and Teaching Associate roles across four universities, community development and participatory design work in the nonprofit sector, and a body of networked and participatory art made between 2002 and 2014.

Design

Public Service Media · Senior UI Designer · 2001—2009

ABC

Planned, led, developed, and delivered digital projects over a 9-year period as a Senior UI Designer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Entertainment · Flash animator · 2001—2002

Virgin EMI Records

Animation and design for various artists e.g. Moby, Paulmac, Gorillaz and Eskimo Joe. Worked in Flash and After Effects.

Public Service Media · Exhibition design · 2015

BBC

Designed and produced IoT exhibit for the BBC's Northern Irish Science Festival.

Academia

Cultural Policy · Research Associate · 2016—2018

Monash University

ARC Discovery project investigating urban cultural policy and the changing dynamics of cultural production, with Professor Justin O'Connor and Dr Xin Gu. Research focused on the emerging nexus between cultural industries and manufacturing — including makerspaces in Melbourne and the Chinese maker context. Produced book chapters, a journal article, and a paper presented at the National University of Singapore.

Digital Humanities · Research Associate · 2013—2015

Queen's University Belfast

AHRC Knowledge Exchange initiative investigating connections between Northern Ireland's research community and its creative sector. Worked at the intersection of academic research and creative industry practice to surface and share knowledge across communities. Produced a book chapter and presented a paper at the 2014 Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts conference in London.

Interaction Design · Teaching Associate · 2015

Ulster University

Member of the B.Design (Interaction Design) teaching team, contributing to undergraduate education in interaction design principles and practice.

Community sector

Community Development · Director

Farset Labs Belfast

As Director of Farset Labs hackerspace and technology charity, enabled hackathons, open data initiatives, and free technology education programs. Co-designed and delivered the Maker Assembly symposium, bringing together academics, artists, and activists from across Europe to discuss digital maker cultures. Represented Farset Labs within the Open Data Network Northern Ireland (Open Data Institute), contributing to the vision of more open and accountable government services.

Grassroots Digital Fabrication · Writer

Future Artist Maker Labs

An international program of art-making, exhibitions, and training interrogating grassroots digital fabrication in Fab Labs based in Madrid, Limerick, Belfast, and Derry. Researched and wrote short-form articles and an exhibition catalogue essay for this initiative.

Community artist · Creative producer · 2006

Next Wave Festival

Devised and facilitated the community cultural development project Bitscape as part of the 2006 Next Wave Festival, themed 'Empire Games' to coincide with the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Worked with youth from Morwell, Wagga Wagga, and the Macedon Ranges to create audio-visual works, including large-scale projections on a 90-metre-high power station.

Art

Networked art installation · 2009

ANYCAST Mesh Network

Commissioned by the International Symposium for Electronic Art 2009. A participatory installation displaying data gathered from a temporary, free, DIY mesh WiFi network across cafes and galleries in Belfast. Users contributed a 'thought' to gain access. A commentary on the sharing of excess energy and the challenges of open digital infrastructure.

Net art · 2004

My Fellow Australians

Developed during a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), funded by the Australia Council for the Arts. The work interrogated Australian national identity and xenophobia, inspired by the residency theme Intranation. Exhibited at D'Art 2004, Sydney Opera House, and archived by the Australian National Library's Pandora internet archive.

Networked installation · 2008

Neoconfessional

Developed during a residency at the This Is Not Art festival in Newcastle, Australia. The work explored ingrained conservatism through the provocation of "outing your inner conservative" — combining the tradition of anonymous wall-writing with contemporary online confession culture. Exhibited at This Is Not Art 2008 and Pro-Tribute Darwin 2008.