This week, after 18 months there, I left my job at Nature Publishing Group. I’m sad to go, of course; I’ll miss the friends I made whilst working there and the chance to work with many smart, engaged, talented people. I also had the opportunity to work on and help shape several exciting projects, most notably Nature Network and Nature Precedings.

It’s been an enjoyable ride, and I’m surprised at the sheer amount I learned in those eighteen months. For starters, I appear to have learned how to be a programmer in that time. I’ve also had the chance to stretch my design skills, notably in the design of interactions.

I knew from the start it would never last forever; one day, other opportunities would arise. It turned out that I was right.

On Monday, I start work at Headshift, making technological things to help people better engage with one another. It looks fun – and it looks challenging.

I can’t wait.

Back after a weekend away at the End of the Road festival, and what a weekend it was. Wonderful weather, great company, and only the briefest hints of rain. It felt pretty special: a small festival (only 5000 tickets), lots of families, great food, wonderful music, and a schedule that never felt too crowded, but always yielded serendipitous discoveries wherever you looked. Highlights included:

• Bumping into a musician practicing on the piano in the piano garden, and being his audience for a while
• The peacocks! (Larmer Tree Gardens has several resident peacocks, who would happily wander around the paths)
• Finding that friends I wasn’t expecting (Ben-Rizla, Tim) were also there
• Discovering Midlake in their wonderful 90-minute set
• Darren Hayman + co’s impromptu secret bluegrass gig in the piano garden
• Hush The Many playing a lunchtime set like it was a headline show (and subsequently chatting to Nima from HTM the next day – November 9th, at the 100 Club if you want to see them again)
• The fantastic burritos at the Mexican place – their breakfast burrito was a triumph
• I’m From Barcelona‘s hilarious, uplifting, ecstatic afternoon show – crowd-surfing-on-a-lilo and all
• Jim White‘s humble, delightful songwriting
• Cooking breakfasts and lunches on our Trangia
• Architecture from Helsinki – at times bewildering, and then just as I’m about to leave, they bring it around with some dirty four-to-the-floor. They battled poor sound to give a good show
• Finally getting to see Salter Cane perform (congrats, Jeremy!)
• The stage invasion during SFA‘s The Man Don’t Give A Fuck
• Standing around the fire at night with some particularly fine hot chocolate
• Kurt Wagner’s majestic, delicate closing Lambchop set

There were many others, but that should give you the idea. Alex and I spent a while trying to describe what tied all the acts we saw together, given they felt so disparate. But in the end, there was definitely one thing that brought them altogether: a shared sense of humility. The organisers were thanked in practically every set; the festival lauded similarly. So many musicians and bands just seemed so thankful to be there, and would always inform the audience of this – usually prior to thanking the audience themselves. And they all meant it. It felt wonderful to be at such a gentle, honest festival, which made up in heart what it lacked in bravado.

Already, I cannot wait for next year.

I’m off to the seaside on holiday. To Whitstable, to be precise (which still isn’t in Dopplr, despite the remarkably good gazetteer update). Looking forward to it a huge amount. I’ve been a bit burnt out in recent weeks, with piles of work and other things. Means I’m behind on uploading photographs, writing about things, putting things out into public.

Never mind. I’ve got 7 days on the coast to read, walk, eat, and recharge my batteries.

And then we begin again.

It’s hard to describe how much I’m looking forward to this. The beautiful weather can only be a good sign, right?

A long while since my last “real” post, then. In that time a lot’s happened; most significantly, I failed to pass comment on Russell Davies’ Interesting 2007, which was pretty excellent. There’s lots of stuff scattered around the web and Russell’s on site about it. It was a delightful, gentle, eye-opening, very British day of talk, tea, and apples. So good, I stayed out eating and drinking, rather than heading to Hack Day until the next day.

What I saw of Hack Day on Sunday was pretty good. I even attempted a hack in about half an hour, which went far enough as proof of concept without really being worth showing. It was a gag-hack, basically, but fun to have the challenge.

My talk at Interesting is available on Slideshare. Not only that, it’s also available on my slightly-revamped talks page. I say “slightly” revamped, because the whole markup could do with an overhaul, really, but for now, there’s lots of Slideshare action – including slides from my ETech talk last year, previously too big to host on my pitiful hosting.

Workwise, we had the official launch of Nature Precedings, which is a place for life-scientists and life-science researchers to share pre-publication and in-progress work; something a bit like a preprint service for the life-sciences community. If you’re within the larger scientific community, you might understand why it’s reasonably significant. It generated a fair bit of buzz, and I hope it goes from strength to strength. Great to work with many colleagues from NPG on it, as well as with the team at Thoughbot.

As ever, I’ve been neglecting the blog, but I’m thinking of ways around that – less, more often, might end up being some kind of solution. Right now, I feel on the cusp of something, but I have no idea what – how big it is, what it is. I’m just pushing myself forward, hoping to find that edge at some point soon.

In the meantime: I’ll keep linking, keep taking pictures, keep writing, and keep aggregating the results of those endeavours here.

Why?

First, I’m going to be talking (or prattling) about pipes and tubes at Russell Davies’ Interesting 2007. Should be excellent.

Then, when it’s over, I’m off to Alexandra Palace for Hack Day. I have some partners in crime there who I should be able to fall into line with.

Crikey. That’s a weekend and a half. I’m going to need a holiday.

Not much posting here for a while. Sorry. Lots of things going on, notably work, and also an impending hosting move. Erk! Anyway, I felt it was time to highlight some upcoming stuff I’m doing.

Exciting thing #1: I’m going to be speaking at Interesting 2007. The lineup looks awesome; I’m really glad that I’m going to be there, let alone be speaking. My talk is going to be about “pipes and tubes”. That’s not a metaphor. Things that might get covered: underground railways, pneumatic messaging, packet-switching, barrel-making, the logistics of building a chocolate factory. I’m still working it out, but it should be fun at the least. There’s so much other good stuff there – looking forward to finding out how to split a log with an axe, and to hear Schulze talk about comics (hurrah) and so many other things. And… I’m on the same bill as Matthew d’Ancona. Blimey.

Exciting things #2: I’m going to be at Reboot 9 in Copenhagen at the end of the month. Last year’s Reboot was a wonderful, wonderful experience: lots to chew over and lots of new friends found, so I’m really excited about this year’s. I’ll also be around in Copenhagen for a few days afterwards, for holiday. Everything’s booked apart from the hotel (tips welcome), and I can’t wait.

Exciting times, eh? I hope to be documenting them a bit more here.

Several anniversaries for me, recently. Last weekend was my college reunion; 30 terms since I matriculated (ie: went to university) means it’s time to get back together with my contemporaries. In real money, that’s three and a half years since graduation; not a vast amount of time for significant change, but still enough that our vectors have already begun to diverge more significantly.

A handful of marriages, at least two babies; quite a few (proper) masters’ degrees, some now on the way to PhDs; quite a few trainee lawyers. A smattering of medics, one policeman. Many people beginning to look to leave their first jobs. What you’d expect from 25-year-olds, I guess.

Most of us were apprehensive before it; it’s easy going back to see the friends you’ve stayed in touch with, but what of the people you barely knew? What of the relationships that were strained to begin with? They turned out not to be a problem, because it’s hard to remember that everybody’s grown up that little bit more since we left. Most of us have been away from there longer than we studied there. It makes a difference; it was an excellent night if only because of how calm it felt – people that, whatever their difference, were comfortable in each other’s company.

Our contrails may be scattered, but our origins are still the same; we settled back into old jokes, old routines, the old bar. And it’s a useful reminder of the things that we all share in common, not just that place, and the many different paths we could have all gone down. Several people asked about how the whole journalism thing was going, and I felt a bit sad to explain that I wasn’t really a journalist – I’d just worked within journalism and publishing, and from time to time had written a bit on the side. At the same time, it was a reminder that I really enjoy the software/design/web/media thing I do, but one that made me consider what would have happened if I’d pursued that more vigorously.

An excellent day, really, and a better night; it continued long into British Summer Time over Polish lager, bourbon and port. My brain bore the brunt of that assault.

It feels like a tiny milestone. Perhaps because it was the first thing this year I couldn’t really see beyond. But it’s in the past, now. 2007 has been exhausting, so far; busier at work, busier outside of work, feeling I’m falling behind in personal projects but having lots of fun nonetheless. The next goal is to try and bring some of those ideas to fruition. And to answer the eternal question: where next? I’m beginning to feel like I’m diverging too far from some critical path, but hey, maybe I misread the path to begin with.

12 months in this job, too. This year I’ve really begun to feel a bit more settled in it. It took me a long while to settle into the whole “corporate” atmosphere, and I don’t think I ever really will, but I’m generally left to get on with things so that’s good. I still wish the making process wasn’t so fragmented, though. I’m glad I made the move, though; it was the right time, and I’ve learned a great amount so far. I’m hoping that learning will continue.

12 months since last year’s ETech, where I gave a talk – my first real “speaking in public” as a professional (if that’s the right word – I’m still not sure). That was a scary and exhilarating time, but again, great fun: I learned a lot and made new friends, and that’s always worthwhile. It would have been good to go this year, but it’s no great loss. I’m going to be at Reboot again this year – at least in attendance – and am already looking forward to that. I’m a little concerned I’ve coasted a bit in 2007, and there’s nothing like Reboot to force you to raise your game.

Oh, and, finally: I started blogging a bit over six years ago. It seems like an age; it was, I guess. I still haven’t imported that content, like I promise so long ago. I probably should – but it’ll be heavily edited of teenage mush. I really just want to prove it was actually there.

Six years of this internets game, and look where it got me. I’m rather glad I ended up here.

It had to catch up with me eventually. Matt tagged me with the “five things” meme. And then so did Alex. I thought I’d have some time to write this, but then everybody else finished theirs dead quick, and I got tagged twice, and this took ages – hence the delay.

The problem with things like this is that you often either end up sounding arrogant, or you give away terrifying secrets on the internet, where they’ll never be forgotten. Striking the middle ground is hard. I hope I managed that, anyhow.

1. I’m an only child
“So that explains everything,” is the traditional quip. It explains a moderate amount, I suppose, but I really don’t think it has a vast significance as to who I really am. Yes, I’m probably more comfortable with my own company than many, but as a bookish, quiet child, it suited me, I suppose. I never really wanted for a sibling until I got to University, really, and I’ve certainly never minded not having one. So, there you go. To me, it’s just my life, but people sure do love attaching significance to it.

2. I have hammertoes/bunions
This is my random physical skill. I always thought my feet were normal, but no; if you look at them, the top join of my toe angles inwards at about 30 degrees. I’m used to them now, but I’m assured they’re not meant to be like that. No idea if it was shoes or just my genes that did it.

3. I’m obsessed with film censorship and classification
This is my dorky interest – specifically, in the work of the BBFC. I love movies, but film certification itself is a fascinating mine of trivia. It’s also a really interesting guide to the mores and tastes of culture. Fortunately, the BBFC have a wonderfully detailed website, with their entire database online, and with listing for new releases. It’s one way I find out what new titles will be out soon, and also is interesting to see which films have been edited to reach certificates.

For instance: here’s the entry for Don’t Look Now, originally rated X in 1973, passed as an 18 in 1988 on video, and then given a 15 in 2001 when re-released to the cinema – all without edits. Also note the changing iconography of the BBFC, and, most trivia-tastic of all, the shorter running time on video, which indicates not that the film’s been edited, but is merely down to the fact that video runs at an extra frame every second compared to film.

Anyhow, I find it rather interesting, if only to mine the archive, and to watch classifcation, and censorship – or lack of it – at work. Another interesting board of censors is IFCO, the Irish film censor, who are interesting if only for their slightly different priorities (interestingly manifested in their split between 12A, 15A, 16 and 18 film ratings – on video I believe they just have 12/15/18).

I’m fully in agreement with Mark Kermode when he says that we, the British, have the best film classification board in the world. They’re smart, clued-in, and fair. Their site also provides RSS for recent releases on film, video, and digital media (games). Try subscribing some time – if only to get a laugh out of the terrible titles porn videos have.

4. I didn’t like curry until I was 18
Which isn’t that remarkable a fact, unless you know how much I like eating curry now, and, more to the point, how much I love cooking curry now. I think we make one a week, on average, and often make several when people come over. What I’ve learned time and time again in my adult life is that it often takes a very good dish to break the ingrained responses of millions of crappy school dinners.

5. My girlfriend hasn’t seen my chin in three years
My dad’s had a beard ever since I was born, so I’ve never really had many issues with facial hair. I grew my sideburns at about the age of 14, mainly because they arrived, and I quite liked them. I’ve kept them long ever since, though try not to let them get too bushy and look too much like a Victorian patriarch. Anyhow: this answer is about facial hair.

I grew my first beard the summer I was sixteen. It involved deciding very carefully when the earliest I could have my final shave of the school term was, and then just let the fuzz build up without looking obvious, in order to get the maximum head start. I ended up with a DJ-Shadow-like chinbeard. My body hair, when it has grown, always started out golden, and went red as it matured.

I grew my first adult beard in the first term at university. My beard for most of my time at Cambridge was a chinstripe with wings – an upside-down T – and no moustache. With hindsight, it looked a bit silly, but it was fun, and it felt like a good expression of my personality. I periodically shaved it off, and only ever in order to facilitate progress with some girl I fancied. Invariably, I discovered that it wasn’t the beard they had problems with, and so I grew it back immediately.

I grew my final beard in the third year, and, for the first time in my life, grew the moustache to go with it. Proper goatee, although it’s been hell joining up the sides, so to speak. I haven’t been clean-shaven since then, and you’ll see the beard on my graduation photographs. Given Alex and I got together in the final term, that means she’s never seen my chin.

Much as I love her, I’m not sure she will for a while. And when she does, it’ll be a shining white patch – it hasn’t seen the sun in a long whlie, either.

Gosh. They weren’t hugely exciting. Sorry I don’t have anything more interesting that I’m willing to tell you.

Anyhow, now I have to tag five more people, which is hard, because I have to choose five people who haven’t done it already. So I choose: Matt Biddulph, Matt Patterson, David Smith, Simon Willison, and Chris Heathcote (if they’ve not done it already).

I feel like I’ve been neglecting Infovore a bit in recent weeks, and so thought I’d begin my return to form (as it were) with a semi-obligatory year-end post.

2006 has been really quite a year, on many levels. Certainly one of the most eventful so far. The most obvious change it brought has been a change of job: after two years of working for the New Statesman, I left for a change of scenery. I haven’t mentioned where I am specifically, up until now, but given that most people who know me know, I’m happy to say that I’m working at the Nature Publishing Group, known best for their flagship title Nature. I’m a front-end developer there, writing markup and front-end code to build interfaces and sites. It’s been a great experience so far; after an inital unsettled period I’ve slowly managed to find my feet and am enjoying it a lot. It’s also given me a chance to work, full-time, in Ruby on Rails, which has proved most enjoyable – and at times eye-opening.

It’s also been a year of travel. Between leaving one job and starting another, I went to the USA for the first time – to speak at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. That turned out to be fascinating, exciting, and terrifying in equal measure; I poured perhaps a little too much of myself into the talk, but was very pleased with the results and had a great time at the conference – both in terms of what I learned and the relationships I made and solidified. A shame not to be going again this year, but I’m glad to have been once.

I also travelled to Denmark for Reboot 8 in the summer, again to talk. Less terrifying, this time around, and perhaps my favourite work of the past year – lots of lateral thinking and answering of what-ifs in that talk. Do check it out if you haven’t already. A very different environment to ETech – creative, artistic, and holistic in its approach to technology; really wonderfuly to attend something truly European. As long as it’s on this year, I’m definitely going again.

There was also travel that didn’t so much resemble work. Alex and I went to Barcelona in the autumn for a wonderful holiday – lots of food, sun, reading, and art. A really lovely city, and an excellent holiday. Just the rest I needed, really. Lots of photos of it are up in my Flickr profile.

Life is slowly becoming more settled, really. I’m feeling more confident daily in my work, in my play, and in the city I live in; London is really beginning to feel a little like home. It’ll never truly be home, but it’s great to live somewhere with so many good friends, and so much to do with them.

And what does 2007 hold? No idea, really, though I’m beginning to have some thoughts. I’m seriously considering a fortnight’s holiday – I usually stick to just a week. And I think it could well end up being spent in San Francisco – another trip to the US, to a city full of friends (and, seemingly, more of them every day), and a summer in the sun.

2007 should also be a year of making. I’ve got at least one project to launch very early in the year, and several more on the go. And I mean “making” of everything: making more words, more music, more photographs, far more cooking – more stuff. I’m always wrestling to create, but I plan next year to really make stuff happen. I hope to share more of it here.

I’ve really loved 2006 – ups and downs, for sure, but so many opportunities, so many new friends, so many magic moments – from watching the sea roll in at Barcelona to being mesmerised in the cinema, from late nights talking with friends in far-off hotels to many happy memories in the kitchen.

I hope your 2006 was good; I hope your 2007 is even better. Do keep reading.

…so little time. I’ve been not so much busy as hectic in the past few weeks, and very out of practice at the blog. I’m planning to change that – in fact, to change a lot – in 2007. Rest assured that all is well here, though it hasn’t been the easiest of times.

I’m catching a train early tomorrow to head back home, to Gloucestershire, and spend a few days with family before meeting the Girl’s family for a few more days, and then it’s back to the Smoke for an extended New Year break. I’m looking forward to lots of food and rest. I’m also probably going to be able to finish the various unfinished blogposts sitting around – about print-out-ed media, about a few of the tricks I wrangled to build this new blog design, about Gears of War, and about 2006 as a whole.

In the meantime: keep safe, keep sound, hold your loved ones close, have a very happy Christmas. That’s exactly what I’m planning to do.