The next few posts (possibly interspersed with other issues) will contain full details of my application for a Shuttleworth fellowship. Here I present my argument/manifesto [see below] for why we need action and why I can address it. And first some history.
For background, Mark Shuttleworth has changed the world through Ubuntu and is funding other ventures to change the world through fellowships. I applied for one about two years ago – prompted by a colleague. I hadn’t thought about it, though of course I knew that Rufus Pollock, founder of OKFN had been awarded one. And so I thought “why not?”.
Well there was a lot of “Why not!” I was in the middle of Washington State (not DC!) at Pacific NW laboratory, and found I had to make a video. I was 9 hours out of sync with anyone who could help on the ground. I couldn’t find local help. So I tentatively asked Jenny Molloy – in Oxford UK. Those who know Jenny will know what a tremendously unselfish and helpful person she is. She makes things happen with apparent ease and is always smiling.
So we made a video out of bits that already existed. Some recent video of Jenny and me at Open Science Summit (“closed access means people die”). Some stills of me and collaborators at Beyond the PDF 1. Some (compelling) footage of Open Access in Africa, relating to Leslie Chan. It was hairy. Jenny would get an hour or two in Oxford Comp Service and stitch bits, add captions. I can’t remember where the audio came from – maybe not at all. We had ca 5 days where we could send one message each way each day due to timezones! Not the best way to create a video!
It got submitted just about on time. I then went back to UK. Karien (from Shuttleworth) mailed and said they’d like to have a clearer idea of what I was going to do and could I submit another video. Gulp! I couldn’t possibly impinge on Jenny again. Somehow by magic I discovered (a) a video camera and (b) that Windows had something called MovieMaker. Now I am not a great Windows fan. And MovieMaker is relatively basic (read: if you edit it the wrong way the audio and video lose sync. Read: if you move your files, the whole thing self-destructs). And the output (WMV) is basic, bloated and otherwise horrible and doesn’t play on Unix by default. So I have to make another movie, edit it and create an MP4. I made it – not proud of it or the project idea – and started to create MP4s. At this stage I discover that this can be complex. I have to understand codecs and deltas and … machine crashes. I’ve forgotten the name of the converter – it is/was the standard but it has a zillion options (like any good tool) and no defaults (at least not that worked). I think I finally got a volunteer (?Cottage labs?) to convert it. Remember that every edit needs re-exporting as WMV, converting to MP4 and then uploading to Dropbox or wherever (at that stage I am not sure that we published the applications more openly).
Then I go to Australia. I have another interview in the middle of the night. The WiFi is on a rented dongle which is very flaky. But it goes fine. I didn’t get an award and I’m not downcast because (in short retrospect) the project probably wouldn’t have taken off.
But the process had great value. It helped to shape my ideas, convince me that I have stuff to offer the world, and probably most importantly shaped the way we run part of the Panton Fellows. When we came to interview them I suggested we should ask for videos and the Panton Board agreed. It makes all the difference to forming an impression of someone and their project. And even for those who don’t get selected it’s very valuable experience and knowledge.
We’re moving to a world where we live in public. Shuttleworth have. I’m delighted with that, because it’s the way I work as well.