User:James Odling-Smee

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So who am I, what am I interested in and why am I here?

I am a 42 year old white British man, blue eyes, dirty blond hair, 6'2". That's a start.

I was educated at the Courtauld Insititute of Art, London and the Baird Centre for Media Studies, Glasgow where my dissertation was on the introduction of moral rights into French copyright law. My career has has spanned art critism for Fortnight Magazine, Belfast; writing on issues of law and the arts for Art Monthly, London; working as a communications officer for the Hackney Council, an inner London borough; and finally, being Head of Communications for Hertfordshire County Council, a large council just north of London. I am now a interim strategic communications manager and my most recent assignments have been at the London Borough of Camden and the World Health Organisation where I became interested in both open source and wikis as a way of empowering people through sharing knowledge.

I am interested in:

how Wikipedia relates to communications professionals and public relations
openess and identity on the web
Irish history
religious and communal conflict worldwide
art and society

Why am I here?

I was brought up on the ideas of the Bauhaus, the German art education institute and therefore believe that if you are going to practice something you need to know how it works - and the way to find out how it works is to do it. I passionately believe in openess and accountablity, hence my real name as my handle (yes that is my real name!), the long who I am section, and my e-mail address open to all. And I have become increasingly interested in the tensions in on-line communities between the advantages and disadvantages of anonymity, and issues of trust. In addition, some of the recent controversy surrounding public relations and Wikipedia interest me and I want to take part in the discussions surrounding them from a position of knowledge. See you in the discussion forum.