Welcome to my site. I started a blog in the summer of 2010 when I started to marshal my research ideas and plan for a PhD. The main themes of that research – and many of the posts on this site – focus on social network analysis, social media, cultural festivals and events of different types. There is also a string of posts which originated as emails, composed and sent from various of Australia, New Zealand and south east Asia during the early 2000s.

This is also a space on the web to call my own. I've posted a few documents on the 'Research' page which reflect some of the work I did during undergraduate and postgraduate courses. I've also linked the site to my Twitter and Instagram.

I live in Edinburgh and have done since I moved here on my 19th birthday in September 1997. That was for university and I studied a combination of history and politics at University of Edinburgh. Being in the city gave me a chance to work on the summer festivals, which I had visited as both audience member and performer in the 1990s. Like many people I feel privileged to call Edinburgh home: it's a great and varied city that can be rightly proud of its contribution to history, culture and society. Since 2007 I have been a lecturer on Edinburgh Napier University's BA (Hons.) International Festival & Event Management, as well as the programme leader for upwards of 200 students on that course at any given moment. The job is varied, challenging and rewarding, bringing together many interests of mine and giving me the chance to work with a wide range of people – academics, the events industry and of course the students.

Since spring 2018 I have been a dad, to my son. It’s great and I love it. I live with him and his mum, Catherine.

Many of the blog posts on the site were transferred over from my Posterous blog in February 2013. That service was shut down after being acquired by Twitter, so I joined the ranks of those looking for a way to keep their archives alive and active. The transfer process has generated some errors along the way, so please let me know if you have problems accessing any of the material on here.

I hope you find something of interest on the site. I'm very keen to hear about ways I can improve the usability, design and content of the site, so all suggestions and comments are very welcome.