(Left-Right Ben, Me)

(Left -Right Me, Professor Atkins, Ben, Chris)

Show Downloads - MP3
Best Bits Part 2 (25mb)
Best Bits Part 1 (22mb)
Vice Chancellor Interview (18mb)
Kiefer Sutherland Interview (3mb)

Monday Night Show

The Monday Night Show is now into its second term with co-presenters Ben and Chris. Originally started simply for fun the Monday Night Show has become one of the most popular and well known Radio Shows on Source Radio within Coventry University.

I have good experience of what it takes to organise and produce a show and well as what is entertaining to listen to. Our mixture of quiz's, interviews, music and on-air dating have given us a good profile for entertainment and fun on a Monday Night.

Our listen again options for features such as interviews and "Best Bits" have allowed our fans to listen to parts of the show when they choose almost like Podcasting does for many other shows. Listen again has also widened our appeal outside of the University.

Interviews

As part of the show we have done a number of interviews. One of the best was with the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Madeleine Atkins. The discussion was based around a number of student issues including the new student centre, crime on campus, scholarships, online services and her 2010 vision for the University.

The show was a huge success and thanks to some clever marketing helped bring even more credibility to the show as well as becoming critically acclaimed from staff and students.

ImAFish

I started ImAFish in 2001 when I was leaving school as a way for people to keep in contact. It soon turned into my personal homepage and blog where I could showcase my creations and practice my web skills.

Through building ImAFish I have learnt many Web skills such as HTML, PHP, MYSQL and a lot of the supporting technologies.

In recent years I have been concentrating on the usability, design and accessibility issues presented. I have also learnt a lot about Web site management and promotion through building up ImAFish.

Blogging

I'm quick to latch on to emerging Web technologies and have been blogging for 4 years now on ImAFish, for me the blog is a great way to promote my latest work and for others to give their opinion on it.

Articles

I have written over 100 articles on a variety of topics over the past 4 years covering tech reviews to online hints to general news.

I enjoy writing both for my blog and for articles, a number of my articles have been featured on news sites such as Newsforge, Linux Today and OSNews.

Community

Building a community is one of the hardest tasks I have faced with ImAFish, it has taken constant work and promotion to keep people coming back. The majority of site users keep coming back because of the Forum so I have tried hard to promote and manage the Forum so that people stay interested.

It is very easy to start a Forum but to keep people coming back is very tricky, fortunately on the ImAFish Forum people come back daily in some cases.

Sheep

Over Christmas 2005 myself and Matthew Shannon put together a short but entertaining documentary about Sheep.

Filmed in the picturesque Attingham Park in Shropshire, "Sheep" shows my humour and creativity at its best.

The production was done on a very low budget with entry level cameras but is a good example that I can put together a production using very little apart from my imagination.

Watch Sheep

Blender Pimping

The idea behind this production was to convince the audience that people actually go round pimping blenders and taking them to competitions. I am very proud that we managed this with the Blender Pimping Documentary.

Blender Pimping was a reasonably big production done on a small budget but nicely shows how I can write, direct, edit and organise my ideas into something serious yet hilarious.

Other TV Experience

I have worked on a number of other small productions within University and in my own time. In January 2006 I interviewed Tim Westwood with a fellow student, we managed to promote it well around University and it received hundreds of downloads. Recently I have undertaken voluntary work for the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire.

ImAFish Video
ImAFish Media

(We interviewed Tim Westwood when he came to our Students Union - I was cameraman).

Switchweb

In 2003 I setup the Web Hosting company Switchweb in order to support ImAFish. Switchweb has a good customer base and is profitable. All profits are reinvested in either ImAFish productions or in upgrades for customers.

I coded all of the Switchweb web site including the admin area, shopping cart and support areas. I manage all the customers and am responsible for attracting new customers.

Advertising

I have used adverts on ImAFish to cover some of its costs and have learnt a lot about online advertising and good placement of adverts in order to produce revenue.

ImAFish has been one of the primary advertising locations for Switchweb bringing in numerous customers. All content produced by myself gets a "Hosted Thanks To Switchweb" tag brining more attention to the hosting business.

I have written this article about online advertising where I have given advice on Google Ads.

Degree

I'm in my final year of a Computer Science Degree at Coventry University. I have completed various modules in programming, system engineering, interface design, networking and multimedia.

For my dissertation I am working on a Geographical Information System plotting student details for the University so that they can spot trends as to where students have come from throughout the country.

Sample University Work (PDF)

Dissertation Download Page
Technical Analysis of Webhosting and Online Payment Methods (116kb)
Game Concept Design (162kb)
E-Commerce Business Analysis and Marketing (200kb)
E-Commerce Legal Issues (93kb)
Digital Society Presentation (Group Activity) (2.8mb)
Multimedia CDROM Design Standards (900kb)
Class Diagrams and Java (276kb)
User Interface Design (116kb)

Operating Systems

I have excellent knowledge of using Windows, Mac OS X and various Linux distributions including Red Hat and SuSE.

I have most knowledge in desktop environments but also have a good understanding of servers such as Web, Database, Server-Side Scripting and Media Streaming.

Student Proctor

In my final year of University I have been a teaching assistant for two of my previous year modules helping the lecturer with tutorials. My job has involved showing students usability studies and learning Macromedia Flash, recently my role has increased because of my knowledge and experience with blogging that has put me at an advantage to help the students get a feel for using a blog.

Proctoring has been rewarding because I have felt that I have been able to contribute more than just the usual proctor thanks to my experience providing an enhanced learning experience.

Student Ambassador

Being a Student Ambassador for the University has been one of my most enjoyable jobs and has included showing people around on open days and working with year 9 students on "ACE" days, showing them about University life and encouraging them to consider higher education.

This job has been rewarding as I enjoy working with people and find telling people about my experiences at the University fun.

IT In A Small Business

Over the summer and in breaks I have been working for a financial advisors in Shrewsbury, Roger T Hulme Ltd. Here my primary role was data archiving and backup but I also maintained the company's Apple Mac/IT infrastructure and advised on future expansions.

I gained good experience of working in an office as well as the importance of data backup and archiving.

Gregg's

I worked for Gregg's for four years starting as a Saturday Assistant and working up to a weekend manager in 2004/05. Here my responsibilities included customer satisfaction, banking and managing/motivating the staff.

I gained good experience in working with all age groups of people as well as how to manage a shop.