In 1979 I was awarded a BSc (Hons) in Geology and set out to conquer the world.
For the next six and half years I worked as a Seismologist, or Computer (sic), for
a variety of companies engaged in exploration for oil & gas reserves. This occupation
took me to many interesting parts of the world, including: Kuwait, Nigeria, Irian Jaya
(does anyone else know where that is?), Spain, and even the UK.
During these travels, I soon realised, much to my horror, that the world was not
such an easy place to conquer, however, I also discovered how useful computers could be.
Taking advantage of a world-wide slump in oil & gas prices in 1986 (i.e. having been
made redundant!), I returned to college and completed a HND in Industrial Data Processing.
After completing this course I was asked if I would like to become a Lecturer, an offer
which I accepted with some trepidation. However, I shouldn't have worried, as I found
that I really liked lecturing (although the preparation nearly killed me for the first
few years) and that I was reasonably good at it.
Over the past 15 years I have taught just about anything you can think of to do
with the use of computers, to both undergraduate and postgraduate students studying
a wide range of courses. Over that time the subject area in which I have taught has
migrated from Computing, to Information Technology, to Information Systems, to E-commerce
and back to Information Technology. I now work for The University of Hull Business School at the Scarborough Campus.
I have always tried to maintain strong links with local SMEs, and have been involved
in several consultancies and the development & delivery of a wide variety of short courses.
The media hype around the recent explosive growth of the Internet/Web has meant that,
for the past few years, my involvement in consultancy and short courses has been
focussed on the potential (both good & bad) of E-Commerce for SMEs.
Feeling a lack of relevant qualifications, I have completed a MSc in Networked Information
Engineering in 2000 - if only I had the time to apply all that I learnt during that course
to my teaching, consultancy & personal life.
I have only been involved in one other Syntegration - The
Systems and the Information Society Network
(SISN) - for which I developed a Web-site similar to this one. I must have enjoyed
that experience very much, as I am back to do it all again.
