Twestival - 25th September 2008

‘Why do you use twitter?’

Shot at the The Doon Bar, Trafalgar Square in 2008 at the very first ‘Twestival’ event’, myself and ‘ourmaninside’ Documentally, ask people why they use twitter.

If you were there, make sure you tag yourself (or anything else you feel needs a good tagging) with a comment on the timeline!

Great night all round. Had a really good time and met lots of new people. And yes, it was mostly shot outside the toilet, the lighting was better. As was the sound, apart from the hand-dryer…

Visit http://twestival.com to find out about future events

For more from Documentally, check out http://ourmaninside.com

2008 - a (very) brief summary…

2008. Now just another year consigned to history, its likely to be forgotten as quickly as the one before it was just 12 months earlier. Based on nothing other than hope, people are, as usual, insisting the next will be better than the one just past and that they are looking forward to everything that it has to offer. For once, I find myself in this category. Normally the changing of the year means very little to me, but I’m genuinely glad to see the back of 2008 because from a personal point of view, it was mostly shitty. For the first full year in a long time I was single and as much as I don’t like to admit it, it affected my mood a lot and took a long time to get over.

So, I was paid to do what?

I used work in 2008 to take my mind off things and as a result, spent most of the year being ridiculously busy. For many years I had been doing IT support and web development, but at the end of 2007 things took a turn and started heading off in the direction of the whole ‘new media’ scene. Finally, some of the things I enjoyed had started to collide with my work. I was now getting paid to indulge some of my long term hobbies such as video, photography and gadgets. The push toward University involvement in multiple social networking sites also started in earnest last year.

August brought with it a hop across the pond to attend the New Media Expo (NME) in Las Vegas. This was a chance to see what technologies were out there and how people were using them. A lot was learnt and a thoroughly good time was had. I met a lot of new people and hopefully, a lot of friends. The Open University (my surprisingly long term employer, in one form or another) seems to be at the forefront of using online technologies to reach its students. Whether it video, audio or conversation, these are all areas that are going to develop and expand rapidly over the next few years and I hope to be right there as they do.

I also decided to learn Drupal. We recently launched a new site using it (check it out) and I thought it best if I new at least a little about how it. Seems to have huge potential as a system, and as every man and his dog has started using it for some reason or another, I didn’t want to be left out

And apart from work?

This year saw me become a home owner, shortly before the market crashed - good in someways and bad in others, as you can probably imagine. Either way, I’m now on the dreaded property ladder. Buying a house led to massive amounts of DIY (which thankfully I’m a huge fan off) so out came the powertools and I started behaving like a kid with a new toy. There’s something liberating about being able to bash a hole in a wall and not having anybody moan at you for it.

With all my new found weekend time (see above), I decided to join both Rugby and Cricket clubs. I had been wanting to do this for ages and was really pleased I did. Apart from the fact I enjoy both sports, its good to have a new group of people to get drunk with.

2008 was a particularly up and down year. Apart from the major things, many good nights were had, events were attended, friends were enjoyed etc. I met a lot of new people and learned a lot of new stuff and I hope this continues on into next year.

I’m not gonna make a bunch of resolutions because it mostly a pointless idea.  All I want is for 2009 to be exciting.  And to be happy…ish.  That’s not to much to ask, surely?

—-

Right, now that’s out of the way I can look forward to writing more interesting (and hopefully better written) content.  I just felt I needed to get 2008 dealt with. First thing is to get this site sorted - looks a bloody disgrace…honestly…

Right, here goes…

One of the many things I said I would do this year is finally start a public, personal blog.  Considering my job, my fascination with media and gadgets and my occasional need to rant, this may just be one resolution I end up keeping.

It won’t be about anything in particular.  There will be some work related stuff, reviews of films, music,  gadgets or anything else that takes my fancy, plus the general musings on life that usually fill the pages of peoples blogs.  I’ll try to categorize the best I can so you can skip the rubbish if you want.

So, with that said, let me introduce myself. I’m Matt. Pleased to meet you.

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