- Name: Ian Forrester
- Pronouns: (he/him)
- Job title: Senior Firestarter / Senior Firestarter Producer
My bio from Linkedin
Ian Forrester is a well known character on the digital scene in the UK and Europe. Living in Manchester, UK, he works for the BBC’s R&D Advisory team. He specialises in open innovation and new disruptive opportunities; by creating value with open engagement and collaborations with start-ups, universities, hackers and early adopters.
His current research is split between;
1. The future of public service in the internet age, sometimes referred to as the public service internet. Approaching the dominate business model/narrative of the internet with a more human, ethical and public focus
2. The future of narrative and adaptive storytelling, with a technology he calls Perceptive Media. Its a new approach to broadcasting; which pairs the best of broadcast with the best of internet technology; creating a experiences like sitting around a camp fire telling stories.
His diverse background makes him adaptive and flexible in any situation; with a relaxed and creative leadership style. He takes sustainability, data ethics and human potential seriously in his leadership and collaborations. Taking pride in his background he champions inclusion and diversity where ever he goes. His achievements recently was noticed by the Inclusive board, landing him in the top 100 diverse tech leaders in the UK.
Ian is proud to have a non-traditional background in interaction design which he crossed over with development using XML & Semantic web technologies.
Previously a founder of the dataportability.org group in 2004, running the quantified self group in Manchester in 2015; he’s track record leads him in good stead for a data rich future..
I live in Manchester, UK.
I’m employed by the BBC and ran the BBC Backstage Project, encouraging you to use our stuff to make your stuff*. I do have a github account for work and pleasure.
I helped bring BarCamp to the UK via BarCampLondon and setup BarCampLondon2 and BarCampLondon3. I’m also known for London Geekdinners and being one of the founders of the data portability group.
I regularly blog, can be found microblogging on Mastodon on Mas.to, blacktwitter, Twit.social, Scholar.social and of course this blog is also on the fediverse ..
I tend to upload media to Pixelfed, Peertube, You Tube, Slideshare and co-host Techgrumps every month. I generate metadata on Bookwyrm, Trakt TV, Libre.fm and Diigo.
Network professionally at Linkedin and only use Facebook for a couple of events.