User:James Odling-Smee

So who am I, what am I interested in and why am I here?

I was educated at the Courtauld Insititute of Art, London and the Baird Centre for Media Studies, Glasgow where my dissertation was on the introduction of moral rights into French copyright law. My career has included arts criticism for Fortnight Magazine, Belfast; writing on issues of law and the arts for Art Monthly, and being part of the team that set up Third Sector, the UK's major charity magazine. My career in public relations has been spent mainly in the public sector with positions as Head of Communications at the Local Government Information Centre and Head of Corporate Communications for Hertfordshire County Council, one of the UK's largest councils situated just north of London. I am now a interim strategic communications manager and my most recent assignments have been at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Camden Council and the World Health Organisation where I became interested in both open source and wikis as a way of empowering people through sharing knowledge.