Browse my journalism portfolio

As a freelance journalist, I've written for a wide range of publications, including BBC News Online, The MagPi, Melody Maker, and Internet Magazine. Here are some of my favourite articles and blog posts, representing a cross-section of my work. Some articles are PDFs. If you need a more accessible format, please contact me. Looking for something in particular? Try the search or contact me.

Can AI negotiate contracts?

Luminance demonstrated its AI negotiating a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with no human intervention.

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Do you need a degree to work in IT?

Discover how apprenticeships, self-learning and start-ups are providing a way in to tech careers.

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Cutting website carbon emissions

How can websites can cut their carbon emissions? Shortlisted for best feature in the Freelance Journalism Awards 2023.

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Millions of hard drives are being destroyed

Companies are shredding storage media to stop data leaks, but drives can be securely reused. See my BBC article.

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Can coders trust ChatGPT?

I investigated the opportunities and risks of using ChatGPT to create computer code, for the BBC's Technology of Business.

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Raspberry Pi Starter Guide

Take your first steps using the affordable computer that is popular with students, hobbyists and inventors.

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Raspberry Pi Summer Projects

Be inspired by this round-up of outdoors projects for the Raspberry Pi including a weather station, a high-altitude balloon, and a motorised skateboard.

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Learn to Code

This 12-page feature from The MagPi introduces Scratch and shows you how to build a simple game, before moving on to Python and electronics.

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Bedtime Stories

ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion create illustrated stories to your specification on this Raspberry Pi project.

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ArtEvolver

ArtEvolver creates digital art by blending slides of textures, shapes, and colours together. I developed the code and wrote the tutorial for this article.

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Raspberry Radio

My program Raspberry Radio creates a virtual DJ that introduces your MP3s before playing them, and reads out the news and weather. Written for The MagPi.

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The Next Verse

This project uses the Raspberry Pi to add a soundtrack to a visual artwork that depicts the cycle of life. It was created by Stewart Easton and Gawain Hewitt.

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MIDI Mutant

Musician Aphex Twin worked with Dave Griffiths to make a Raspberry Pi project that programs new sounds for the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser.

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How to debug Scratch projects

Tips for educators on fixing Scratch programs, from Hello World. Scratch is widely used in primary schools to teach programming.

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Make a micro:bit audio game

This tutorial from micro:mag shows you how to create an audio game using the micro:bit and the text-to-speech feature in Scratch.

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PyCon UK 2017

I've often covered technical conferences for publications. Here's a write-up of PyCon UK for The MagPi.

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Scratch Conference 2019

In 2019, Scratch Conference came to Cambridge, UK. Here's my round-up from a packed event schedule.

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Google Glass review

From 2014, a review of Google Glass from their London pop-up experience. See also developer guidelines.

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London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony

Read my account of a remarkable summer as a volunteer performer in the spectacular Industrial Revolution sequence.

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Mike Oldfield's Maestro

For this Internet Magazine article, I met Mike Oldfield inside his cooperative musical game Maestro.

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How Ironbridge was built

3D modelling revealed some of the secrets of how Ironbridge was built.

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Is there anybody out there?

Computer users helped search for alien life using Seti@home. I interviewed the scientist behind it.

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More articles

There are many, many more articles and blog posts on my website. To dig deeper, see:

My Raspberry Pi tutorials hub
Including a short history of the Raspberry Pi, and code for downloading jokes and creating AI images.

My Scratch tutorials and resources centre
Including Press Play, a library of sound effects for your games, 10-block demos, and Shaun the Sheep football.

Web design resources
Including using CSS to make a 3D anaglyph effect, my Javascript Smart Marketing Toolkit and an introduction to web analytics.

My science and technology articles
Including how to send smells over the internet, a short history of the internet and an introduction to mass customisation.

My articles about journalism and writing
Including how to write a novel and how to write comedy for TV, radio or stage.

Music journalism
Including They Might Be Giants tell me they're dead serious, Colin Vearncombe (Black) reflects on Wonderful Life and Erasure pioneers customised MP3s.

Music promotion articles
Including how to start recording at home.

Photo credits: Hard drive by Benjamin Lehman at Unsplash, Starry sky by Greg Rakozy at Unsplash, students by Brett Jordan at Unsplash.