People Profile

I was recently interviewed for a UAL staff profile piece.....albeit what appeared in the staff bulletin was a shortened version of the following...

Spotlight On… Jim Nottingham

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Jim Nottingham, I’m the Chief Information Officer for UAL which basically means I look after all aspects of IT for UAL including a number of IT related projects and programmes.

How do you describe your role to friends and family?

To be honest I’ve given up trying, I get allot of blank looks! but it usually ends with ‘I look after IT for the University’

You have a Fine Art printmaking back-ground, how did you end up in IT?

That’s a long story but suffice to say, my Fine Art background has really served me well in being able to have a somewhat different approach to how we think about technology, a ‘do different’ ethos and a fascination with technology and what we can do with it……and what we can’t.

How do you reconcile printmaking and IT?

Printmaking and most of the print techniques of the last 500 years has been a product of innovation and economic need, much of what we might consider ‘the digital’ is the same.....except at a different pace of change! Technically I see very little difference and as always, it’s not the technology but what you do with it that’s important.

What are the best bits about your job?

Definitely seeing the IT Team working really well together and understanding how much of an influence they have on staff students and UAL as a whole, I’m really very lucky to have such a great team to work with. The other part is seeing what the students produce at the end of their studies, I do encourage all IT staff to get out and go to the degree shows every year.

& the worst?

When things go wrong and I know it’s something we could have fixed and sometimes that’s just missing a tiny detail or not really understanding the question in the first place. The most important thing is not to blame but positively encourage, even if it’s been a total disaster!

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t doing your current job?

When I graduated with my MFA from Louisiana State University all I wanted was to be a Professor of Printmaking with a cosy studio and a selling gallery. This didn’t happen albeit I came close on a couple of occasions!

What do you most like doing when you’re not at work?

I continue to be an active printmaker and I’m a key holder at the Thames Side Print Studio, I also share a studio (https://www.thames-sidestudios.co.uk/print-studios) with my wife, Dr Paula McIver Nottingham who is an artist and a social scientist, she is also an academic member of staff at another London University.

I take on conservation projects related to my printmaking background and I ‘ve been working through the plate archives of Oxford University Press for the last 25 years. I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on some fascinating projects that involve early print technology and book production.

One of the most recent projects involved cleaning 20 engraved copper plates from Morisons Herbarium publication dating from the 1680s. I was asked to carry out the work in the conservation department of the Bodleian Library which was an experience all on its own. Have a look at this University of Oxford blog for more details on Morisons Herbarium publication. This project is due to become part of an exhibition celebrating 500 years of Plant Science at Oxford. A more in-depth article about the Plantarum historiae universalis Oxoniensis can be found here. http://muse.jhu.edu/article/610806

I’m also a keen (but slow) outdoor water swimmer and on Wednesday & Friday evenings you will find me at the Victoria Dock (next to the Excel Centre) enjoying a really wonderful swimming venue, and yes, the Thames is perfectly safe for swimming!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

I’ve been given loads of advice much of which is unrepeatable.......but in terms of life & work my favorite has to be; ‘Never approach the press with dirty hands’