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’
