Edinburgh Napier University

Biography

Dr Tom Flint is Imaginary Chair of the British Computer Society Interactions Specialist Group. This position was created to reflect Tom’s work on the role of imagination, story telling and practice in Human Computer Interaction. Tom has a history of designing and building bespoke computing interactions. Tom’s work concentrates on people and their relationships with technology.

Tom's research interests focus on cultural heritage, the creative industries and computing's role in these disciplines. His work explores the use of digital media and computing technology to communicate art collections and visitor attractions. Tom has collaborated with sculpture park Jupiter Artland since 2011 to build numerous digital interventions. An accomplished practitioner and creative technologist, Tom collaborates with artists to produce interactive work.

Tom is an advocate for the transformative power of taking control of technology. Tom runs projects and events that introduce children and young people to computing. Working in higher education for over 15 years, his first job was teaching HTML to prisoners who had never seen the Web. He graduated from a PhD titled "Appropriating interaction" in 2016.

Tom’s experience has seen him work as a BT technician; BT paid for him to undertake part time study which led him to go to university. During his final year at university Tom founded a publishing company which launched two titles, The Lock a guide for Camden and Sleaze Nation a youth culture and style magazine that is considered influential. This led to a career launching digital projects in the early days of the Web.

He was eventually head hunted by Urban Outfitters when they launched in Europe. He worked there for some time, before studying an MA in Digital Media at London Metropolitan University and entering academia. Tom has worked as a lecturer in digital media at London Metropolitan University and the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University. He is currently an associate professor in the School of Design.