Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m a Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, University of London. I specialise in contemporary American fiction (primarily the works of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and David Foster Wallace), histories and philosophies of technology, and technological mutations in scholarly publishing. And I’m a member of the UK English Association’s Higher Education committee.

And you’re involved with the open access movement?

Yes, I wrote the book Open Access and the Humanities: Contexts, Controversies and the Future (Cambridge University Press, 2014: 9781107484016). Continue reading →

Tell me a little bit about yourself?

I’m a Christian and a Cambridge graduate. I had started a PhD in Cambridge in conservation science, looking at how habitat loss and climate change affect two of the birds that live in the south UK, but had to withdraw after I became ill. I’ve been back in Manchester, living with my parents, for the last four years.

I became involved with the Spartacus network after the publication of their first report on the government’s move from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and have since done a number of reports with them on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

What disability are you suffering from? Continue reading →