Ben Hammersley
Encyclopedia
Ben Hammersley is a British internet technologist, journalist
, author
, broadcaster
, and diplomat
, currently based in London
, England.
As of 2011 he is the UK Prime Minister's Ambassador to East London Tech City
, , Editor at Large of Conde Nast's
Wired UK
magazine,, and a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom,
He is also a freelance reporter for the BBC
, and a consultant to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
.
Hammersley previously worked as the first Internet
reporter for The Times
, where he was shortlisted for one of the British Press Awards
, and as a reporter for The Guardian
and the UK arm of MSN
. During his early career, he specialised in technology journalism. Hammersley often reported from dangerous countries, including Iran
and Afghanistan
. After travelling undercover to interview the Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi
in 1999, Hammersley simultaneously moved toward war correspondence and technological innovation - reporting from war zones and writing technical book for publishers such as O'Reilly Media
. He is credited with inventing the word 'podcasting', leading on to 'podcast' and 'podcasts', in 2004. He has also previously been Director of Digital at Six Creative, Principal of Dangerous Precedent. and Director of Campus Party
USA.
Hammersley is a Fellow of the RSA, and the British-American Project
and a member of the Savage Club
and Frontline Club
, and the Transatlantic Network 2020., and a trustee of the London chapter of the Awesome Foundation. In August 2011 he was made a fellow of the UNAOC. . As a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
he is a judge of the Lovie Awards.
, and the School of Oriental and African Studies
, which he left after a year to be a producer at Associated Press Television News
.
.
In 2006, Hammersley was embedded
with both British and American troops in Afghanistan
, shooting video for The Guardian
as a multimedia reporter for Guardian Unlimited
.
In June 2007, Hammersley was the reporter in an experiment in multimedia journalism for the BBC. Reporting from Turkey in the run-up to the general elections there, he reported for BBC World
, and the BBC World Service
, while also placing behind the scenes video online. A 30 minute documentary entitled "Turkish Journey" was later shown on BBC World and BBC News 24.
In August 2007, he was reporting for the BBC World Service from Mindanao
in the Philippines, notably staying with the Philippine marines on the island of Basilan
as they searched for members of Abu Sayyaf
.
Hammersley writes and presents documentaries on BBC Radio 4
's documentary strand Analysis
, covering Facebook in November 2007, and personal genetic testing
in December 2008.
Hammersley also contributed the multimedia reporting chapter to the book International News Reporting, published by Blackwell Publishing
.
After returning to London in late 2007, Hammersley started working as the Foreign Correspondent for the UK arm of MSN
, starting with coverage of the 2008 Pakistan General Elections.
to photograph Hezbollah, and to the Philippines to cover the Basilan conflict.
Hammersley's portrait and fashion photography is mostly studio based. He held two exhibitions in Florence
, Italy during 2007, and is currently working on long-form story based fashion imagery in London.
. He has been influential in the Social media and RSS
communities, writing the first book on the latter subject. Other books have covered Blogging and the inner workings of Gmail
. Latterly, his writing has moved onto foreign news and multimedia reporting techniques.
Between 2004 and 2006, he designed, built, and maintained the weblogs of The Guardian, including Comment is free
. He is attributed with the first warchalking
in the wild, on a street corner in Kensington
, London
in June 2002, where he ran one of the first wireless community network
in London.
Hammersley also regularly contributes to congresses and conferences, such as the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference
, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention
and the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. In May 2008, he hosted and co-organised the geeKyoto conference in London.
He coined the term podcasting
, in an article for The Guardian/ It was later the New Oxford American Dictionary word of the year for 2005.
Hammersley also built, but no longer runs, the website for the Serpentine Gallery
in London. He also works on digital strategy for the Frontline Club
, of which he is a founder member.
, California
in 2012.
runner. Having completed the Marathon des sables
, and the 100km del Passatore he is now coached by Jason Koop of Chris Carmichael's Carmichael Training Systems. In October 2007, Hammersley suffered a major fracture of his right fibula, caused by massive pronation of the foot. In October 2008, his left leg suffered the same injury. Hammersley subsequently took up boxing.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
, and diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, currently based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England.
As of 2011 he is the UK Prime Minister's Ambassador to East London Tech City
East London Tech City
East London Tech City is a technology hub located in London, United Kingdom. Tech City broadly occupies the part of London's East End between Old Street and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. Cisco Systems, Facebook, Google, Intel Corporation, McKinsey & Company and Vodafone are among...
, , Editor at Large of Conde Nast's
Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
Wired UK
Wired UK
Wired UK is a full-colour monthly magazine that reports primarily on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy...
magazine,, and a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom,
He is also a freelance reporter for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and a consultant to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
.
Hammersley previously worked as the first Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
reporter for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, where he was shortlisted for one of the British Press Awards
British Press Awards
The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. Established in the 1970s, honours are voted on by a panel of journalists and newspaper executives...
, and as a reporter for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and the UK arm of MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
. During his early career, he specialised in technology journalism. Hammersley often reported from dangerous countries, including Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. After travelling undercover to interview the Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
in 1999, Hammersley simultaneously moved toward war correspondence and technological innovation - reporting from war zones and writing technical book for publishers such as O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media is an American media company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books and Web sites and produces conferences on computer technology topics...
. He is credited with inventing the word 'podcasting', leading on to 'podcast' and 'podcasts', in 2004. He has also previously been Director of Digital at Six Creative, Principal of Dangerous Precedent. and Director of Campus Party
Campus Party
Campus Party is an annual week-long, 24 hour a day technology festival and LAN Party. Thousands of hackers, developers, gamers and geeks equipped with laptops camp out in tents on-site for the conference and hackathon....
USA.
Hammersley is a Fellow of the RSA, and the British-American Project
British-American Project
The British-American Project is a fellowship of some 600 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political viewpoints, drawn in equal numbers from the United States and the United Kingdom...
and a member of the Savage Club
Savage Club
The Savage Club, founded in 1857 is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:Many and varied are the stories that have been told about the first meeting of the Savage Club, of the precise purposes for which it was formed, and of its christening...
and Frontline Club
Frontline Club
The Frontline Club is a media club near London's Paddington Station. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support diversity and professionalism in the media, promote safe practice, and encourage both...
, and the Transatlantic Network 2020., and a trustee of the London chapter of the Awesome Foundation. In August 2011 he was made a fellow of the UNAOC. . As a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences or IADAS was founded in 1998 in New York to help drive the progress of the Internet and evolving forms of new media. The academy selects the nominees and winners for the Webby Awards, and their European equivalent, the Lovie Awards.Membership...
he is a judge of the Lovie Awards.
Family and education
Ben Hammersley is the eldest of three children and was educated at Loughborough Grammar SchoolLoughborough Grammar School
Loughborough Grammar School founded in 1495 by Thomas Burton, is an independent school for boys in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It is a day school for over 1100 pupils and a boarding school for nearly 100. It is one of three schools known as the Loughborough Endowed Schools, along with...
, and the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
, which he left after a year to be a producer at Associated Press Television News
Associated Press Television News
Associated Press Television News, abbreviated as either AP Television News or APTN, is a global video news agency.-About:AP Television News is the video division of the Associated Press. It provides many of the world's broadcasters with a round-the-clock continuous feed of news, sports,...
.
Multimedia reporting and broadcasting
In 2003, Hammersley blogged from AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
In 2006, Hammersley was embedded
Embedded journalist
Embedded journalism refers to news reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel, it first came to be used in the media coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
with both British and American troops in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, shooting video for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as a multimedia reporter for Guardian Unlimited
Guardian Unlimited
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
.
In June 2007, Hammersley was the reporter in an experiment in multimedia journalism for the BBC. Reporting from Turkey in the run-up to the general elections there, he reported for BBC World
BBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
, and the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, while also placing behind the scenes video online. A 30 minute documentary entitled "Turkish Journey" was later shown on BBC World and BBC News 24.
In August 2007, he was reporting for the BBC World Service from Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
in the Philippines, notably staying with the Philippine marines on the island of Basilan
Basilan
The Province of Basilan is an island province of the Philippines within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao . Basilan is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago and is located just off the southern coast of Zamboanga Peninsula...
as they searched for members of Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya is one of several military Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern Philippines, in Bangsamoro where for almost 30 years various Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country...
.
Hammersley writes and presents documentaries on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's documentary strand Analysis
Analysis (radio programme)
Analysis is a half-hour BBC Radio 4 documentary programme, which has been running for over 40 years.-History:It began in April 1970. The first presenter was Ian McIntyre, who later became Controller of Radio 4 from 1976–78 and of Radio 3 from 1978–87; he left in 1976.The program covered overlooked...
, covering Facebook in November 2007, and personal genetic testing
Genetic testing
Genetic testing is among the newest and most sophisticated of techniques used to test for genetic disorders which involves direct examination of the DNA molecule itself. Other genetic tests include biochemical tests for such gene products as enzymes and other proteins and for microscopic...
in December 2008.
Hammersley also contributed the multimedia reporting chapter to the book International News Reporting, published by Blackwell Publishing
Blackwell Publishing
Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley's Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing, after Wiley took over Blackwell Publishing in...
.
After returning to London in late 2007, Hammersley started working as the Foreign Correspondent for the UK arm of MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
, starting with coverage of the 2008 Pakistan General Elections.
Photography
Ben Hammersley works in two very differing photography fields: conflict coverage, and fashion and portraiture. Apart from the photography taken during multimedia reporting trips, in 2007 he travelled to BeirutBeirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
to photograph Hezbollah, and to the Philippines to cover the Basilan conflict.
Hammersley's portrait and fashion photography is mostly studio based. He held two exhibitions in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy during 2007, and is currently working on long-form story based fashion imagery in London.
Writing, speaking, and technology
Hammersley was the author of six technical books and programmers' guides, notably with O'Reilly MediaO'Reilly Media
O'Reilly Media is an American media company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books and Web sites and produces conferences on computer technology topics...
. He has been influential in the Social media and RSS
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
communities, writing the first book on the latter subject. Other books have covered Blogging and the inner workings of Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
. Latterly, his writing has moved onto foreign news and multimedia reporting techniques.
Between 2004 and 2006, he designed, built, and maintained the weblogs of The Guardian, including Comment is free
Guardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
. He is attributed with the first warchalking
Warchalking
Warchalking is the drawing of symbols in public places to advertise an open Wi-Fi wireless network.Inspired by hobo symbols, the warchalking marks were conceived by a group of friends in June 2002 and publicised by Matt Jones who designed the set of icons and produced a downloadable document...
in the wild, on a street corner in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in June 2002, where he ran one of the first wireless community network
Wireless community network
Wireless community networks or wireless community projects are the organizations that attempt to take a grassroots approach to providing a viable alternative to municipal wireless networks for consumers....
in London.
Hammersley also regularly contributes to congresses and conferences, such as the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference
Emerging Technology Conference
The O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference is O'Reilly Media's premier conference about the new technologies that are on the O'Reilly Radar. O'Reilly defines its core business not as books, conferences, or online publishing, though it does all three, but as "changing the world by spreading the...
, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention
O'Reilly Open Source Convention
The O'Reilly Open Source Convention is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and is held each summer in the United States.-Notable events:...
and the Global Investigative Journalism Conference. In May 2008, he hosted and co-organised the geeKyoto conference in London.
He coined the term podcasting
Podcasting
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, in an article for The Guardian/ It was later the New Oxford American Dictionary word of the year for 2005.
Hammersley also built, but no longer runs, the website for the Serpentine Gallery
Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...
in London. He also works on digital strategy for the Frontline Club
Frontline Club
The Frontline Club is a media club near London's Paddington Station. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support diversity and professionalism in the media, promote safe practice, and encourage both...
, of which he is a founder member.
Campus Party USA
In August 2010 it was announced that Hammersley would be the director of the first Campus Party USA. He hopes to draw 10,000 technology enthusiasts to the event which will be held in Silicon ValleySilicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 2012.
Athletics
Hammersley is an ultramarathonUltramarathon
An ultramarathon is any sporting event involving running longer than the traditional marathon length of .There are two types of ultramarathon events: those that cover a specified distance, and events that take place during specified time...
runner. Having completed the Marathon des sables
Marathon des sables
The Marathon des Sables is a six-day, ultramarathon, which is the equivalent of six regular marathons. The longest single stage is long....
, and the 100km del Passatore he is now coached by Jason Koop of Chris Carmichael's Carmichael Training Systems. In October 2007, Hammersley suffered a major fracture of his right fibula, caused by massive pronation of the foot. In October 2008, his left leg suffered the same injury. Hammersley subsequently took up boxing.