Chris Lightfoot
Encyclopedia
Chris Lightfoot was a leading and prolific online civic campaigner, a polymath
and a scientist, and the first developer with Tom Steinberg
at e-democracy charity mySociety
.
in 1978. His mother Prue was a journalist
and his father Robert was a patent agent
. His older sister Steph taught him how to program the family's BBC Micro
.He used this knowledge of programming to produce a crater investigation model in the physics department at Westminster which was of an extremely high standard. This was part of a physics project in which he was awarded a 15 Merit - an outstanding and very rare full mark.
He attended Westminster School
, where he was part of the team representing the school in the British Informatics Olympiad
.He began his undergraduate studies at Clare College, Cambridge
focusing on Physics while studying a Natural Science Tripos
. He graduated with a Master's degree
in 2000.
Chris was one of the founders of Mythic Beasts, an ISP.
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
and a scientist, and the first developer with Tom Steinberg
Tom Steinberg
Tom Steinberg is the founder and director of mySociety the organisation which runs democracy and transparency websites in the UK, including TheyWorkForYou and WriteToThem...
at e-democracy charity mySociety
MySociety
mySociety is an e-democracy project of the UK-based registered charity named UK Citizens Online Democracy, that aims to build "socially focussed tools with offline impacts". It was founded by Tom Steinberg in September 2003, and started activity after receiving a £250,000 grant in September 2004...
.
Family and early life
He was born in DulwichDulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
in 1978. His mother Prue was a journalist
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...
and his father Robert was a patent agent
Patent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition...
. His older sister Steph taught him how to program the family's BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
.He used this knowledge of programming to produce a crater investigation model in the physics department at Westminster which was of an extremely high standard. This was part of a physics project in which he was awarded a 15 Merit - an outstanding and very rare full mark.
He attended Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
, where he was part of the team representing the school in the British Informatics Olympiad
British Informatics Olympiad
The British Informatics Olympiad is an annual computer-programming competition for secondary and sixth-form students. Any student under 19 who is in full-time pre-university education and resident in mainland Britain is eligible to compete. The competition is composed of two rounds - a preliminary...
.He began his undergraduate studies at Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...
focusing on Physics while studying a Natural Science Tripos
Tripos
The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelor's degree by Tripos , plural Triposes. The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations...
. He graduated with a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in 2000.
Chris was one of the founders of Mythic Beasts, an ISP.
Death
He had suffered from depression throughout his adult life. He committed suicide on 11 February 2007.Contributions to Internet
He played an important role in the development of:- PledgeBankPledgeBankPledgeBank is a website which runs pledges on all topics, of the form: "I will do x if y number of people agree to do the same." Such public commitments are a non-coercive way to solve problems of collective action, especially when the goal is a public good. PledgeBank was founded by mySociety and...
, which addresses the prisoner’s dilemma for all sorts of social-good projects; - YourHistoryHere.com — a site where people can annotate a map with their knowledge of the history of that place.
- PlaceopediaPlaceopediaPlaceopedia was an online gazetteer which integrates Google Maps images and Wikipedia encyclopedia articles using user-generated content...
— an online gazetteerGazetteerA gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
that is a mashupMashup (web application hybrid)In Web development, a mashup is a Web page or application that uses and combines data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services...
of Google MapsGoogle MapsGoogle Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
and the English WikipediaEnglish WikipediaThe English Wikipedia is the English-language edition of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Founded on 15 January 2001 and reaching three million articles by August 2009, it was the first edition of Wikipedia and remains the largest, with almost three times as many articles as the next...
. - TheyWorkForYouTheyWorkForYouTheyWorkForYou is a website run by mySociety, a project of registered charity UK Citizens Online Democracy, and is a tool for political campaigners and those interested in the Parliamentary activities of UK MPs, Lords, and Northern Ireland MLAs....
— tracks speeches and activities of MembersMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
of ParliamentParliament of the United KingdomThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, including presenting an accessibleComputer accessibilityIn human-computer interaction, computer accessibility refers to the accessibility of a computer system to all people, regardless of disability or severity of impairment...
version of HansardHansardHansard is the name of the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, an early printer and publisher of these transcripts.-Origins:... - WriteToThem.com — facilitates contacting elected representatives at all levels of UK government.
- HearFromYourMP.com — a site encouraging MPs to email their constituents.
- hassleme.co.uk — "Because your mother can't remind you of everything."
- DowningStreetSays.com — searchable text of the Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
's Spokesman's briefings. - Downing Street e-Petitions — a petitions website for 10 Downing Street10 Downing Street10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
. - FixMyStreetFixMyStreetFixMyStreet is a mySociety website through which users can report potholes, broken street lights and similar problems with streets and roads in England, Scotland and Wales to their local council or related organisation, and see what reports have already been made.-History:The site was initially...
— another map based application facilitating citizens informing their local authorityLocal government in the United KingdomThe pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom, because England does not have a devolved...
of problems needing their attention, such as broken streetlamps etc. - tpop3d — a pop3 server
- vmail-sql — vmail-sql, a virtual email hosting system backed by MySQL
- Political Survey and Political Survey 2005 — An attempt to generate a multi-axis political model based solely on principal components analysisPrincipal components analysisPrincipal component analysis is a mathematical procedure that uses an orthogonal transformation to convert a set of observations of possibly correlated variables into a set of values of uncorrelated variables called principal components. The number of principal components is less than or equal to...
of survey results, rather than preconceived axes. - WhatDoTheyKnowWhatDoTheyKnowWhatDoTheyKnow.com is a website run by the registered UK Citizens Online Democracy which allows anyone to make a UK Freedom of Information request in public. The site acts as a permanent public archive of FOI requests made through it.Around 15% of requests to UK Central Government are made...
is dedicated to Chris, who thought up the idea of automatically republishing email responses