simonxix – cultural studies, critical librarianship, open-source systems

Simon Bowie is a culture writer, film critic, open-source systems developer, open licensing advocate, and podcaster.

I write regularly on the subjects of cinema, video games, digital culture, and librarianship. My writing has appeared in TAKE ONE, The Guardian, academic journals, specialist library publications, and various other publications and I have reviewed films at a range of film festivals including BFI London Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival, and BFI Flare LGBTIQ+ Film Festival. I have also appeared as a contributing film critic on the Cinetopia podcast and radio show.

I speak regularly at conferences and academic events about film, television, internet culture, and about open licensing in software and academic publishing. My speaking on digital privacy and encryption in librarianship has helped inform the practice of several library services and the Carnegie UK Trust.

With my partner, I co-hosted over 100 episodes of the popular comedy podcast, You Are Being Unreasonable, in which we examined the strange culture of Mumsnet’s Am I Being Unreasonable forum.

I am an editor for the Journal of Radical Librarianship, an open access journal publishing high quality, rigorously reviewed and innovative scholarly work in the field of radical and critical librarianship. I am also the server administrator for the journal’s Open Journal Systems site.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from The University of Manchester, a Master’s degree in Library and Information Management from Manchester Metropolitan University, and a Master’s degree in Cultural and Critical Studies from Birkbeck, University of London.

short bio

Simon Bowie is a culture writer, film critic, and UK Higher Education worker. He writes and speaks on the subjects of digital culture, contemporary TV and cinema, video games, open licensing in software and academic publishing, and cryptography and encryption in education. He works on implementations and support of open licensing models in academic publishing and advocates for the use of open-source software. He recently completed a MA in Cultural and Critical Studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

license

The header image for this site is a photo of ‘The Deptford Arena’ (2016) by Artmongers and was taken by Simon Bowie in Deptford, London, UK on 2017-08-27. The photo is © 2017 Simon Bowie and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License (CC BY 2.0).