Daniel’s Blog

Yep, thats right… I’ve published my own poetry book.

It is a very high quality print which contains 25 of my poems spanning the years 2002 to 2009. My poetry, if you don’t already know, is very Spiritually, Philosophically and Society orientated.

You can buy it from lulu here: http://www.lulu.com/content/7291647 (See the Light and See the Dark by Daniel Lewis)

Here is the description: “A collection of poetry written by Daniel Lewis between 2002 and 2009. His poetry is inspired by life, and more specifically spirituality, philosophy and society. This very high quality book will compliment any household. It is a must have!”

Hi all,

One of my last blog posts was about trying to find a job here in/around Bristol. Well the good news is that I’ve found something to do

From today (Wednesday 10th June 2009), I have a two week contract at nameless. A lovely web design/development agency in the heart of Bristol. They really are a lovely company, who know practically everything about nice user interfaces coupled with strict observance of web standards. It’s going to be good to work as a Content Analyst (a task which is usually assigned to Information Architects) for them for two weeks - particularly as I know some of their staff quite well.

But that’s only a temporary thing. After the two weeks with nameless, I shall be going into permanent full-time work at another web agency in Bristol called Sift Media, which is a publishing company specialising in professional (B2B) online communities (those in Accounting may know of AccountingWEB, those into Knowledge Management may know of KnowledgeBoard…. both of these are projects by Sift Media). I shall be working in the technical team at Sift Media as a Web Developer and probably will offer my various other skills (such as Technical Writing, Knowledge Engineering, Semantic Web etc) when they are needed. Sift Media is part of a larger organisation called The Sift Group, which is a more general web organisation providing the Collaboration and Social Networking platform called Sift Unity.

I’m very excited at being able to work for both nameless and Sift Media, as both are incredibly professionally and socially reputable organisations.

This is the next part of my journey!

Thank you to all of those who have helped me in my job search, and to those who have sent me their best wishes. I really appreciate it.

Cheers,

Daniel

A recent article by the BBC (titled “Hi-tech aims to improve lifestyle“) got me thinking about technology over history. I mean beyond my previous articles about the web, and actually about technology in general.

Historically, technology has been developed for one of the following purposes:

• To automate what would have been done by (costly) human hands
• To provide more information
• To make things easier, and hopefully making money along the way

But has sometimes left us with these side effects:

• Information overload
• Extreme amounts of advertising
• Job loss and bizarre positions
• Extreme energy consumption
• Procrastination

It is about time that technology started to work in the favour of the natural human being, as well as nature in general. I’d like to see technology which is able to work out methods which create more energy than it actually uses. I’d like to see technology which allows human society get fitter. I’d like to see technology which helps humans use telephones instead of relying on web-based/textual communication. I’d like to see technology which removes us from the screen. I’d like to see technology which gives us worldwide freedom.

Maybe we’re on the way there…. or maybe my dream is only possible by devolving technology and going back to basics by working the land with our hands. Let us hope it is the first, because it is probably too late for the latter.

Hello All,

I’ve decided to go public again! It worked last time, and it was a lovely job, so I thought I’d try it again - going public about my job hunting.

I’m looking for a job in/around/near Bristol. Here are the facts:

• I’ve spent a while (since October 2008) doing postgraduate study at the University of Bristol, in which the greatest thing that I’ve learnt is actually more about myself - rather than any of the course subjects. I’ve also found out that the course itself isn’t actually going to be of any benefit to my career (unless something magical comes up), which is very very disappointing - but at least it was an interesting experience.
• My undergraduate degree was from Oxford Brookes University (2003-2007) and was a BSc(Hons) Intelligent Systems and Software Engineering. I received a 2:1 honours classification.
• I can do software engineering, web development (Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0), general computer science research, computer science teaching/tutoring, or technical writing (including Documentation). I particularly enjoy the writing side, and being able to explain/help and attempt to problem solve.
• I just want to help out society. I’m now personally fed up with hiding myself behind education. I want to do real work, working with people, working for a better society. If I can apply my skills and/or interests to tasks then I’ll be happy.
• I would consider work from home, but would much prefer to work with people (e.g. in an office).

The locations I’ll look for:

• Perfect: Bristol (including all suburbs and outside villages)
• Happy to commute / move to: Bath, Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Cheltenham, Newport, Cardiff…. or anywhere around/between.
• Would consider: any where in the South-West or possibly the Chilterns area.

You’ll be able to tell my skills from my main site. But they include programming (inc. languages such as Java, Ruby and PHP), databases and knowledgebases (including RDBMS with SQL, and RDF with SPARQL), web development (including XHTML, CSS, XML and Model-View-Controller pattern), technical writing (fluent in English (would be willing to learn others - I know basic Spanish and a tiny bit of Swedish), including the use of TeX), knowledge management (roughly equivalent to Information Architecture), events organising and presentation giving. I’ve got a few other random skills (including being a meditation and reiki practitioner, and I have a strong interest in religion/spirituality), and would be happy to apply those skills to a job if required.

I currently have a couple of job applications which I am waiting to hear back from, and will let you all know if I accept a position.

If you may be able to help, or know someone who can then please do get in touch by email or telephone. I’ll be happy to answer any questions, or even meet up with you for an informal/formal chat. I can also provide a CV/Resume if you request one by email.

Many Thanks,

Daniel

—

• Email: danieljohnlewis [-a-t-] gmail [-d-o-t-] com
• UK Tel: 07834355516
• (other communication details are on my main site: http://vanirsystems.com/ )

There is Hope

Look around,
The worlds gone crazy,
People walking,
People are not acknowledging,
Abysmal ignorance.

Economic problems,
Environmental issues are advancing,
Developing disease,
We have a problem,
Abysmal misery.

There's hope,
But unfortunately seeming radical,
Through knowledge,
Through understanding the world,
It's tough.

Sophia, Wisdom,
Shine us your light,
Ruha d-Qudsha,
Our world needs you,
Bless us.

Now, People,
Listen closely to it,
Through you,
There is inner light,
Know Thyself.

Inner Knowledge,
For knowing your inside,
Betters Yourself,
Better Yourself; Better Society,
Clean, Clear.

Help Society,
With Sophia's Bright Blessings,
Know Thyself,
Be part of society,
New World.

by Daniel Lewis - Friday 3rd April 2009

I was wondering about the Presidents in the United States of America, and wondered what their religions were. So I zipped up some SPARQL queries to run against DBpedia, they aren’t perfect (i.e. they don’t capture all of the presidents due to mislabeling and me not being too bothered about the answers), but it provides some answers.

The Democrats:

SELECT ?PresidentName ?ReligionName
WHERE
{
?president
dbpprop:party <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29>;
dbpprop:order dbpedia:President_of_the_United_States;
<http://dbpedia.org/ontology/religion> ?Religion;
rdfs:label ?PresidentName.
FILTER (lang(?PresidentName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?PresidentName), "en")).
?Religion rdfs:label ?ReligionName.
FILTER (lang(?ReligionName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?ReligionName), "en"))
} ORDER BY ?ReligionName

Which the answer is viewable “Democratic Presidents Religions”

The Republicans

SELECT ?PresidentName ?ReligionName
WHERE
{
?president
dbpprop:party <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29>;
dbpprop:order dbpedia:President_of_the_United_States;
<http://dbpedia.org/ontology/religion> ?Religion;
rdfs:label ?PresidentName.
FILTER (lang(?PresidentName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?PresidentName), "en")).
?Religion rdfs:label ?ReligionName.
FILTER (lang(?ReligionName) = "" || langMatches(lang(?ReligionName), "en"))
} ORDER BY ?Religion

Which the answer is available directly here: “Republican Presidents religions”

Please note

• It doesn’t return all presidents of the parties
• It does use the DBPedia SPARQL engine (powered by OpenLink Virtuoso)
• It does use some shortcuts (i.e. not defining PREFIXs and the FROM clause), as the DBPedia SPARQL engine provides these nice shortcuts.

Rumours have it, that there will be another Bristol Knowledge Unconference.

The last one was a success… a good turn out, some interesting talks and discussions. So it’s only right to do another one.

This one coming up doesn’t have a date yet, or a location. It will, unlike the previous, have a “theme” which I’ll be trying to get speakers for…. and of course, it’ll be in Bristol somewhere.

So… I need some helpers. Please do get in contact with me if you can:

• help me find a location
• help do some general organisational/administrative assistance
• offer to do a talk about knowledge, set to a specific them
• give some money to pay for food and drink

I will strive to make this Unconference completely free for attendees, which does mean that we require the location to be free (or sponsored) and the food to be supplied (or paid for) by some organisation(s)/people.

So please do get in contact if you can help in any way by sending me an email ( danieljohnlewis at gmail dot com ). Else, I’ll keep you all up to date through my blog.

Thank you,

Daniel Lewis

I am very pleased to announce that Beki and I are going to get married!!!!

I proposed to Beki at the Cardiff New Year Celebrations (Calennig) 2008/2009, just after midnight. I did indeed provide her with a ring (18ct White Gold and Cluster Diamond).

The wedding is starting to be planned, we have an initial idea of doing it in Summer 2011, but this may become 2010. Interestingly, and depending on whether the Church is happy to do so, we’re planning to have the service streamed over the web… but more on that later! (<– typical geeks!)

I know that all our friends and family who read this blog will be very happy for us both, and thank you to all those who have commented on our new status face-to-face or by phone, text-message, email, facebook-message and instant message.

Merry Christmas 2008 to every one of you.

For those of you who aren’t Christian, please take some time to think about 2008 and think about the forthcoming year 2009…. because Christmas is truly about the turning of the year, the beginnings of new things for you.

For those of you who are Christian, I hope you’ve had a good Midnight Mass/Eucharist/Communion/Service (if you celebrate that in your denomination). Let the symbolic birth of Jesus be a spiritual refreshment within us, and a time to think about new beginnings in our day-to-day life.

Merry Christmas, and Many Blessings. May the light shine on us all.

Daniel

(Let’s note that it’s also Sol Invictus Day, Yule (in some understandings) and the Feast of Saint Anastasia of Sirmium (on the Roman Catholic Calendar))

Well I’ve done it. Upgraded to 2.7, which was easy because my Fantastico panel allowed me to do it quicker than the stuff I was playing about with yesterday!

Anyways, am just trying out the new post editor. Quite nice!