Retired from careers in teaching and youth work, my passion for personal and community development continues to drive my projects. This is reflected in the working title of a proposal I’m developing in partnership with a local advice and support agency: Negotiating AI as a Community. The project stems from my conviction that individuals and communities need to be “street smart” in an increasingly technology-driven world to maintain a sense of power and agency.

This focus on community empowerment through technology has shaped much of my work, including the Newham Young People Online (NYPO) project, which I initiated with young people in the late 1990s, and the Newham Mosaic project, launched in 2023. Both aimed to encourage creative, conscious, and collaborative use of technology, fostering community strength rather than passive consumption.

Today, I describe myself as a “seller of DREAMS”—Dialogue, Reflection, Ethics, Awareness, Meditation, and Storytelling—values that I believe must underpin how we engage with technology. My perspective emphasizes the existential dimensions of DREAMS as a necessary framework to balance and enrich the instrumental focus of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM). By placing humanity at the center of innovation, I hope to inspire communities to navigate the challenges and opportunities of our technological age with wisdom and purpose.
newhammosaic.org
netstorms.co.uk