Greenbelt Festival

1999-present
Technologies: PHP, MySQL, Javascript

Greenbelt was probably the first arts festival in the UK to set up a website. That early-adoption reflects the pioneering spirit of the festival and its penchant for trying things out. While initially the site was managed by a volunteer, the festival management decided in the late-90s to place a greater emphasis on the site and that is where we were brought on board as part of a team to help redevelop the site from the ground-up.

Over the past five years the site has had a number of face-lifts and overhauls as we gradually moved legacy data into a content management system for easy updates and increased flexibility. The current site is driven by a PHP/MySQL system developed by another member of the team, which incorporates some simple javascript we developed to aid non-html-savvy users to make updates easily. We have also been responsible for the development of the 'talks search' system, which allows visitors to search through an extensive database of talks recorded at the festival, and then allows for purchase of those talks.

My key role has been in the content management of the site, gathering, writing and editing content and helping to set the direction to ensure that the site continually has up to date information. This has involved working with a broad sphere of staff and volunteers to attempt to ensure there is a clear process. We are currently considering how the site could be better used to assist with the management side of the festival, handling information dissipation and practicalities.

The past few years have also seen a focus on spreading festival-related content across the web in order to engage a wider community. I have spearheaded that effort, one high point of which has been that for two consecutive years a greenbelt related tag has been the most popular tag on flickr.com in the week following the festival, with over 3300 photos of the 2006 event posted.

Visit the site at: www.greenbelt.org.uk.