WELCOME to the web site of Bob Hughes, author of "Dust or Magic" (a study of the history of computer-based media and its working culture), senior lecturer in publishing at Oxford Brookes University.

Here's a short piece of mine from November 2003 about capitalism and computers - which might be of interest. Also my paper "From Useful Idiocy to Activism" (and the 177kb PDF version ) for the 2005 Critical Computing conference in Aarhus, Denmark.

Also my paper "Narrative as Landscape" - presented at the 1997 MENO workshop on Hypermedia and Narrative.

Oh - and a new article about the Creative Industries bandwagon and how it works: "Suits and Creatives". It draws on the work of the wonderful Michael Burawoy, and my own, dreadful experiences in advertising in the 1970s and 80s.

...and some links to two campaigns I'm involved in: No-One Is Illegal - the campaign against the current escalation of anti-immigrant laws, and The Campaign to Close Down Campsfield (one of Europe's spreading "Gulag Archipelago" of prisons for immigrants).

... and a link to my page on the Arts and Humanities server at Brookes (it has a bit of info about me, and a picture).

There's also a wiki containing various bits and pieces of writing about computers, migration, a very short saga, lecture notes etc. A very convenient place for putting things quickly, I find.