February 2024 - Coming soon: Technology section and the short film about Fag Fridays.
This is a story of accidents: randomly taking a job that launched me into the world of telecommunications at a crucial point in its history, breaking my leg, which led me to consider writing about technology in the first place, multiple injuries that led me to explore the world of wellness, and launching myself into gig-economy freelancing before I really knew my craft, subject matter, or business well enough to be out there without a team behind me.
My name is Elizabeth Biddlecombe. I am now in therapy and wellness but I was a journalist from 1996-2007 and this is my portfolio from that time.
This Story is an account of the history of telecoms at the crucial juncture between the unconnected device world of the 20th century and the fully-connected, user-as-creator 21st, as well as reflections on being a solo-preneur.
You’ll find lots of articles about the telecoms sector, including mobile communications, data networking, the Internet and fixed telephony, all documenting the industry just as the Internet and mobile were tipping over into widespread adoption.
Many of these articles were about esoteric networking technologies, but you’ll also find some more mainstream stories like the launch of the iPhone.
I’ve also included things I wrote on other subjects, as I had envisioned myself writing about music, culture and society before I broke my leg.
Going freelance early in my career meant that I had to up my skillset on my own if I wanted to move into radio and multimedia. This was just before the user-generated content revolution and the hardware and software tools to make content were still only accessible to those with specialised training and money. Although I wrote about these soon-to-be-launched advances, I didn’t much benefit from them myself.
So, I became volunteer reporter at a local Bay Area radio station, got involved in a community radio group and took on some multimedia and video projects where I could learn about these media. Polished, these entries aren’t, but I’m sharing them as a tribute to the amazing activistic spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area. These can be found in the Work Experiments and the Work Experience sections of this site.
All materials published with permission from the copyright owners.
Site Credits
The Art of Awe: Website design and development
Perdy Biddlecombe: Catalogue and archival work
Rowena Rowland: Collages and banner image
Ikonn Design and Jouna Lansman: Initial design ideas, design and implementation of the database and layout