Here’s the formal intro to me.
Adam Oxford is freelance journalist, digital strategist and media consultant based in South Africa, who does a lot of other stuff you might want to know about too.
Business development services and consultancy
What do I do? In the past I’d have described myself as a journalist who writes about technology, whatever that actually means. To be a little more specific, most of my career has been spent covering consumer electronics, PC hardware, tablets, international development, environmental issues, telecoms, open data, big data, data privacy, on and offline gaming, Africa and… that’s not much more specific, is it?
My most recent full-time job was as Editor-in-Chief/Publisher of htxt.africa and its parent company, htxt media PTY (ltd). It is that most ridiculous of things, an online journalism startup in a country where around 40% of people are still offline. Over four years we grew htxt.africa from nothing to the second largest site of its kind in South Africa (and maybe the continent?), at which point it was time for me to move on.
Currently, my work mostly involves taking the lessons I’ve learned from years of writing about or working at startups to helping other people develop an entrepreneurial approach to solving problems in the fields of journalism and legal services/access to justice. This means a lot of coaching and mentorship, product development and project management. The aim is to bring best practice in data-driven decision making and lean/agile working to organisations and fields that have quantifiable social impact where it is not currently the norm.
Writing and hosting
I also still do a bit of freelance writing, if you want to get in touch. That includes journalism & investigative research, and also independent report production. I also help to prepare teaching materials on subjects related to journalism (like what you should know before launching a media startup and how to use PGP for journalists), and have also been commissioned to write speeches, edit scripts and more.
I also host conference events and roundtable discussions on behalf of various organisations.
I love things like city camps, open data, hack days and Linux. I love data-driven journalism, both producing and consuming. I do photos and – sometimes – videos too. I’m not a particularly talented hardware hacker, but I’m a proud member of the SA Makers Collective all the same.
As a freelance journalist I’ve written for PC Gamer, Stuff, The Journalist, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Mail & Guardian, The Ecologist, Green Futures, Wired.co.uk, Comms Dealer, PC Format, ZDNet, The Journalist, Brainstorm, PC Plus, PC Answers, Digital Photographer and, a little more randomly, the Musician’s Union magazine. I’ve also edited reports for people like the African Child Policy Forum and written for the Arts & Humanities Research Council.
In a previous life, I edited PC Format and the now defunct Digital Camera Shopper. One of my first journalism jobs was on a long forgotten children’s technology magazine called Planet PC. I got to dress up in an Elvis costume, write about volcanoes, interview astronauts and visit the building site that became the Eden Project. Best job ever.
Not all at the same time, I hasten to add.
In 2009, I was a finalist in the Guardian International Development Journalism Competition.
What else do I do? I help to coordinate the Johannesburg chapter of Hacks/Hackers, through which I’m leading the #HackTheConstitution project and helping to bring together journalists and technologists for the good of the world. I regularly appear as a talking head/disembodied voice on South African TV & radio.
Wherever possible I use a Creative Commons licence for my work.
You can hire me or my company for reporting, feature writing, reviews, investigative work and research or for bespoke content production by clicking through to the contacts page. Work samples will be uploaded to this site as soon as I can find time, until then mail me for requests.