(Written by Pamela McLean)

I'm the person behind Dadamac. I describe Dadamac as my work - but that doesn't mean it's my "paid employment". It's bigger than me, which is why it needs a name beyond my name. It's a reflection of where I've directed my energy, interests, creativity, and personal resources since the turn of the century - and can be explored via http://www.dadamac.net/home

I live in SE London. I'm an experienced, qualified teacher, and a grateful graduate of the Open University (OU) - two strong influences on Dadamac. Thanks to the OU I'm a systems thinker, and, since the late 1970s, a practical investigator into relationships between computers and people (especially regarding new approaches and opportunities for teaching and learning).

My work pulls together education, development, the world of work, the impact of the Internet, and much more besides. I see life as a learning journey. I see the present as a time of enormous (often invisible) deep changes. I believe that the more we can "rub minds" and share what we know the better it will be for us as we go hurtling into an unknown and uncharted future.

I have written a personal history below.

A journey that started in the 1980s

I have been asking myself questions, doing practical stuff to explore the answers, and then writing or teaching about it since the late 1970s.

Back then I was an infant teacher and was often invited to speak about my innovative work exploring the role of microcomputers through programs she wrote herself. My contributions to the lecture circuit reach back to CAL 81 (symposium on Computer Assisted Learning) and the 1981 Micro Computer Show at Wembly Conference Centre.

Used copies of some of my early work - published under the name Pam Fiddy - can still be found on amazon: Micro-computers in Early Education and the children's book series on "Computers in Action" .

Fast forward to the present century

Since 2001 my practical work has been in Africa, at home in the UK, and perhaps most significantly, online. My work in Africa, from 2001, depended on the Internet. In 2008 I set up this Dadamac website to increase the visibility of collaborative work in Nigeria, especially supporting John Dada's work at Fantsuam Foundation (see UK -Nigeria weekly meetings) Evidence of my own work is scattered over the Internet, and is also gradually being included on this website. See Bringing more of Dadamac UK and elsewhere to Dadamac.net

The long view

I find that the older I get the more interested I become in the long view, forwards and backwards. This shows up in recent contributions to Despatches from the Invisible Revolution and The Future we Deserve where I wrote about The Invisible Revolution, The Future we Got and The Education we Deserve

Other interests

My current interests are reflected on the dadamac website, through postings to Dadamac's Posterous and Twitter @pamela_mclean, and through the regular meetings I arrange online (First Thursdays) and face-to-face (Dadamac Meetups). Some of my previous interests and connections over recent years can be seen on an earlier personal blog LearnByDoing.