Welcome to my abode and thank you for taking the time to at least read this first sentence!

"Let's do things differently"

About Nik

Technologist, Musician, Artist, Computer Scientist, Actor, Eco-dude, Photographer, Writer, Gadget Lover, Engineer, Whisky Lover, Speed Freak, Problem Solver, Film-maker, Rohan Nut, Aspiring Chef, and so it goes on.

Fundamentally I am defined by creativity. I'm victim to a non-stop flow of ideas and visions, some of which I manage to bring to reality through my gadgetry, photography, writing, music, cookery etc. Others simply torment me and keep me awake at night. Such is the lot of an "imagineer".

Either I'm a scientist trapped in an artist's body. Or an artist trapped in a scientist's body. Or perhaps - with passing reference to Schroedinger - if you're not looking, then I'm both. 

Musical Inclination

I write, sing, play and record in my own home studio. Classically-trained Oboist and Pianist by upbringing, I now tend to play (probably to the disgust of all my teachers) keyboards, drums, guitar and wind-controller (!). My musical output is captured at stingsandthings.com and my most recent album is at strange-ink.com. I've also produced some [ringtones].

Visual Indicators 

I'm a very visual person (I exist in 3D and everything!) For me, a picture speaks a thousand words, and conveniently it's also 999 fewer things to remember. I love art and design and I consider the digital camera an essential outlet - from the inklings of a visual conception, the technique of perfect capture and composition, to the final finesse in the digital workflow. Yep - I could go out and shoot things all day long.

I'm also passionate about visualisation - representing and presenting data in rich, meaningful and intuitive ways - bye bye spreadsheet.

Universal Order

I seem to love numbers (well, the interesting ones anyway) - especially their elegance in Nature. I love paradoxes, the abstract, the mysterious - so would rather read a book on the origins of the universe or the workings of the human mind than, well almost anything. And on the subject of books, I'm writing my first. That's because I also adore words - and that fantastic feeling found from finangling with them.

When I get time, I like to dabble in writing web applications (a hangover from my early Sinclair ZX81 exposure). I find programming somewhat like a pencil sharpener for the mind. My most successful web app is the anagram engine, with almost 1 Billion results now served.  

Characterisation

While I am fascinated by psychology and the inner workings (and indeed malfunctions) of the human mind, I have limited time for Keirsey/Myers-Briggs personality tests: if you're going to quantise people into one of sixteen types, you've barely evolved beyond astrology, which already does it admirably for twelve.

But if you're curious, I suppose I'm an ESFP (Entertainer), ISFP (Artist), ENTP (Originator), INTP (Engineer), INTJ (Strategist), ENFJ (Mentor) or INFP (Dreamer) depending on which day it is or which task is in hand. Apparently you're only meant to be one. See why I hate these tests?

I'm a governor for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust - with a passion for mental health and anti-stigma initiatives.

Quirks

I don't like cheese - I have a bad reaction to it. When I order a pizza without cheese, people say "You don't know what you're missing". Exactly.

I'm not scared of flying per se - I'm scared of falling from a great height. And it's not that I don't trust the plane or the physics - they seem pretty reliable. No, I don't trust the distracted mechanic who gets home and realises he left his spanner somewhere.

Academic and Professional history

I read at Durham University and thence slipped serendipitously into Telecommunications - where, ever since, I have been developing my passions for User interfaces, Telco 2.0 concepts, Networked Applications, Social Media, and all things technologically ‘disruptive’. I blog on these topics at www.italkspeech.com. 

About niksargent.com

I seem to have accumulated sites, domains and various bits of web-debris all over the place throughout the years, so I'm using niksargent.com as a means to pull it together. My content doesn't (and won't) all exist in one place - but at least you should be able to get to it all from here.