Interests

As a computer science student, it’s a given that computers are one of my main areas of interest. On this page, I’ll discuss this and other areas in which I have interests. Below is a bulleted summary of the content of this page. If you click the link, it will take you to the appropriate section of this page for you to read further.

Summary

A Wordle of my Transfer Thesis

A Wordle of my Transfer Thesis

Research Interests

For information about my current research, please see my research page.

Computers and Technology

Artificial Intelligence

I’ve always been interested in technology, and I’ve had computers around me for as long as I can remember. I’m particularly interested in artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Of particular interest to me currently are neural networks and genetic algorithms, which I hope to read more about in the near future.

Security

In addition, I’m interested in data and network security. Digital forensics is an area that I find particularly interesting, and is something that I’d love to learn more about, and gain experience. Data forensics and cryptography are really interesting to me. It’s fascinating to discover how data that was previously thought to be deleted can be recovered, and how data can be hidden away by potentially malicious users. Another area I find interesting, but alas know very little about at the time of writing, is the design of malware. I find it very interesting how one executable can infect another and spread itself around the internet, and how rootkits can be developed in order to coerce the operating system into hiding or even protecting the infection.

Audio Synthesis

I’m also interested in audio synthesis and digital signal processing. I’ve created a couple of effects, and a synthesiser of my own, which, over the past year or so, I have not had much chance to continue (it turns out, doing a PhD takes rather a lot of your time). I’m a keen user of tools such as Ableton Live, and Reason in order to create my own music, which I will talk about in the next section.

Electronics and Sensor Networks

Two other areas that interest me are electronics and sensor networks. I have a number of arduinos, which I have programmed to perform various tasks including logging environmental conditions, although currently I mainly use a current cost in order to create logs of my house’s electrical consumption, and temperature. I plan to deploy some arduinos around the house, measuring temperatures and other variables in various rooms. I’d quite like to get my hands on some pressure and humidity sensors as well as O2, and CO2 sensors too.

I’m also learning to program ATMega and PIC chips so that I can do away with the arduino (as it ends up being rather expensive, buying a new arduino for each deployment…). For information on other projects that I’ve been doing, see my `projects’ blog, Beyond All Repair.

Music

Instruments

I’ve been playing musical instruments for as long as I can remember. When I was young, my parents started me off on the clarinet, which I continued to play until I left for University at the age of 18. Around my teens, I also began to play the alto saxophone, which I again continued until I left for University. I left most of my instruments at home while at university due the the cost of insuring them, and the fact that university accommodation was quite densely populated.

During college (that is, my A-Levels — 16-18 years of age), I began to play the acoustic guitar, which I’ve continued on and off to the present day. In addition, I play the electric guitar and the bass. I’d say the bass is now the main instrument I play, although I still enjoy playing my guitars.

DJing and Musical Genres

I listen to, and play a range of different styles. For listening, I mainly listen to either tech-, progressive-, and minimal-house. I also `DJ’ using Traktor. For those of you who would like to listen, some of my sets can be found on Mixcloud.

In addition, I also enjoy listening to metal and rock; genres which I tend to play on bass too. I listen to and play music by bands such as (in no particular order) Tool, Slipknot, Pink Floyd, Jamiroquai, Porcupine Tree, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, and Alanis Morisette. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Composition

I enjoy trying to create my own dance music (or sometimes other genres). As of yet, I don’t have much on the internet, but when I upload any tracks, I’ll most likely publish them to my Soundcloud account. My DAW of choice is Ableton Live. However, I also enjoy using Reason. I tend to stick to using the stock instruments for Ableton, but I hope to write my own instrument in order to create a unique (and hopefully palatable) sound. The only external instrument I sometimes use is Massive. An excellent effect that I like to use is Illformed’s Glitch VST, which is great fun to play around with.