Digital Creative
With his audiovisual creativity, a wide range of technical skills, and a passion for technology, Stephen (Steve) Bennett has inspired students and researchers in transformative processes, simplifying and communicating complex ideas.
Steve started his career as a Physics Technician before taking up the post of Electronics Technician in the Department of Social Psychology at LSE in 1975. With the development of microprocessors, Steve began, in 1978, incorporating these devices into the construction of many pieces of equipment that he designed for undergraduate students’ experiments. From hand coding firmware for these devices entirely in machine code, Steve has continued to learn many other programming languages and software packages.
After many years of experience working with tape to tape editing, in 1992 the Department acquired Adobe Premiere, and Steve moved into the field of digital video editing. He produced many desktop videos for use in student and staff projects and case studies. Steve’s work in the field of desktop video was showcased in the LSE Centenary Presentations in 1995.
Anticipating the value a presence on the Internet would have for the Department of Social Psychology, Steve used his programming skills to create a world wide web server, the first Academic Department at LSE to have such a resource. In 1997 the Department upgraded to an Apple Internet Server, which he then used to live stream an entire lecture series in RealAudio format, the first instance of distance learning from the LSE, and before such outputs from other traditional UK universities.
With the foundation of the London Multimedia Lab for Audiovisual Composition and Communication, within the Department of Social Psychology in 2001, Steve played a significant role in training researchers in video production, which was used to record fieldwork and create multimedia case-studies and research reports. He supported the development of MetaOpticon, a powerful cataloguing system that enabled the identification, storage, and easy retrieval of all fieldwork materials, whatever the media (written notes, audio and video interviews, videos of classroom activities, photographs, students own photos and videos) for later analysis and eventual publication.
Steve used knowledge from his own early movie making experiences to provide training in filming techniques and video editing for LSE students, producing many videos for promotional, teaching and research purposes. He worked with the LSE Drama Society, delivering training in the use of video recording and editing, which enabled them to produce their first full length video production. He also worked as the audio, video, and effects editor for the film, “Ono Niha”, which won Prix de “l’Edition” at the Bruxelles Film Festival.
Steve retired from LSE in 2015, since when he has put his skills to use in charity work, and contributed to the Images and Sounds project. In March 2018 Steve became Technical Director of Papertronic Ltd taking over all responsibilities for the development of the printed Papertronic Images & Sounds Book, the accompanying Papertronic Barcode Reader mobile apps, the eBook, and the Images & Sounds Website www.images-and-and-sounds.net