[-empyre-] Vale Adrian Miles - -empyre-'s second facilitator

[melinda rackham]

Today I bear the sad news that our colleague and friend Adrain Miles has passed away at the weekend. He had a heart attack while riding his bike.

I have known Adrian for several decades both on and offline. I can't recall which conference I met him at, but it was somewhere in the mid 1990’s when we were a few of dissident voices of the superhighway hype. His enthusiasm for everything was astounding! His generosity to others as a teacher and mentor, his love of a good debate, his enquiring mind and his sense of humour. He always had a smile and a quirky line. 

Adrian was an original member and active participant of -empyre-. As I knew he was smart, trustworthy and equitable he was the first person I approached to assist facilitating when -empyre- was growing exponentially in its first six months and was too much for one person to manage. 
 
He joined up behind the scenes and first facilitated on his favourite topic in June 2002: 
+ Hypertext, Blogs and Video Blogs (vogs)
Adrian Miles and Jill Walker
http://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2002-June/date.html

and in September 2002: 
 Alter_Forms  
+ codeWurk with Mez & Methodicist Manifesto with Hideki Nakazawa
http://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2002-September/date.html

Adrian left the team as more facilitators joined in 2003, and was a vital member of "fibreculture" another Australian listserve and publisher set up on a more academic model http://www.fibreculture.org.  However he remained a long timr supported of and occasional guest on -empyre-, the last being on Practice Led Research in 2013.

Tributes are currently being written by others for ELO, RMIT and other places. Our thoughts are with his loved ones.
x
Melinda 

From around the web today:
 
Jason Nelson:
"Tragic news from Australia. Adrian Miles has passed away.
A pioneering digital media artist, thinker and writer, early hypertext creator, vlogger and Professor at RMIT, Adrian continued for decades to be a force in combining new forms of narrative/writing/communication and media in Australia and around the world. Damn"

Lisa Gye:
"Terribly saddened by the news of Adrian Miles' death last weekend. He was generous, challenging and thoroughly supportive. I know many Australian and international media studies scholars will be shocked and dismayed by this news."

Rosie Cross:
"Vale Adrian Miles, @vogmae on #Vimeo https://t.co/gF5PcpBxzH #RIP #pioneer [#geekgirl]"