Jon Bounds
Bounds outside Birmingham Town Hall in December 2001
Born (1975-06-30) 30 June 1975
Other namesBounder
EducationKing Edward VI Grammar School, Aston
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham
Occupation(s)blogger, freelance social media and multimedia consultant
Known forB:iNS, TwitPanto
SpouseLibby Hayward
Awards
  • "14th Most Influential" in the Birmingham Post Power 50
  • Official Honouree, Webby Awards
Websitewww.jonbounds.co.uk

Jon Bounds (born 30 June 1975), is a writer[1] and blogger from Birmingham, England.[2]

Raised in the City's Perry Barr district, he attended King Edward VI Grammar School, Aston.

After working as a technical and commissioning editor for friends of ED,[3] he spent nearly four years working for the BBC as technical co-ordinator of the Public Space at BBC Birmingham, and studied Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. He was Online Editor for the Big Picture project.

Bounds is known for creating a blog called "Birmingham: It's Not Shit" in response to the 2002 bid for Birmingham to become a European City of Culture.[4] In 2012, he told the BBC that the site attracted 10,000 visitors per month.[2] He was listed as the "14th Most Influential Person in the West Midlands" in the Birmingham Post's "Power 50" in 2008.[5] and was considered for inclusion again in 2009.[6]

On 11 November 2008 (starting at 11 am), Bounds spent eleven hours on Birmingham's number 11 bus route, the outer circle, documenting his journey online, using Twitter, Facebook and a blog, elevenbus.co.uk.[7] The next month, he organised TwitPanto, a pantomime on Twitter, which featured a cast that included Government Minister Tom Watson MP and Guardian writer Jemima Kiss. A further TwitPanto, on 18 December 2009, in which Watson – by then a back-bench MP – again had a part, was hosted by Birmingham Hippodrome[8] and named as an Official Honouree by the Webby Awards.[9] The event ran again on 20 December 2010.[10]

Bounds has written for a number of media outlets, including the Birmingham Post,[11] the BBC website,[12] and The Guardian website.[13][14] With Julia Gilbert, he presented a Saturday-morning radio show on Rhubarb Radio.[15]

In 2011 along with Danny Smith, he undertook a trip around all 56 of the surviving pleasure piers in England and Wales.[16] Their book, Pier Review, was published by Summersdale in February 2016.[16][17]

In the meanwhile, in 2014, Bounds co-authored a book with Birmingham City University lecturers Jon Hickman and Craig Hamilton. Titled 101 Things Birmingham Gave the World, it was published by Paradise Circus.[1]

He now resides in Oxford,[18] where he is standing for election to Oxfordshire County Council as a Labour Party candidate for Abingdon North, in the 2017 local elections.[19]

Bibliography

  • Bounds, Jon; Cooke, Liz; Hickman, Jon; et al. (2014). 101 Things Birmingham Gave the World. Paradise Circus. ISBN 9781782803997.
  • Bounds, Jon; Smith, Danny (2016). Pier Review: A Road Trip in Search of the Great British Seaside. Summersdale. ISBN 9781849538114.

References

  1. 1 2 "101 Things Birmingham Gave The World...including America, Christmas and". Birmingham Mail. 14 December 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Birmingham's bloggers need to 'fill in the gaps'". BBC News. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  3. Bounds' LinkedIn profile
  4. Lanyado, Benji (4 November 2006). "Birmingham for beginners". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  5. "Power 50 – 14. Jon Bounds, Blogger". Birmingham Post. Trinity Mirror Midlands Limited. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  6. "In the frame – Andrew Mitchell, Paul Tilsley, Paul Bassi, Salma Yaqoob, Clive Dutton and Jon Bounds". Birmingham Post. Trinity Mirror Midlands Limited. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 13 June 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  7. Bounds, Jon; et al. (2008). "11-11-11". Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  8. The Cast. "Twitpanto 2009". Birmingham Hippodrome. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  9. "Webby Award honour for Birmingham's Twitpanto". Birmingham Post. 15 April 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  10. The Cast. "Twitpanto 2010". Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  11. Bounds, Jon. "Recently by Jon Bounds". Birmingham Post. Trinity Mirror Midlands Limited. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  12. "Spaghetti Junction beach". BBC. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  13. Bounds, Jon (21 January 2013). "A quick city guide to Birmingham". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  14. Bounds, Jon (25 July 2009). "Jon Bounds on Digbeth, Birmingham's vibrant heart". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  15. "Julia Gilbert & Jon Bounds". Rhubarb Radio. Archived from the original on 8 July 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  16. 1 2 "BBC Radio 4 – Saturday Live, 19/04/2014". BBC Radio 4. 19 April 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  17. "Pier Review website". Pier Review. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  18. "BBC News: Birmingham's bloggers need to fill in the gaps". BBC News. 8 December 2012.
  19. "Jon Bounds – Oxford Labour". Labour Party – Oxford branch. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
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