Post-Bootcamp Adventures - What I have been up to from March to June

Hello all and welcome back to another post-bootcamp series blogpost! It has been a long time since I last did one of those blogposts, but man... I have been through so much in the last three months with my maps that I felt that it is time to update you all on how I have been getting on - especially since it has been over one year now since I finished the Make a Difference Bootcamp at the University of Suffolk! 

Without further ado, let's get going with this post! 

3D Expo - 6th of March

So, this post-bootcamp report starts off with the trip to the 3D Expo at the beginning of March, to explore the different funding that I could obtain if I wanted to make 3D maps and models to sell in the future.

The story started just before 1:00pm, where I was sat outside the Atrium, waiting to go inside. But it wasn't just the usual sitting around and nothing happening around me - I was met at one point with big boss Amy sending off a delegation from Malaysia, who had just finished visiting the University campus - at one point even posing for photos with them.

With the unexpected surprise out of the way, it was time to head inside the building, where we were treated to some delicious treats:

Eventually the whistle was blown on the networking and we were all called to sit down at 1:55pm, where after a brief introduction from the Business Development team, it was time for Martin from MAM Solutions to come up and talk about 3D printing techniques and applications in the arts, environments and healthcare sectors - where after going through what I think every potential 3D printer should take away with regards to building 3D models as layers rather than lumps, some of his 3D printing portfolio, which included models for life saving equipment such as casts and tourniquets, as well as GIS-related surveys for major projects and even fine art productions (wasn't expecting that as an answer). And eventually the talk ended on the ultimate equation - let's use 3D printing to raise awareness in all academic disciplines. 

Then it was time to move on to the next speaker, Dr Samuel Wilberforce from CMG Technologies, about metal injection moulding techniques - MIM being so well-known to the point that it ended up appearing on an ITV4 show called "Made in Britain". Whilst it is highly unlikely that I will get to use MIM in my map designs, I still found it quite interesting hearing him talk about how FFF can be used to create heavy duty installation toolkits, such as BAND-IT, as well as crucial parts for all sorts of transportation out there, such as drive-combs to go into one of those boats.

But we didn't just have people who wanted to share their experience of manufacturing 3D items come on board to join us - we got to hear from the people who could help make these ideas happen, mentor who explained the process of writing up a succinct business plan and bidding proposal, before feeding on to the speaker from Innovate UK, Julie Pauley, about applying for innovation grants from the Government that could turn early-stage businesses with at least five employees into game-changing, disruptive enterprises, as well as opportunities to partner with businesses in other countries in Europe. It is interesting to see that their innovation programs have seen a total of over 1,300 businesses nationwide raising a total of £184 million in funding and creating 1,185 jobs. 

Then we had Sharon Perry, the KTP adviser for Norfolk and Suffolk, talking through the process of applying to join a Knowledge Transfer Programme, where a budding entrepreneur engages with a university academic that is aligned with their business area, as well as a research student, with the possibility of moving them on to permanent work at the end. I must say that I would be prepared to explore the KTP route once I have a larger business up and running, especially after seeing the benefits of the programme - with businesses having been through the programme reporting average increases of revenue by up to £300,000 per year, as well as opportunities to expand their range products to other markets, and not to mention the 80% success rate for acceptance onto a KTP. 

After a short comfort break where we got to enjoy some scrumptious toasts, it was time to move on to the most fun part of the expo, starting off with the preparation work, where the 3D printing technician, Mia Chell, showed off how to create a 3D model using one of these bad boys:

Yes, that's right - this is Leo, a high-tech 3D scanner that can be connected up to a modelling program called Artec Studio, from which further work can be done on the model to make them highly detailed and make it ready for 3D printing. 

Then we all went to the 3D printing studio, located near the entrance to the Atrium building, where in one of the production rooms, there was a prototype being printed for a university lecturer that was set to be completed in three days time on this machine:

Or these Stratasys F370 machines, apparently used to produce FFF prototypes:

And of course, whilst we were having a look around the other 3D prototypes (which included a lighthouse imprinted on 3D terrain), we could not forget the odd laughter about the room being one of the most electricity-consuming rooms in the whole University.

The Hodgkinson showdown, trip to the symposium and exploring what others sell for prints - 21st to 24th March

Once the 3D expo was finished, ah, yes... two weeks on, it was time to face the famous novelist Dr Amanda Hodgkinson again... to try to chase up some information with regards to sharing some of my fantasy work with her group of creative writing students. It all started on the 21st of March when I was sat with Amy Volkert and Hannah Page in the Mix (the former having just returned to work) when I started explaining about what was happening with Amanda, and at one point we were having a look at a picture of Amanda on her LinkedIn page, and as soon as we stopped looking at her profile - that said figure showed up outside the building, headed for a meeting. So I thought to myself that I should try again on the 22nd of March, since I knew of a workshop around one of her novels that she was leading in the Hold, and so I felt that this was the best chance I had at getting any information.

So as soon as Amanda came out of the workshop, I was expecting my run-in with her to be a bit like something out of a gladiator film; that is, finding myself in deep trouble. But luckily it didn't turn out that way - I must say that the encounter that I had with Amanda was far less intense than I had anticipated, with my conversation starting off with the 22 Britannia Road workshop that she had been running in the education room, which was met with widespread praise from the people that took part. It was no surprise that the workshops were quickly booked out (I mean look at my face when I tried to go on the workshops myself - it was filled with frowns).

After that, I was able to talk about the "serious stuff", and it was at this point that I have finally managed to get some information about what was going on - she is still trying to figure something out in terms of giving me a voice and representing my projects in her domain, and she started warming up to me about why I had complained about the situation. Nevertheless, Amanda remains very supportive of my business idea and overall ambitions - when I heard her say those things, I felt a massive sense of relief in that there hasn't been a significant shift in opinions from when I last spoke to her in January. At the end of the day, I want to see Amanda in the same light and shine that she sees me with the fantasy map work that I have done. 

In fact, I actually still feel quite surprised to this day that she came to my stall all those months ago and had a look at those maps - with Amanda running a schedule that is as busy as trying to drive the 405 over the Sepulveda, I was not expecting her to speak to me at all, let alone having my map work recognised by her. Eventually, the conversation finished with some tussling about on Amanda's novel, and once Amanda was gone, here I was dozing off until I got kicked out of the building at closing time, and by the way, I managed to get around to reading 130 pages of her novel a few days after the encounter... with the overall storyline being so captivating and rich, I should better get back to reading that novel before I forget.

Amanda is not a bad person... 

The next day, the 23rd of March, I went back to the Hold to attend the Arrivals symposium, where I got to meet History lecturers Ross Mccrory and Dr Harvey Osbourne (the latter later ending up noticing me for the map work that I have done). In the meantime, I was wandering around the education room where there was a wide range of migration-related ephemera out of the Suffolk Archives collection - ranging from material on Black Lives Matter, to information on Afro-Caribbean and Asian community events, as well as letters to local councillors on action needed to combat xenophobia and racism. Look, the material is so captivating for me that I could have spent many hours there digging through the flyers.

But eventually the time ran out, and it was time to head on to the actual talks, which took place in the 250 seater auditorium where I must say that there was a highly diverse range of themes - it started off with a story about Jewish migration to Ipswich, followed by the migration of from Scotland to Suffolk (and right across the country), and ending on the subject of the migration of OFW nurses to the region.

So here are the highlights from each of the talks:

• Jewish migration to Ipswich in the 18th and 19th century by Mike Kent - a story that started with migration across the North Sea after a 300 year ban on Jewish migration to the area from the 13th to the 17th century, followed by the fascinating story of Sarah Lyon, the earliest known Jewish settler in Ipswich who was featured in a Constable painting and lived until the age of 104, along with some trading stories that revolve around Abraham Raphael and Simon Hyam, before eventually finishing on the decline by 1895, most of the population moving to London or the Midlands, and only three Jewish residents remaining in Ipswich by that time period.
• Scottish fishing lasses moving to Lowestoft by Millie Walne - a presentation describing the migration route by Scottish workers from Lerwick down to Lowestoft, the overall working environment, as well as the challenges of communicating with local workers due to language difficulties (yes, language barriers don't always have to spread across international borders!), before ending on the end of the era post-World War, when the economy in Lowestoft began to dry up due to the rise in the herring trade in Russia and most of the trade going there, reducing the incentive for herring work in the UK. 
• Nanny O'Connor, a Windrush treasure by Penny Gordon and Monica O'Connor - In my opinion my favourite presentation, starting off with Nanny's early years in Jamaica and the journey over, with Monica describing Nanny as someone who "would find a way to win you" and has "hearts of gold", before moving on to talk about the clothing that she would wear, and eventually culminating in the final months before her passing when her work was showcased at the Windrush Select Committee in 2023, at one point even getting to see Nanny's passport from when she first arrived in the UK off a British Airways flight. Nanny's song "I see the lighthouse" at the end of the presentation (sung by a fellow audience member) contained some extremely powerful language, and the lyrics were so incredibly emotional, to the point that it was worth all the seconds listening to it.
• 1960s Migration from London to Suffolk by Angela McGarry - an insightful story into how Suffolk has become a staging ground for some of the working class from London who moved to explore new job opportunities, along with the challenges that they have faced with integration into the area (primarily opposition from Suffolk locals who felt that they were not interested in having them there), that is backed up with a real-life story of a family originating from Clapham who had to move out in 1960 after having their third child, due to the expensive housing stock in the area and the lack of space in their old house - eventually settling in Sudbury, near the border with Essex. Having spoken to many people in and around my friend network who have moved back from London for economic and family-related reasons (including our own Enterprise Manager who moved out of London nine years ago), I have to say that the story still holds up the test of time, and remains very much relatable to this present day.
• Filipino Nurses in Suffolk (1980-present) by John Palmitos and Alexis Cuarte - Another incredibly powerful story, talking about recent arrivals of nurses into Suffolk hospitals, starting off with the arrival of mothers in 1980, followed by a peak in recruitment in the early 2000s, and the recruitment of 146 OFW nurses in West Suffolk Hospital in 2018, as well as hearing about external recognition of the achievements of OFW's in the NHS (including Prince William's visit in 2021 would you believe), balanced with the general problems facing OFW's around the world, including the UK visa process, integration into local society and human rights issues. 

The day after the symposium, I went to a craft fair that was taking place in the Mix bar, and I must say that there was a pretty diverse range of things that was being sold - vintage fashion, photographs around Suffolk and other memorabilia, at pretty affordable prices. Hell, I even discovered one artist selling acrylic paintings of the Orwell that cost £45. 

To finish the whole story off, I found myself wandering around the beautiful King's Forest in the west of Suffolk, where it feels like everyone in the area seems to be recognising me (in fact one horserider stopped me along the way back out of the forest towards Icklingham). After all, me walking around Amy's heartland is certainly bound to attract attention from the people that live there... 

Trips to the British Library

I have been longing to go to the British Library for research as early as September 2023, to see if I could get some inspiration on some of my fantasy maps from the collections that they hold there. It has taken several months of sheer grit and patience, and asking around everywhere for any material that I could find locally, to finally reach the conclusion myself that I have a genuine need to travel to the British Library and use the materials that they hold.

Getting started with reader registration involved an unexpected change of plans... on the 23rd of April, I was finished going through some of the OS67 collection at the National Archives in Kew (trust me, I actually enjoyed reading through some information on how streets were surveyed in each grid area), and I was originally planning to visit Richmond Park on my way down to Kingston upon Thames, but as I headed out of the Archives to go and have some lunch, I thought to myself... as I had two forms of ID with me, "let's see if I can get a reader pass" - and so off I went on the hour-long Tube journey back to central London to visit the British Library and sort out that said pass. 

So the process starts with a walk to the reader registration office on the upper ground floor, where I walked up to a very nice receptionist, who went through the two documents that I bought along with me - which all checked out fine. So I was directed around to a queue (pretty much non-existent at 2pm), and I was called up to the gentleman at one of the desks to sit down and complete the registration process. 

Then I was asked... "what brought you to the Library?" - to which I answered with some details about the advice about maps that I sought locally before reaching the conclusion that I needed to see the Library's collections. Given that I was coming to see some historic maps of pretty much everywhere on the planet, and other related material, it didn't take the Reader Registration team too long for them to realise that many of my needs could only be met at the British Library. 

After all, I can understand why these questions are asked in a national library; it is just to make sure that there is not another library that is more appropriate for my needs.

With my need to visit the Library effectively confirmed, I was then directed to fill in my personal details, before having my picture taken, and with that, I was issued with a reader pass for one year. Now I am free to explore the reading rooms and order items at will. 

The first time I went inside the reading rooms, I was absolutely amazed by some of the content that I saw on the open shelves (particularly the reference map material - I got a chance to read a 1970s atlas of the USA), as well as the architecture that revolves around many of the rooms, especially Humanities 1 - it is an absolute monolith of a reading room, and where everyone seems to hang out when doing their research projects.

Skipping ahead to my next visit on the 14th of May, I had to endure a 15 minute wait to enter the building - the security checks were a lot more stringent, with everyone having to open their bags to make sure that they were not secreting dangerous items, as I was visiting not long after the Magna Carta incident, where climate change protesters tried to damage the protective case housing the document in the Treasures Room. The Magna Carta section remains closed to this day, and nobody can see the artefacts :sadface: 

After locking up my stuff in the lower ground floor lockers, I was then headed to the maps reading room, which is located up on the third floor, going clockwise around the King's Library which is absolutely spectacular with its glass display of books that are spread out on multiple levels, as you can see here...

...until you get to the entrance to the reading room on the left, that is:

Then you go through the double doors, showing your reader pass to the security staff along the way, and then having your stuff checked once again if you have brought in masses of sheets of paper or laptops. 

Once you have gotten past the basics of entering a reading room, there comes the step of ordering the materials - it used to be possible to order materials online through the British Library catalogue to the reading rooms for a particular day so that they would be waiting for you once you arrive, but that is not currently possible due to the cyber attack. So to order some maps, I had to go to the reference desk and ask for some ordering slips - where I filled out some information about the materials that I wanted to request, as well as the volume number, author, year and shelfmark (along with some important reader pass information), before giving it to the member of staff manning the delivery counter, who then goes off to fetch the materials for you. 

I must say that from my experience, the delivery process for maps is really efficient and fast - I was told that it would take an hour for the materials to arrive, yet it only took them about 30 to 40 minutes to go and fetch the material that I requested from the six levels of underground storage that lies underneath the building.

Once the maps arrive in the reading room (they usually come loaded on a trolley), a member of staff would call me over to the issue desk, where at this point I had to hand in my reader pass to the workers manning the desk, who then retain the pass until you are finished with the items.

The first special collection atlas that I went through was Frederick de Wit's atlas from 1693 (Maps C.45.f.2.), which is divided into two volumes - one volume contains plates 1 to 80, and the other containing plates 81 to 160. And I have to say that I was absolutely impressed by the artwork that revolves around the stereoscopic projections of Earth, as seen here:

Another highlight of my first trip to the Library was Fra Mauro's Mappa Mondo, a planisphere map from 1459 (Additional MS. 11,267), which in my opinion has to be one of the most incredible inventions that I have ever come across. Firstly - the amount of detail in terms of rivers, towns and oceans, but it also certainly messes up your mind a little bit - the town names and icons are written in the opposite direction to the Earth's orientation.

I also had plenty of "fun" in the Newsroom facility one floor down, as I wanted to have a go at loading some microfilm of the Daily Telegraph from September 2018, which turned out to be a bit awkward with the old-fashioned machines - firstly, making sure that the microfilm was positioned counter-clockwise, then getting it upwards through the glass, and then feeding it through the reel! A very different experience to loading up films on the SL1000 machines back at the Hold indeed.

Once I was done at the British Library for the day, I decided to go up to Colindale to have a look at where the old Newspaper Library used to be - the building got closed and demolished in 2013 due to the building becoming increasingly unsuitable for storing old newspapers. The microfilm collections were moved to the main building in central London, whereas print newspapers were transferred to a newly constructed building at the Library's Boston Spa site in Yorkshire.

Old Newspaper Library building in 2010 (Photo taken by Stacey Harris, Wikimedia Commons)

Anyways, you can tell that Colindale has become an increasingly up and coming part of London, as the old newspaper library building has been replaced by this modern housing development that now stands in its place:

The day ended with a trip up to the Stanmore Country Park on the 142 bus, where I managed to get some incredible views of Wembley Stadium, as well as the High Weald in Kent, located some 25 miles away from the viewpoint up at Wood Lane:

...as well as the City of London and Canary Wharf, some 15 miles away to the east:

I was back in the Library exactly one month later, on the 14th of June. Same rigmaroll - bags in lockers, reading room entrance, then some more ordering slips to fill in. This time, I was focused on UK maps and atlases, starting off with General Teesdale's atlas from 1829 (Maps 2.d.1.).

As I was turning the pages of his atlas, one thing that really caught my eye was seeing how the Scottish highlands were illustrated on maps from this era - now obviously those maps would be much more detailed on the terrain thanks to the invention of heightmaps, but are still quite impressive nonetheless.

The next map collection that I had a look at was William Faden's map (Maps K.Top.5.28.). What I was anticipating to arrive was a flat sheet containing just his map, but I actually ended up discovering much more, as it was part of a much bigger book volume containing maps by other authors, including the oldest map of the UK that mankind has seen - just look at a copy of Matthew Paris's map from 1250 (a map that I was originally planning to look at in a separate manuscript volume), which has Land's End chopped off, as you can see here:

Other treasures from this map volume included the map of the Cities of London and Westminster, that was surveyed just before the great fire that started in 1666:

As well as some distance charts between major UK destinations, which I never expected to see on a national map from the 18th century:

On my third visit on the 28th of June, I was having a look at maps from down under. The first map that I looked at was this beauty of a War Office chart map from the Kermadecs, an uninhabited island chain belonging to New Zealand:

The next map that I looked into was a map of Australia in Collins' atlas that was engraved by Bartholomew, one of the earliest known atlases from this part of the world published in 1871 - whilst I couldn't show you the atlas here for copyright reasons, it was quite fascinating to see that some of the places that we all know from travel vlogs and guides, such as Sydney and Melbourne still existed on the map (even if they only had a few hundred thousand people at the time), as well as all these places down in Tasmania - guess how many people would have lived there - not many!

But the most beautiful and stunning of all the maps that I had looked through on my trip there had to be this map of Lord Howe Island, seeing what the island looked like when it didn't have the tourist infrastructure or many inhabitants for that matter:

But the most impressive part about this map is the detailed representations of different views around the island, including some photos of Ball's Pyramid, the tallest volcanic stack in the world at 562m:

And whilst I was at it exploring those maps down under, I also got to have a bit of a read of Abel Tasman's journal from his voyage of 1642/43 with its translations (L.R.404.l.25.) - which turns out to be kept in the first floor Rare Books and Music reading room. The ordering process there was pretty similar to what I am used to with maps, except that upon receiving the book (again on a trolley), I was ushered over to seat 190 in the reading room and told to take a seat.

Once I opened up the book, it was really interesting getting to read each of the journal days, depicting weather conditions on each day of their journey, their co-ordinate locations and where they would go, as well as accounts of some of their interactions with the locals (particularly when the indigenous Maori population attacked their ships when they reached New Zealand in December 1642), and the thing that fascinates me the most is getting to see some visual representations of the lands they reached on their voyage.

Unfortunately I couldn't show you any extracts of his journal, as it came loaded with a yellow no photography tag attached to it... Oh well, that happens sometimes.

The Federation of Small Businesses event

Last but not least, I would like to provide a brief summary of the Federation of Small Businesses event that I went to on the 19th of June, featuring guest speaker Tony from Ginger Pickle (named after a doctor cat wounded on the neck) - and I must say that it was another one of those eyeopener events that will make you want to think very carefully about marketing strats and relieving purchase anxiety. First and foremost - price is. very. important. Make it clear. Make everyone aware how much it would cost (even if you are doing commissions and you are looking for estimates). Secondly. Give customers buying choices - but don't give combinations as one choice (as the Economist customer survey found out, 68% chose a digital subscription when the choice of both print and digital as one choice were removed). Lastly, make them aware of when they expect contact.

But the biggest test of our thinking skills during this part of the session was when he was going through different items and we had to figure out which one was the more expensive, with the most notable part of the exercise being when we had to compare the prices of two rings, one costing £6,000 and the other costing £3,147 - we all thought at one point that the ring that cost £3,147 was the more expensive one). 

After going through the basics of price marketing, Tony then finished his session on the concept of UX designs that everyone should avoid, the biggest mistakes being designing the page so that it is hard to find products, having too many on-screen distractions and collecting too much data on contact forms - after all, marketing leads decrease ten-fold after one hour!

And as I would usually expect from those events, I have to say that the environment was very friendly, and there was a diverse range of businesses that were run by attendees being represented here - wellness entrepreneurs, recruitment managers and marketing directors and even botanical gardeners. You also can't forget the breakfast rolls that were on display, ready to enjoy:

What I hope to do from July to September

Starting off with the business element of mapping, with the prints now ready to be produced, the primary focus from July to September for me is to explore options for having them sold, prepare them and then take them out to a craft fair and hopefully make some money. This all sounds easy... except that the biggest challenge will most likely be figuring out how to take those fantasy maps to and from local craft fairs - I have no means of driving around to those events, so it might be a case of relying on the goodwill of some lovely people, or even changing some plans.

In other news, moving on to the research side of maps, I am looking forward to going back to the British Library at the end of July to have a look at some paintings from the East Indian Company voyage around Rio de Janeiro (which by the way require advanced appointments to see), along with some map work that revolves around South America - hopefully I can find some maps, like the ones that I saw in the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse, that can shed some light on some sort of connection that may have existed between the continent and nearby Antarctica. 

With that being said, I hope you have enjoyed a snippet of what has been going on with my life over the last three months, and I shall see you on the next blogpost... which hopefully will be a Random Fantasy Map post!

With much love,

Jakub