Jon Bounds | |
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![]() Bounds outside Birmingham Town Hall in December 2001 | |
Born | 30 June 1975 |
Other names | Bounder[citation needed] |
Education | King Edward VI Grammar School, Aston |
Alma mater | University of Birmingham |
Occupation(s) | blogger, freelance social media and multimedia consultant |
Known for | B:iNS, TwitPanto |
Spouse | Libby Hayward |
Awards |
|
Website | www |
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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[citation needed] – 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][better source needed]
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]