by Sue Black
The lake at Bletchley Park I wandered round to Hut 4 for lunch, where I was joined first by Lynette from Google and her husband Dave and then by some great Bletchley Park social media stalwarts: Graham Johnson (@Filce), PJ Evans (@MrPJEvans) and Gordon Tant (@125f8) – all fabulous guys who have supported Bletchley Park in so many ways over the years.
After lunch we all walked over to the marquee to see how everything was progressing. We looked up at the sky as we walked. It seemed that the rain was stopping and the sun was coming out. Hooray! Preparations continued and at 2.30pm, despite the weather, guests started arriving. At 3pm the party started in earnest, and by then people were arriving in droves – we needn’t have worried about turnout.
The marquee looked incredible. It was set up with 1940s village fête-type games, Enigma machines and more. There were also tours of the whole site including TNMOC running all afternoon. We were keen that visitors had the chance to have a look around the whole site while they were there. It had been my first tour around Bletchley Park that had got me hooked on Bletchley in the first place, so I knew the power of hearing the incredible story of Bletchley, preferably told by a veteran, whilst walking around the site. It was a winning combination.
Throughout the afternoon I felt quite emotional. Hundreds of people that I knew well, either in real life or through Twitter, had come together for the first time to meet in person and celebrate the wondrous place that is Bletchley Park. We had spent hours and hours talking about Bletchley Park over the last few years, discussing our love and support for the place, what we wanted to do and how to do it. Many of these people had set up their own projects to raise awareness of and funds for Bletchley and had run with them. They had all made a difference in some way to Bletchley Park’s fortunes.
It was a day of excited hellos, quick catch-ups and heartfelt thank yous. It was a fabulous celebration of the power of people coming together around a cause and making positive change happen. The excitement and good feeling that comes from making something like that happen is more powerful than anything I have ever experienced. It’s what drives me, and I know from the number of wonderful people who have been involved in saving Bletchley Park that it drives so many others, too.
Simon Meacham chats to Giles Sandeman-Allen whose grandfather ran Bletchley Park during WWII Sir John Scarlett speaking at the Google garden party It is hard to pick a highlight of the party, because there were several, but one of them had to be introducing Simon Meacham, who had flown over from Mountain View especially to attend (he’d started a new role at Google’s global headquarters in January 2011), to Gareth Halfacree. Gareth is the guy who started the campaign to buy the Turing papers for Bletchley Park, setting up a JustGiving page to collect donations from the public; Simon is the Googler who took up the mantle of helping Bletchley Park to purchase the Turing papers. Both were instrumental in securing the papers for Bletchley, and it was wonderful to be able to introduce them at the Park.
Another highlight was having a look at the Turing papers, which are now on display in B Block, with Simon. It brought back the memory of lots of frantic telephone calls over a few days, culminating in the very exciting call when Simon told me that the Google board had approved a donation of $100,000 for the purchase.
At the end of the afternoon I was interviewed by Christian Payne. We were both so excited that so many people we knew, especially from Twitter, had shown their support for Bletchley Park. Christian asked me what I thought of the party.
“It’s like a dream come true,” I said, and I meant it.
Me and Simon Meacham Me and @documentally
Look to the future now
The campaign had succeeded, but that didn’t mean it was over. There was still a lot of momentum and public interest around Bletchley Park, and over the next year or so I saw this interest really blossom. It was heartening to know that exciting things were still happening and awareness was still growing – documentaries and TV shows and art projects were being made, events were organised, talks delivered, exhibitions opened – because there was and is still plenty of work to do to ensure Bletchley Park’s ongoing place in our lives. It was as Simon had said when he’d delivered the news that Bletchley Park had been saved: “What we need to talk about now is building Bletchley Park for the future.”
Trending Turing
Patrick Sammon’s film about Turing was finally produced and appeared on UK TV in November 2011. I had watched and enjoyed it at the UK premiere hosted by Google at BAFTA a couple of weeks previously. It was so great to see it now on television and read everyone’s tweets as they enjoyed it too. It was good to see people finding out about Turing for the first time from the film – the programme even got Alan Turing trending on Twitter!
Silicon Brit
In November 2011, I got an email from Megan Smith from Google. Megan was in town again as part of #SVC2UK (Silicon Valley Comes to the UK – an annual opportunity for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and innovators to come to the UK) and wondered if I could help her arrange a trip to Bletchley Park for the delegates. I was pleased that Megan had remembered Bletchley and wanted to visit.
On the day of the visit, I met up with Megan and some of the other delegates, and we boarded the minibus that would take us to Bletchley Park. There were five of us in the bus: Megan, Julie Hanna, DJ Patil, Reid Hoffman and me. On the journey up to Bletchley Park Megan told everyone how we had met when I approached her at NESTA a year before asking for her help to secure the Turing papers for Bletchley Park. Megan then asked me to tell everyone how I had got involved with Bletchley Park, why it was important, about my campaign and use of social media, and what the situation was there now regarding funding.
I happily told the story, which began with my first visit in 2003, included the Women of Station X project launch and my appearance on the BBC in 2008, and concluded in the present day. It had now become quite a long story, as it spanned several years, and Megan chipped in from time to time with relevant and interesting facts, especially when I started talking about the Turing papers. Megan loves to talk about the fact that at Bletchley Park everyone worked together, regardless of race, background, or sexual orientation. She makes the point that it was because of this diversity that Bletchley Park’s work was so successful.
When we arrived we were met by Simon Greenish, taken to the Mansion House and given an introduction to the history of Bletchley Park along with a nice cup of tea. We then spent about an hour touring the site.
The trip was far too short but Simon managed to cram a lot in. It really reminded me of the day that I’d gone up to Bletchley with Mike Sizemore, Christian Payne and Jamillah Knowles three years previously. I had the same feeling of absolute joy at being able to introduce some top quality geeks to Bletchley Park. Everyone had more questions about Bletchley Park now that they had actually been there; it was clear that everyone had really enjoyed the visit. Reid even said that the highlight of his #SVC2UK tour that year had been the trip to Bletchley Park. That made me very happy! Reid also offered to organise an event in Mountain View, California, to raise awareness in the US; it was exciting to think that we might be able to spread the message about Bletchley Park even further.
Looking at the Turing papers. L to R Simon Greenish, Megan Smith, Reid Hoffman, Julie Hanna, DJ Patil Inside Hut 8 where Alan Turing worked Julie Hanna and Alan Turing
Top tech non-celebrity tweeter
Another thing that happened in 2011 was that I was named top tech non-celebrity tweeter of the year in the Independent. All of my obsessive tweeting seemed to have paid off!
Independent voices of 2011: The most influential non-celebrity users of Twitter
22 December 2011
Rhodri Marsden
The Independent
TECHNOLOGY: Winner: Sue Black / @dr_black
As well as being a noted computing academic at University College London, Black has made her name as a digital campaigner
– pushing for the advancement of women in technology. She was also a key figure in the successful campaign to save and preserve Bletchley Park, home of the Enigma code-crackers and birthplace of the modern computer. Sue’s Twitter feed combines all the above interests, from poor IT teaching in schools to her work and talks. A key voice in an increasingly digital future.
Followers: >7,000
PeerIndex rating: 47
December 2011 I sent 1462 tweets
Did Twitter save Bletchley Park?
At the beginning of 2012 Simon Greenish retired and Iain Standen was appointed as the new CEO of Bletchley Park. Before Iain started we met up for lunch at the Army and Navy Club in London. We had a really good chat about Bletchley Park; I answered all his questions and asked about his life. Iain comes from an army background and has particular interest in battlegrounds. He seemed perfect for the role at Bletchley as he was obviously extremely interested not only in the site as a whole but also in its historical context and where Bletchley fits into the big picture. I left the lunch feeling that Bletchley Park would be in safe hands.
I had been asked some weeks previously by Professor John Clark, head of the computer science department at York University, to give a public lecture about Bletchley Park and the campaign to save it. I suggested that I give a talk loosely based around the research paper “Can Twitter save Bletchley Park?” that Kelsey Griffin, Professor Jonathan Bowen and I had written for the Museums and the Web conference in Denver. But of course I had to bring it up to date; its new title was “Did Twitter save Bletchley Park?”. John was delighted with that and we set the date.
I thought it would be a good idea to ask Simon Greenish to give the lecture with me as our previous talk at EuroPython in Birmingham had gone so well. Simon kindly agreed and we got to work on our presentation. After having chatted to Iain Standen it occurred to me that it would be great if Iain could join us, too: Simon could talk about the history and what had happened during his time in charge, I could talk about how I had got involved and the campaigning, and Iain could talk about the present position and his plans for the future. Bletchley Park: past, present and future.
Iain agreed, and the lecture went ahead as planned. In the first section Simon gave an overview of the history of Bletchley Park and the code breaking work done there. He mentioned that during the war Hitler thought that the messages the German forces were sending were unbreakable – little did he know that people at Bletchley Park were reading most of the messages sent, sometimes even before the intended recipient!
When Simon had finished his section of the talk, I took over. I spoke about the Women of Station X project, and about how it was at the launch of the project that I found out from Simon Greenish that Bletchley Park was having financial difficulties and might have to close. I recounted the whole story: how I started the campaign, blogging highlights along the way; how I first used traditional media to raise awareness, appearing on BBC News and the Radio 4 Today programme, and sending a letter to The Times; and how, a few months later, I started using social media, particularly Twitter, in earnest, and soon realised how powerful a tool it could be. Twitter helped me to connect with people and organisations who cared about Bletchley Park and wanted to help secure its future, from social media gurus like Christian Payne, Mike Sizemore and Jamillah Knowles through to Stephen Fry, Tom Watson MP and Google. Twitter, I said, was absolutely fundamental to the campaign.
The final section of our talk focused on the vision for Bletchley Park’s future. Iain spoke about the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, some exciting plans that were in place, and the work that needed to be carried out over the next few years. He ended by asking everyone to help out; the spirit of the campaign lived on.
At the end I asked the audience if they thought that Twitter had saved Bletchley Park. The resounding answer was YES! I thought about this later: I’ve made so many great friends on Twitter, and it’s created so many important opportunities and connections.
Inside D Block
In April 2012 I had the exciting opportunity to go and have a look inside D Block, a disused block at Bletchley Park. It was very exciting and evocative. I absolutely loved walking around, looking at the discarded telephone switching systems, broken chairs, and dead pigeons and absorbing the atmosphere.
I felt strongly that Bletchley Park should be made into a museum that is fit for purpose as a first-class world heritage site, but at the same time, I was sad that not many more people would have the opportunity to walk around the buildings as they were, in some cases left empty for decades. There was something very haunting about seeing this.
D Block I was delighted, therefore, to find out that some of this atmosphere was being highlighted and preserved by artists like Maya Ramsey, an installation artist whose work deals particularly with sites connected to armed conflict. Along with a few other artists, Maya created an exhibition called Station X which offered a multi-sensory insight into the derelict buildings of Bletchley Park:
“The exhibition is the result of a unique collaboration between installation artist Maya Ramsay, sound artist Caroline Devine, photographer Rachael Marshall and filmmaker Luke Williams. Together they provide a contemporary interpretation of Station X, by documenting the visual and aural histories imbued in the very fabric of the buildings, before they are lost when planned renovation takes place. This includes work made from surfaces lifted from the walls of the buildings, recordings of sounds produced by and within the decaying buildings, and photographic and filmed documentation of the buildings . . .”
Marathon man
That same month my partner Paul ran the Milton Keynes marathon in aid of Bletchley Park. It was his first marathon, and it was run on a day of absolutely torrential rain. I’ve never been out in such awful weather in my life. He was joined by Bletchley Park CEO Iain Standen, who finished in a great time of 3 hours 37 minutes, and others raising money for the same cause.
Paul just after finishing the MK marathon We saw Iain enter the stadium and cheered as he ran past. It was about another hour later before we saw Paul enter the stadium. We made our way through the crowds and found him, looking pretty grey, with blue lips. I asked him if he had hit “the wall” during the run.
“I don’t think I hit the wall, but I felt like crying at 20 miles,” he said.
Poor guy. The weather was absolutely horrendous; I don’t know how he and all the others managed to keep going. True grit, but for a good cause: in total they raised about £20,000 for the Bletchley Park Trust!
I become a Bletchley Park trustee
In May 2012 Sir John Scarlett, the new chair of the Bletchley Park Trust, asked me to have lunch with him to have a chat about Bletchley Park. Over lunch I got to know him a bit better and got to share some of the exciting ups and downs of the campaign and my involvement with Bletchley Park. After the lunch, Sir John sent me a letter inviting me to become a trustee of Bletchley Park and join the board. I was delighted to accept, hoping that I would be able to help Bletchley Park move into a new exciting phase of its history. Now that Bletchley Park had been saved, it was time to preserve it, develop it, and turn it into the world-class museum, heritage site and education centre that it deserves to be.
Turing in one word
June 2012 was the centenary of Alan Turing’s birth. I had been asked to speak at the Turing’s Worlds conference at Oxford University on Turing’s birthday, the 23rd June. I spoke about Turing in the public consciousness, calling my talk “Turing 2.0(12)” as a nod to web 2.0 and social media. There was by now so much about Turing in the media, both social and traditional. Over the preceding few years, we had seen a massive rise in interest in Turing from the public, and not just from computer scientists. I talked about the UK Prime Minister’s apology, the Turing papers, Barry Cooper’s excellent work in putting together the Turing centenary, and the ACM Turing 100 conference in San Francisco which I had just attended. There was also Patrick Sammo
n’s film, of course. Even George Takei (of Star Trek fame) was now posting pictures of Turing on Facebook with the heading “Share if you’ve used a computer” – the images received tens of thousands of “shares” and “likes”.
I showed the awesome video of the Lego Turing machine that had been built and the petition to put a statue of Turing on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London. I had previously tweeted a short questionnaire, including a question that asked respondents to describe Turing in one word. The Wordle below, which I displayed during my talk, shows that most people think of the word “genius” when they think of Turing. It was good to see so much public interest in and respect for Turing and his work.
A welcome in the valley
During my day at Bletchley Park with the #SVC2UK guys the previous November, Reid Hoffman, founder and CEO of LinkedIn, had very kindly said that he would host an event in Silicon Valley to raise awareness of Bletchley. Megan Smith, Simon Meacham and others had taken this forward and put together a schedule of events for Sir John Scarlett, the chair of the Bletchley Park Trust, and me. Sir John was to speak about his career at an event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, and I was to give a talk to Googlers at Google Mountain View.
I flew over to San Francisco in June 2012 with my partner Paul and my daughter Leah. We had a week’s holiday together over half term, then I stayed on for a week afterwards.
Unfortunately, Sir John was only able to come over to the Bay Area for a couple of days. We met up with Simon Meacham at Google on the Monday morning and had a good chat together about how the event at the Computer History Museum (CHM) that evening was going to run. We then went over to the museum, which is just down the road from the Google Mountain View (MTV) offices to have a look around.