Each member of our team is passionate about the role we play in making a positive impact in the community. Learn more about the people behind the passion and what makes them proud to be part of the work we do.
Introducing Edward
I grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula in Point Lonsdale. I studied a Bachelor of Arts at Swinburne University, majoring in creative writing. These days I spend time writing, reading, gardening, being with my friends and loved ones, cooking, running and working.
What is your role at the Information Access Group?
I work as a Project Editor. I write Easy Read documents, review other people’s work and coordinate some of our larger projects from an editorial standpoint. I’m also involved in user testing, including our screen reader user testing and the focus groups we run.
That’s the meat and potatoes of what I do.
Tell us about a project you've worked on that you are proud of
Recently I worked on a job for Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA). WWDA are an advocacy organisation that supports the rights of women, girls and gender-diverse people with disability. This was a mammoth project with more than 100 pages of content. The team really came together for this one. It was my job to coordinate the editorial side of things, including creating a style guide for the project, overseeing consistency across the suite, and making sure the team stayed up to date with client feedback. It was a lot of work, but it was an absolute privilege to be part of such an important project. The website explores many topics, with a focus on violence prevention, safety, healthy relationships and wellbeing. We covered really sensitive issues like gender and sexuality and how to recognise violence or abuse in relationships.
What do you find most rewarding about the work you do at the Information Access Group?
To be honest, it’s just the satisfaction of seeing a much simpler version of a difficult-to-read document. I find thinking about the end user really interesting. What information do they actually need to know? This question can lead to us cutting a lot of clutter or asking for more context. It’s very satisfying. And leads to a better product for everyone.
You’ve recently started regular nights that rotate between friends, hosting dinners as an alternative to meeting at the pub. Why do you think it’s important to have spaces outside of the drinking culture for men to foster relationships?
Well, I think for a lot of people there needs to be a campfire. An activity that everyone’s there to watch or do together. Think board game nights, potlucks, sport, Christmases, birthdays, gigs, going to the movies, going out to dinner. Human beings like to have something to do while we’re hanging out together. That’s why high school is so freaking awkward – imagine just standing around with a group of people for forty minutes, waiting for a bell to go, nothing to do, nothing to say to each other. Try doing that with a bunch of peers, even now. It gets pretty awkward pretty quick.
I’m not sure it’s the case with all men, but at least for many of the men in my life – the campfire is the pub. Alcohol hasn’t played a major part in my life. But for many people I know, it has. There’s a closeness you can get when you’ve had a few drinks with friends. It’s easier to talk about what’s really going on, it feels easier to be loving. And I mean that – it only feels easier. Because that sort of lubricated closeness doesn’t stick. Not unless there’s a follow-up conversation in the sober, wakeful, daylit world.
Being vulnerable when you’re at the pub is easy.
So, we’ve started doing this thing where we make dinner for each other. I guess when you hit your late twenties, you take stock of what you’ve done, what you’re doing, where you want to be. We realised that we want to be a bit more wholesome. Be a bit realer. Connect without this slippery, expensive mediator between us and our feelings. We’ll see how it goes, but we’re all enjoying it so far. For people that don’t go to the pub, this probably sounds kind of silly. But there’s probably a few people that don’t find this idea silly at all. Not one bit.
Writing is something you are passionate about – can you tell us about the writing group you are involved with and what it does?
For sure! I’m part of an organisation called Meridian Australis, where we champion writers in the speculative-fiction short story space. It’s a community. When you join, you get split into a group of about 6 other writers, and that’s your family. You write short stories, share them with the people in your little group and give each other feedback. It’s great fun. Short stories are like crash courses in writing. You have to compress a whole narrative into a tiny space, but you still need a gripping opening, a resolution, themes you want to explore, a lean plot, fat on the cutting room floor, a wonderful shape, a character at the centre of it.
We hear you are currently working on a manuscript – can you give us a sneak peak of what it’s about and what you hope to do with it?
It’s a crime/thriller story set in Geelong. It’s the headlong plummet of an angry, lonely young man called Jake on a search to find his girlfriend. It explores the vulnerability of modern masculinity, the struggle to find purpose in life and the failures of Australia to support what its hurt young men really need.
I guess in a way it links to what I talked about above, with the pub and the daylit world. But this is about a young guy who’s gone off the deep end. He’s in a nosedive, falling through grace. He doesn’t have connection he can trust in. He doesn’t have support for what he’s going through. It’s a dark book, really. Basically, it says what not to do.
I’ve done about 8 drafts of it, had a bunch of friends look it over. I’m just looking for publishers at this point. See how we go!
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer of course! Since I was in grade 2. But it takes a lot of work. A lot of lonely, disciplined, mad work. The old saying gives me comfort: how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I guess I’m lucky in that I rather enjoy the taste. Not many people get past all the toe jam.
