We are very happy to welcome Sebastian Mary Harrington onto the “official” Institute masthead. This is long overdue, and merely formalizes what is already without question one of our most important and well established partnerships. But formalized it is. And we’re damn pleased.
It all started two Octobers ago with a casual comment on a post about iPods and reading. An email exchange ensued and before we knew it sMary was blogging away, quickly carving out her place as what you might call our “new online literary forms correspondent.” For over a year now she’s been writing some of the best coverage to be found anywhere on alternative reality games (ARGs), as well as brilliant speculative essays on the future shape of authorship, copyright and the economics of publishing. (She’s also become a dear friend.) I wonder if it’s happened before: a random blog comment leading to a paid writing gig? It’s a good story in itself, and sort of captures why blogging is such an important part of our work.
Here’s little sampler of her if:book portfolio (running newest to oldest):

• “books and the man i sing”: parts one, two and three
• “of babies and bathwater”
• “it’s multimedia, jim, but not as we know it”
• “pay attention to the dance”
• “give away the content and sell the thing”
• net native stories are already here: so are the vultures”
• “do bloggers dream of electrifying text?”

Once again, we’re delighted sMary will be officially working with us for part of every month, continuing to deliver her sharp insights and humor here on if:book, and taking part in some of our emerging activities on the London scene.
This is also probably a good time to say a bit more about sMary’s other endeavors. In addition to her work with the Institute, she’s co-founder of the UK web startup School of Everything (chosen by Seedcamp as one of Europe’s hottest startups of 2007) and co-founder and creative director of the cult London art event ARTHOUSEPARTY. You can find out a bit more on our staff page.
Another warm welcome to sMary. You’ll no doubt be hearing more from her soon.