Please use the contact form before booking a Zoom meeting using the second link. I'm usually on GMT+2.
If I'm travelling, I'll note that on my Calendly.
Note: the best way to get in contact with me is always by form/email.
If you have nuclear blueprints to share and would like to drop off some files anonymously, click here and use password 'whiteswan'.
Here are some nooks and crannies of the online universe in which I currently maintain a presence.
I currently run Rosehill Marcom which is focused on providing marketing communications (MarCom) services to clients in the technology sector, with a focus on thought leadership marketing for emerging technology companies and leaders.
DSR Ghostwriting is still extant, although I'm currently focusing on providing more strategic inputs to clients' inbound marketing approaches. The following links typically answer 99% of queries I receive about what I do professionally.
These days, the majority of writing I undertake is on behalf of clients. But from time to time I find time to hem out my own thoughts wherever I can find space online to rant. Some of these archives are now quite old and may not reflect my current thinking.
I'm adding these here because I get asked, frequently, to send on "writing samples." I typically send a formal portfolio, but these three clips actually give a better flavor for the kind of writing I enjoy doing than a portfolio-full of client work.
The first is a quirky and tongue-in-cheek look at a rather interesting and neglected part of the open source community. The latter is some pretty cold but (I hope) useful documentation for backing up Linux servers. The last outlines how I view thought leadership and why I think it's an important and distinctive field from content marketing.
Thought leadership gets a bad rap. Mostly, I would contend, because there's a lot of poor and misdescribed content marketing floating around the internet. My Entrepreneur piece describes my vision for how it can and should be done better.
From time to time, I am interviewed by podcasts and radio stations (note: if I'm asked to do so, I try to interview not because I'm seeking fame. But rather because, as a once-aspiring journalist, I love working with the media and believe in sharing whatever I know/think/feel. If I can find time to do an interview, I'll almost always say 'yes')
To make producers' lives a little easier, here's a link to my current press kit (with short and long bios) and a selection of headshots. Introducing me as a 'marketing consultant' currently living in Jerusalem is fine. Just don't mention the word 'content' (see: later).
Recently, I've been focused on developing a personal YouTube channel, primarily for the purpose of learning about video and audio production. Its focuses to date have been primarily around technology (esp. Linux and backups); Israel; and marketing. Here are a couple of audio and video clips.
I started out studying for a degree in law (I hold an undergraduate degree in it but have never practiced), but then decided that the money was too good in writing to turn down (this has been my stock joke for over 10 years now; don't tell me it's time to put it into retirement).
After getting sucked into student and then freelance journalism (and setting up and running Ireland's second most visited student news site), I decided to study journalism formally at City University, London.
In a development that I hope was unconnected to my attendance, the following year, the MA in Political Journalism was formally abolished. However, it was a useful course and I particularly enjoyed the broadcast module.
I returned to Ireland after studying in London where I help my first job setting up the marketing communications function at Ecanvasser.
Shortly thereafter I moved to Israel and—minus a brief foray into copy-editing at a national broadsheet—have focused since then on marketing communications (commonly abbreviated as 'MarCom').
My first job, in Israel, also involved managing marketing communications (MarCom) for a technology company.
I left that position to run my own MarCom consultancy, helping clients, entrepreneurs and agencies from around the world to improve their marketing communications and set up and execute thought leadership-led marketing strategies.
A much longer version of my life story, that constituted a page on my old blog, can be found archived here
I'm using my YouTube channel as an excuse to learn all about video and audio production. Whoever said that you can't teach a 32 year-old writer new tricks was wrong!
Setting up shop at my first livestreaming project: broadcasting a friend's wedding in Ra'anana, Israel. Main takeaway: assume all hotel WiFi networks are unreliable and use bonded internet connections! Also: don't set up your workstation in 35 degree sun. Or if you do, ask for beer!
Above: home office / YouTube production HQ. I've put a bit of effort into building and maintaining my computer. I'm a huge fan of desktop computers and a longtime Linux user.
I came up with a pretty wild home networking setup this summer (the definition of 'wild' here is that understood by home networkers.) I like to challenge myself with tech projects and enjoy learning under pretty much any guise. If you want plans for a home network that should pretty much never go down, here they are.
Travelling is fun! This is Gordon Beach in Tel Aviv at sunset.
If drinking beer counts as a hobby (don't tell me it doesn't), count me in. The tap on the far left here is Murphy's Irish stout, produced in Cork and now exported globally. Seen at: some bar in Shuk Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem.
I'm a huge fan of hot sauce and the lack of a decent selection in Israel is a cause of ongoing disappointment. Above: Melinda's ghost perpper sauce seen during a trip to Texas last summer. Certified kosher. I spent a while pestering them on Twitter to sell here. Also: never trust an Israeli who tells you that something is mind-bogglingly spicy. Unless they're of Yemenite origin. Then their opinion is somewhat trustworthy but they're still probably way over-estimating (the Yemenite hot sauce is called zhug by the way). Living in Israel doesn't tend to do much for political correctness.
Huge fan of Tubi 60, a unique citrusy spirit popular in Israel. Not a huge fan of the cost of living in Israel, which is among the highest in the world. Above: Tubi 60 seen in Texas this summer — for less than I can find it locally!
I'm married to an American originally from Dallas, Texas. I put a lot about my own life on the internet, but try to keep some things private, especially those involving other people. In lieu of a photo of my wife and I, here's a photo of Bishop's Cider. Brewed in Texas. Absolutely excellent.
For reasons that remain unclear to me, I was admitted to the press cool covering the historic state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland. The visit was the first official visit by an English monarch since Irish independence. The most exciting part of journalism is the strange but magical feeling of watching history unfold from arm's length.
—General life plans—The defining feature of my early 30s has been working really, really hard but also feeling more confident about my place in the world. Having been cooked up for the past two years, I want to see and explore more of it.
—Other life aspirations—
The ones my publicist said that I could share here*:
• Attending Indian cookery school in India (my favorite cuisines, in no particular order, are Indian, Nepalese, Ethiopian, and West African).
• Passing a private pilot's license (PPL)
• Producing a documentary
• Screenwriting a television series
—Favorite words—
'Opprobrium' and its underused adjective 'opprobrious'. I am fond of describing panned movies as having received an 'opprobrious reaction' from audiences.
'Mandarin' is a great word for a bureaucrat too. One of the highlights of my summer working at the Jerusalem Post was getting a reference to a 'military mandarin' (IDF spokesperson) onto prominent copy.
—Least favorite words—
'Content' — which is a vapid and sadly rapidly-promulgating term that appears to mean, roughly, any expression of creative activity. I have never, in my life, described myself as a 'content writer.' The thought of doing so gives me shivers. I will go out of my way to describe any work I do as anything other than 'content' and — unless over-edited — will enclose every reference to 'content' in quotation marks to emphasize my ingrained suspicion of it.
—Favorite literature and movies—
I am an enormous fan of the literary and theatrical genre known as the theater of the absurd. I enjoy almost anything that raises questions about our conception of reality - or the state of the world generally. I find most Israeli comedy far too slapstick (although I enjoy Kupai Raishit). Generally, I connect a lot more with British, Irish, and more brooding, wry forms of humor.
These are some of the things from my personal life that I have recently written and which I care about.
Case studies about my professional endeavors can be found on my professional site. • I recently interviewed Professional Nick Talley, one of the world's leading research gastroenterologists, and shared some emerging science in the realm of functional dyspepsia (FD) treatments on YouTube. The interview was (to the best of my knowledge) the first patient-focused Q&A about FD published on the internet. Besides being somewhat self-serving (I have a bit of this), it was also an amazing opportunity to present information from the world of clinical research and the drug development pipeline to a patient audience.Atlassian, and many tech bloggers, have championed the idea of writing documentation ... for yourself.
I think that this is a terrific idea, particularly as I'm also a strong proponent of remote work — and in the remote environment such documentation is arguably even more essential than it might otherwise be.
I:
• Love working on projects that are carefully scheduled and organized and properly resourced.
• Am a big believer in asynchronous communication and the value of periodic digital disengagement.
• Work best on projects that provide opportunities for growth and learning. I also relish opportunities to get involved in strategic planning.
My career aspirations?
I'm something of a tecchie with a strong background working in and with software companies but —unlike many techhies— I'm not such a fan of startup-y / we-figure-things-out-on-the-fly / priorities-shift-here-every-10-minutes / let's-try-to-do-things-as-cheaply-and-scrappily-as-possible working cultures.
Rowing a little bit contrary to that, I like to wear multiple hats, but mostly those focused around marketing communications and strategy and storytelling. I appreciate a bit of structure too and opportunity for growth. Oh, and I like to have access to decent tech so that I can bring more value to the teams I work for and with.
I typically get an INFP on Myers-Briggs personaliy testing scores.
To date, I have both ghostwritten 📖 books on behalf of clients and published pseudonymously.
I am currently working on a non-fiction book about Israel. I hope to be finished drafting ... some time in the next year!
The book plans to tackle some of the downsides of Israel's macro-economic success and its rapid transformation from a poor socialist country to a hyper-capitalist economy with a high rate of income inequality and concentrated capital ownership.
It will contain interviews with professional economists and explore ideas for how the Israel of tomorrow can be a more equitable and accessible society for all its citizens.
This is a very large project which is quite ambitious in scope. Nevertheless, I'm hopeful that it can fill something of a gaping hole in the literature about this still very young country's development.
In the meantime, here are some works that I can take credit for
I've written quite extensively over the past few years and try to be as transparent and authentic when describing my opinions and what I believe in.
I realize that some of these views are contrarian. But I'm proud to own them anyway. In the interest of transpareny, here are some of the points I have outlined in my writing to date (naturally: these were the opinions, as I shaped them, at the time of writing. My thinking about the world, like most people's, is fluid and in a frequent state of flux.)).
Let's start with just about the most controversial and polarizing subject on the planet. I moved to Israel, from Ireland, in 2015—a process which Jews refer to as making aliyah (literally, an upward ascension).
When it comes to Israel, I have a hard time fitting my beliefs into any typical rubric like 'pro-Israel' or 'Zionist' or even by reference to a particular place on the political spectrum. But to offer a window into my conception of the country:
Remote work has the potential to change the world enormously —and I believe (vastly) for the better.
Unfortunately a lot of the discourse that has been written about it to date—at least that written by over-caffeinated remote work startup founders—has been surface-level and ignores a few glaring problems with the model as it curently operates.
For one, the marketplace as remote jobseekers currently encounter it is bewildering and frustrating to interface with.
A few months ago the first stories of deliberately misleading headhunters encouraging applicants to apply for non-remote positions began surfacing on the internet. What began as a trickle will eventually likely become an avalanche.
Right now, it's something of a jungle out there. To make it less so, for one, we need to agree upon a globally-acceptable nomenclature defining exactly what can be considered 'remote,' 'hybrid' and 'in office.
More significant changes would be improved remote jobs boards that have enough influence over companies to force them to list vacancies accurately
Changes could go well beyond that, too.
The concept of a local (geographically-restricted) job market simply doesn't map well onto a global talent marketplace. I believe that we need to begin thinking about alternative approaches to matching talent with the most suitable employers. Inverting the process on its head—for instance by providing some Tinder-like system to encourage companies and talent to express mutual interest—would be a much more noteworthy step in the right direction.
There are other impediments to remote working too. Each of these represents a small but significant roadblock standing between remote work as it has begun to be practiced today and its ultimate potential, which is nothing other than entirely un-tethering knowledge workers from their employers' place of employment.
Trivial but noteworthy examples: if I want to look up where in the world a medication I take may be illegal to carry, I have no easy means of doing so. It's not beyond the bounds of credibility that an enthusiastic digital nomad stopping off in Japan (with some Vyvanse in his medicine bag) could find himself unexpectedly appearing before a court on charges of drug smuggling.
The sad plight of many in this generation is one of indefinite renting. Unfortunately humanity remains largely attached to a notion of home ownership that has more in common with Feudalism than how the world as it currently exists—or could exist—really works.
For one, the current default position—largely internationally—is that renters are precluded from subletting. This puts digital nomadism beyond the reach of many, assuming that they don't want to run the risk of finding themselves evicted upon their return. I'd love to see a global push towards better tenant protection law, especially in geographies—like Israel—where it is notably weak. While the current rental market leaves much to be desired, a rental market re-architected to support easy international remote travel could, in fact, be better than owning property!
Other considerations that need to be addressed for remote work to reach its potential: the lack of inter-operability of global healthcare systems; taxation concerns.