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Christopher B. Yardley

Chris Yardley worked as a salesman in the computer industry for 46 years, during 1961–2005. His career, following every opportunity afforded, resulted in him living and working in five countries during this time. He has travelled extensively in some thirty countries. He has a real interest in the political and cultures of these countries and how it determines the salesman’s approach to doing business. Prior to retirement he undertook making a record of the computer industry in which he was working coming to the conclusion that it had been the front-line salesmen who had created the computer and communications explosion we have seen since the 1980s.

Post retirement he has undertaken a Master of Science Communication at the Australian National University and followed that with a science communication study leading to a PhD.

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2857-448X

Also Innovators »

How one computer salesman contributed to the digital revolution

Authored by: Christopher B. Yardley

Publication date: April 2019

‘Thank you for your order, Mr Mainframe Customer. The cost is £5 million and the lead-time for manufacture will be two years. In the meantime you will have to build a special computer centre to our specification. For our part, our project team will help you recruit and train potential programmers and we shall advise on how you might use the system.’ How different from today when the customer will want to see a specific application running before he puts a hand in his/her pocket. Chris Yardley lived the changes as a computer salesman and tells his story of a career living and working in five countries. Warts and all. The ecstasies, the heartbreaks and idiocies of major corporations. His career was not a planned one. In a growing industry, opportunities presented themselves and Chris believes he grasped every one presented. Having written his story, he has had every chapter verified by at least one person who features in that narrative. His respondents have universally endorsed the facts with comments such as ‘Wow, I’d forgotten most of that’. ‘You have a fantastic memory.’ ‘I never knew before the full facts of what happened.’ ‘How have you remembered all the circumstances?’ ‘It really is a people business.’ This is the only book that has followed a computer sales career over almost 50 years.

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The Representation of Science and Scientists on Postage Stamps »

A science communication study

Authored by: Christopher B. Yardley

Publication date: February 2015

The Representation of Science and Scientists on Postage Stamps examines how the postal authorities of the world have developed unique techniques to portray science and scientists in order to convey a message behind the stamp issue. It is a multi-disciplinary examination that investigates visual representation, semiotics, science, science history and politics, amongst other issues. The author introduces and describes a technique for looking at how and why images may have been chosen. Is the image a mirror reflecting a known reality or is it a lens to challenge, to prompt further thought or action? He also hypothesises that the Internet created a real change to science communication, influencing the way images of science were used. The stamp message changed from that of pursuing a public understanding approach to an awareness of science with its increasing contextual content.

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