Charles Armstrong (born 14 September 1971) is a British

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, entrepreneur and author. He is primarily known for his work on social analytics,

emergent democracy In politics, emergent democracy represents the rise of political structures and behaviors without central planning and by the action of many individual participants, especially when mediated by the Internet. It has been likened to the democratic ...

and electronically mediated organisations. Armstrong is CEO of the social analytics business Trampoline Systems, as custodian of

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

CIRCUS foundation and as director of the non-profit One Click Orgs.

Early education

Born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in the United Kingdom, Armstrong's family moved to

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in 1978. Armstrong attended the state primary school in the village of Lanner before being awarded a scholarship and an assisted place to

Truro School Truro School is a coeducational private boarding and day school located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. It is the largest coeducational independent school in Cornwall with over 1050 pupils from pre-prep to sixth form. It is a member s ...

in 1983. In 1988 the family moved to

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

where Armstrong gained academic and musical scholarships to study at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

. In 1990 he was awarded a choral scholarship to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where his uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather had also studied. Armstrong graduated with a degree in Social and Political Science in 1993.

Balkan Odyssey

In 1994 Armstrong formed a venture called the Electric Company which worked with

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

to develop and publish a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

titled "Balkan Odyssey" documenting the peace process in

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

; where Owen was the EU's Peace Envoy. The disc contained the text of Owen's book of the same title with

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...

s to full text of all peace plans, associated maps, debates from the

International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, photo-journalism from the conflict, video reportage from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

and audio material recorded by Owen. The project included an automated system to link relevant items. It was developed by a team of five people using consumer technology for a minimal budget. It is an early cross-platform CD-ROM developed with a single media archiving on both Windows and Apple platforms. The disc was launched in November 2005 at London's Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre and was praised by specialist and mainstream press including the

Economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

CIRCUS foundation

In 1997 Armstrong formed the think tank CIRCUS foundation to develop experimental social projects using electronic media. That same year he came into contact with the sociologist and innovator

Michael Young Michael Young may refer to: Academics * Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington (1915–2002), British life peer, sociologist and social activist * Michael Young (educationalist), British educational theorist and sociologist * Michael K. Youn ...

who was to be a great influence upon him. Armstrong wrote to Young offering his assistance developing electronic learning systems for the

School for Social Entrepreneurs A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of fo ...

which Young was then establishing. This led to the development by CIRCUS foundation of SSE Learning Web, a highly decentralised fore-runner of social networking platforms.

Ethnography in the Isles of Scilly

Armstrong's deepening relationship with SSE led him to become a student with the school in 1999. He left London and relocated to the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

for one year, spending six months on the island of St Agnes, one month on the

Gugh Gugh ( ; ) could be described as the sixth inhabited island of the Isles of Scilly, but is usually included with St Agnes with which it is joined by a sandy tombolo known as "The Bar" when exposed at low tide. The island is only about long a ...

and five months on the island of St Mary's. During his period in the islands Armstrong conducted ethnographic research into information distribution and collective decision-making. He also formed a community enterprise called the Scillonia Digital Workshop to stimulate the development of digital-sector skills in the islands. The constitution for this organisation represents Armstrong's first experiment with electronic democratic systems.

Ghana and Stromboli

After completing his work in the Isles of Scilly Armstrong moved to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy, in 2000. He spent November and December of that year in

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

, Ghana, establishing a derivative of the digital workshop model, producing a short documentary on girls' education and helping school girls work with digital media production. This project was funded by

Camfed CAMFED (also known as the Campaign for Female Education) is an international non-governmental, non-profit organization founded in 1993 whose mission is to eradicate poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young wo ...

. Armstrong returned to London for six months in 2001, during which period Michael Young became Armstrong's mentor on condition that Armstrong taught him how to use a computer. In August 2001 Armstrong moved to the volcanic island of

Stromboli Stromboli ( , ; ) is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the seven Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily, and the mytho ...

where he lived for the following two years.

Trampoline Systems

In July 2003 Armstrong returned to London to found the technology venture Trampoline Systems. The company develops software that analyses large quantities of email and other data to map relationships and subject matter across large complex networks. In 2007 Trampoline announced an investment deal with the Tudor Group. The business received Red Herring's Global 100 Award in 2009. It operates from offices in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

, London.

Emergent democracy

Following Armstrong's experimental constitution for the Scillonia Digital Workshop his interest in electronic democratic systems was reignited by a conversation with

Joi Ito is a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the president of Chiba Institute of Technology. He is on the Board of Directors for the Gelephu Mindfulness City in Bhutan where he is also the Chairman of the Gelephu Investment Developm ...

Foo Camp Foo Camp is an annual hacker event hosted by publisher O'Reilly Media. Event O'Reilly describes it as "the wiki of conferences", where the program is developed by the attendees at the event, using big whiteboard schedule templates that can be re ...

in 2008. This led him to establish CIRCUS foundation's Themis project to develop constitutions and platforms for emergent democracy. In October 2008 One Click Orgs was initiated as a sub-project to develop an electronic platform providing simple legal structures and democratic governance for virtual organisations.

References

External links

Personal website

Trampoline Systems

Expertise Location

One Click Orgs

CIRCUS foundation

The School for Social Entrepreneurs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Charles British ethnographers Chief executives in the technology industry Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 1971 births Living people Businesspeople from Portsmouth Businesspeople from Cornwall