Ed Baker graduated with a BSc in physics from Imperial College, London, in 2007 and somehow ended up working in the Entomology Department of the Natural History Museum shortly after. His work focuses on how technology, both hardware and software, can improve the way research is performed, from field data collection to final publication. Outside the technology world, he is a specialist on stick insects, cockroaches, and grasshoppers.
Recently, his work has focused on automated acoustic and environmental monitoring, protocols for sensor networks, and starting the biodiversity technology company http://www.infocology.co.uk.
Ed's first book, provisionally titled Arduino for Biologists, will be published in 2015 with Pelagic Publishing.
Colin Deady's career in IT started in the late 1990s, when he discovered software testing ("they want me to break it?"), having previously fallen in love with computers when his parents brought him and his brother a ZX81 and ZX Spectrum+ in the 1980s and later an Amiga 1200 in the early 1990s. With over 15 years of experience in testing, he works as a Technical Test Manager, emphasizing the benefits of test automation and extolling the virtues of agile using Kanban and Behavior-Driven Development to great effect: define behaviors, then test early, test often. He combines BDD with a fix early, fix often approach that he terms Zero Known Defects.
Colin was one of the technical reviewers for Tim Cox's excellent Raspberry Pi Cookbook for Python Programmers, by Packt Publishing, and has written several articles for The MagPi, a community magazine for the Raspberry Pi. He has also reviewed and edited many more, building up extensive knowledge on this tiny platform.
He currently runs a blog related to all things Raspberry Pi, which can be found at www.rasptut.co.uk.
Ian McAlpine was first introduced to computers when he used his school's Research Machines RML 380Z and his physics teacher's Compukit UK101. This was followed by a Sinclair ZX81 and then a BBC Micro Model A, which he still has to this day. The interest he has in computers resulted in an MEng degree in electronic systems engineering from Aston University and an MSc in information technology from the University of Liverpool. Ian is currently a product expert in the Business Intelligence and Analytics Competence Center at SAP Labs in Vancouver, Canada.
The introduction of the Raspberry Pi rekindled his desire to "tinker" but also provided him with an opportunity to give back to the community. Ian is also a very active volunteer, who works for The MagPi, a monthly magazine for the Raspberry Pi community, which you can read online or download for free from www.themagpi.com. He also holds an amateur radio license (callsign VE7FTO) and is a communications volunteer for his local community emergency management office. He was a technical reviewer for Raspberry Pi Cookbook for Python Programmers, by Packt Publishing.