alexwlchan

My name is Alex Chan, but I often go by just Alex or alexwlchan online. I’m a software developer, writer, and hand crafter from the UK.

I build systems for digital preservation – making sure that digital archives remain safe and accessible into the far future. Currently I think about photos at the Flickr Foundation, and before that I helped build services to store and search the museum and library collections at Wellcome Collection.

I enjoy writing, and I’ve been posting at this domain since 2012. I write about a variety of non-fiction topics, with a particular focus on software development. If you want to know what’s on my mind, check out the articles I’ve written, the talks I’ve given, and the lessons I’ve learned.

In my free time, I enjoy doing art and simple hand crafts to relax. I’ve had a lot of fun doing cross stitch, origami and paper craft, and doodling sketches of implausible sci-fi vehicles.

I’m queer and trans. My pronouns are “they” or “she”.

This website is a place to share stuff I find interesting or fun. I hope you like it!

Favourite articles

My articles cover a variety of non-fiction topics. Here are a few of my favourites:

My newest articles

I typically write three or four new articles a month. If you want to find out when I post something new, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or follow me on social media.

Here’s what I’ve written recently: