Happy Birthday Livic – Seven Years Old!

Back in 2004, I and fellow civil engineering student Andy Kosinski got together to create a new student newspaper for the civil engineering department at Imperial College. It was called Livic (‘civil’ backwards).

All of us involved with getting Livic started had a big vision for the departmental rag. The last time I posted about Livic was in 2007 when the paper had reached its fourteenth edition. Back then things were going strong for Livic under Andy’s editorship.

Until recently, I hadn’t really heard much more about Livic. And then, two weeks ago, this year’s newly elected Livic editor Hamish MacKenzie got in touch to do an interview. I was really chuffed, and, on reflection, happily surprised to hear that it is still going – surprised because as with lots of student societies, people come and go; initiatives wax and wane. It is not a given that things like Livic will survive. That it has survived is a credit to all the people that have steered the ship in the intervening time.

Hamish’s getting in touch is timely. I recently started looking around for other engineering-related blogs to follow, and I have found very few. I am reminded that there are few engineers writing about engineering – something that I believe would help significantly to raise the profile of the profession. And here is an initiative that does exactly that.

Given its unusualness and its fragility (all it would take is for no editor to stand for election one year and the whole thing could be forgotten) I therefore feel the need to offer my support, and to invite other Livic alums to do the same. Since I graduated I have certainly learned a few things about how universities, professional institutions and engineering companies work, and I hope that I and others could use this knowledge to help support and grow Livic, whether it’s by finding sponsorship, suggesting stories, or writing columns about life in the workplace.

Hamish and I have already talked about me contributing a regular column about Workshed. It has also crossed my mind that an online archive of old copies would be a useful thing. If you are reading this post because your a Livic alum and I’ve pinged to you, maybe there’s ways that you would be willing to lend a hand.

Hamish – I hope this is useful…