Vale Adrian Miles - Adrian Danks writes about the loss of a colleague and friend

Adrian Miles

This has been a post I certainly did not want to write and have taken a few days to ponder. This week two close colleagues at RMIT have passed away, Adrian Miles and Ed Montano. 

Our thoughts are with their families and also all their friends and colleagues. We are all completely devastated to lose such wonderful, thoughtful and truly inspiring friends and colleagues.

There will be a memorial to Adrian next Thursday (Feb 15) afternoon in Storey Hall at RMIT. I will post further details when I have them.

I can't think of my life at RMIT without Adrian. He and I shared an office for many years in the 1990s, taught together and often enjoyed confusing students who really didn't know which Adrian they wanted to speak to (a confusion that has continued and that is just one thing I will deeply miss). I was often referred to as the "other Adrian" - a title I will continue to wear with honour.Adrian was a profoundly provocative, challenging & playful colleague - but as a friend he was supportive, inquisitive & deeply thoughtful. A feel privileged to have known both sides of Adrian and have come to realise that our time together at RMIT - where we would often be referred to as the "two Adrians" - was more about comradeship than collegiality (though we certainly still had plenty of the latter).

Adrian Miles (l) with ACMI officer Seb Chan

Adrian was and will continue be a towering presence in so many fields - even if some of them may not quite know that yet. His contributions to the fields of internet studies, online documentary, hypertext and the rest will continue. I feel very privileged to have been there when Adrian first started to get truly impassioned by the possibilities of the online world (though he never really left his previous fascinations behind). I am also honoured that it was Adrian who published CTEQ Annotations on Film as an online film journal in 1996! And I was privileged to have provided the initial research for his extraordinary Chris Marker database. He will continue to be a vital presence for so many us.

Farewell my wonderful, challenging and playful friend.