Rutherford's Tiny Tiny Mind

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

• $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
• $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Today’s lecture had a much more vocational flavour. Radford only graduated from Cardiff newspaper diploma just a few years ago, and is now a very competent multi-skilled reporter for the Newbury Weekly News. Every week questions have been asked regarding the best avenue to employment after this course, and here we have a genuine, successfully employed course alumni.

What surprised me was the advanced nature and the range of technology she’s expected to use. With what sounds like a sparse amount of training, a tiny staff, and a lack of time, Radford, writes, produces, edits and presents her news. It does seem a little worrying that once you are branded as a multi skilled journalist, editors will expect you to perform a massive spectrum of roles. This led to a very pertinent question about whether she was worried about “being a jack of all trades and a master of none?”

Radford’s response was that she worries about it all the time, and that there was a concern that her work wouldn’t be taken as seriously. Additionally she said she would love to spend more time on individual areas and produce higher quality work.

Clearly this is more of an issue for a smaller paper with fewer resources than at an international media organisation, but it’s definitely something we need to be aware of as fledgling journalists, as many of our starting points will be in these smaller companies.

Radford’s advice was astute in this respect, saying that when a story came up she felt was important, she would fight for extra time and space for it. We would do well to take the same approach. Having been foolish enough to choose such a highly competitive industry, nothing is going to be handed to us on a plate. Fighting for the stories we want to write will show that we are passionate about our job, and worthy of its position.

Word of the day - Euphemism

Main Entry: eu·phe·mism
1: the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant

David English's Swear Box
“Ah yes, Anglesea. That’s this hell hole up here.”

Against my better judgement, I feel like I’m heading down the road of writing something about blogging. Against my better judgement because, having looked over last year’s online pieces, Simon would probably eat his hat rather than read another one.

However, I do have some interesting-ish information that may make it a bit more palatable as a subject. One of my posts revolves around a blog I enjoy called Rummaging. It’s been a favourite for a while, but when checking back I noticed new posts were few and far between. I contacted the author (Andy) and got this reply…

“Good blogging requires a frequency and discipline, I got bored once the 'funny Ebay story' became a staple space-filler in just about every paper and blog out there. It didn't feel like I could say anything interesting.”

So far so good. It’s quite understandable that a worldwide phenomenon like Ebay should spawn a significant amount of coverage. If that coverage is so comprehensive that someone can’t find anything new to blog about, more power to the professional journalist’s elbow.

Andy went on to say he’d received a glowing review of Rummaging from the Guardian's technology section. Then some time later, the deputy editor of the Guardian’s technology section started a rival Ebay blog, Bayraider, through a commercial blogging company, Shiny media. After having a brief look around, it would appear that Shiny have over 20 of these ‘commercial’ blogs, on a variety of subjects.

Jeff Jarvis said in the Guardian that the growth of blogs has developed “A new commercial practise, the dark art of trying to manipulate the public to buzz about your brand.”

So how does commercial blogging work? What markets are there to exploit, and can this dark art really achieve results? What I propose is a 750 word investigation into the exploitation of the blog. Can buzz be bought? Can you flog a blog?

Technorati Profile

It would appear the voice of the people has been heard on this one, and the book has been shelved....

So OJ Simpson, the man who got off a double murder charge because a blood soaked glove didn’t fit any more, is releasing a book called ‘If I did it’. What could possibly be the subject? How he would have killed his wife and her friend if he had done it. Obvious really. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Fox have also booked a two part slot to interview OJ about it. Sounds like an 18 rated Jackanory.

I can’t wait for the stage version.

Quite the entrance. Clifton’s take on Simon’s introduction was a very adamant “Most of that was bollocks.” No, not what Simon said exactly but Clifton’s rather self-effacing response to the many accolades in the opening.

Altogether more impressing was Clifton’s take on the ‘Web 2.0’ Americanism that has been the buzzword of choice for some time. “Web 2.0 irritates the hell out of me and I’ll try not to say it again.” Very British Clifton, very Bond, I like it.

As head of BBC Interactive, Clifton is full of interesting ideas. For the beeb’s output, things like aggregation, using BBC.co.uk as a viewer for the user’s favourite websites. He gives off an air of authenticity, and a sense of inevitability, that these things will happen and be an absolute success.

He also, I think, sits in the Burton camp on blogs. As Burton says, “Anything that costs has to earn its keep.” Clifton seemed to indicate the same in his talk when he said “The BBC went blog crazy for a while. I want some blogs, not loads, and for the blogger to be committed.”

Blogging, like any medium, has to be relevant. It needs to be done by dedicated people with interesting and important things to say. So in with high quality-low quantity blogs and out with everyone and their dog getting on the bandwidth about their day at school.

Word of the Day - Efface

Main Entry: ef·face
1 : to eliminate or make indistinct by or as if by wearing away a surface
2 : to make (oneself) modestly or shyly inconspicuous

David English's Swear Box:
“And all the animals got washed away. It was quite funny.”

Daniel Meadows - enthusiastic, inspiring, but possibly a bit short-sighted? Meadows was an excellent speaker, and I think that stems from his passion for what he is doing. He really really really believes in it. And to some extent I was swept along with that, as he carries a significant amount of charisma. He was also a great source of interesting phrases, leading the talk with prose. The best line for me was one containing the particularly pertinent words “electric embrace”.

Getting into the talk proper, Mr Meadows stated that “Journalists will need as many skills in enabling people to tell their own stories as they will to tell their own.” That looks a bit clumsy on paper, but I assure you it worked well in speech. At this point I started to feel a bit more doubtful. As many skills? I don’t think the skill groups are separate at all. The basic journalism we are learning now, interviewing, feature and news writing, will allow us to tell stories of all kinds, from all kinds of people. User generated content and citizen journalism are mentioned in every dark pub corner these days but, somewhere along the line these ‘stories’ need to be subbed, they need to be succinct, they need to be relevant. And that requires good journalism, and good journalism alone.

I liked Digital Storytelling, it’s nice. Great that a Welsh chap can say how he doesn’t understand his girlfriend’s obsession with shoes. Well done on the Bafta and all that, but these stories are essentially, a little bit pointless. I guess I could sum up how I feel about this in Mr Meadows’ own words. When asked about how the ‘Digital Stories’ did in the ratings, the reply was “Well we know nobody turns on to see them, we’re trying to tell how many people turn off when they come on.” Let me take a guess….

Word for the day - Salient

Main Entry: sa·lient
1 : moving by leaps or springs
2 : jetting upward
3 a : projecting beyond a line, surface, or level
b : standing out conspicuously

David English's Swear Box:
“I know you young people are into your popular beat combos”

There are apparently 57 million (Thanks Alana) other blogs out there. Well I don’t care about them frankly. What I do know, is that the majority of people reading mine and all the other course blogs are, unsurprisingly, people on the course.

So here it is, Rutherford’s choice for the finest bits and pieces from our collective minds. (Which, having read a number of them, is becoming a bit like a hive colony. You know, everyone absorbing the same information and then sharing the same thoughts by some cerebral osmosis. It’s a bit spooky. And if anyone takes offence to being referred to as an ant/bee drone, they can come meet me in the playground after school for a ‘little chat’.)

Best Line: Dando scores big: “I'll never have another one. A taxi driver told me the day after that at a certain age, the humble Punto becomes "a right slag". I can do nothing but agree with him.”

Best Comment: Walker, mainly because it summed up my own frustration with blogging better than I could have put it.
“At times looking for my weekly blog of the week can seem like shuffling through a massive pub full of opinionated pissheads.”

Best Link: Clearly Dan Worth. Just check it out.

Best Photo: Barnett's studio quality image. And I'd like to quash any rumours about collagen injections, those lips are as god made them...

Richard Burton the Telegraph’s ex online editor, came to speak to us today. I was expecting a bitter scythe at the organisation which let him go, but he seemed altogether cheery. I suppose that’s part of the modern media world, here today gone tomorrow, and it would appear he has a few fingers in a few pies anyway… Rolling with the punches is certainly a skill I think I’ll need to develop in an constantly shifting media environment. I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m planning on getting fired…

In this ebullient mood he did offer a very nice sound byte for the change that journalists have, and will continue to make, “Online meant that as a print journalist, I suddenly had a broadcast ability.”

Online has to be treated as a different animal to print, even on a news website. This is key to a successful online presence. Burton went on to comment on a useful advantage of online, “You can get an instant response from the story.”

Journalism online will give you a very real response of what people are reading. Using web statistics (some are more useful than others), you can get a very good steer on what people are looking at. What Burton seemed to find particularly useful is getting a count on the smaller, more unusual stories, and then dependant on the number of hits, bump them up to a more prominent position.

As an editor, this has to be a fantastic tool, knowing exactly what parts of your publication people are reading. This instant response means that information can be tailored directly to the audience, and really engage with them.

Word for the day - Ebullient

Main Entry: ebul·lient
1 : boiling, agitated
2 : characterized by ebullience : having or showing liveliness and enthusiasm, ebullient performers, ebullient charm

David English’s Swear Box:
Burton referring to a German he had forgotten the name of as “Helmut von Panzer Division”.

So take a nice shiny new magazine journalism student and stick him in a tiny room with 80 other wannabe journo’s. Then let a lady who looks and sounds sterner than a mental institution matron and make him study an insane new language that doesn’t even have an alphabet. Seriously, it’s made out of scribbles and stuff.

Then, bear in mind it’s not compulsory, have the matron tell all concerned that if they haven’t already covered the first ten chapters in the book, they had better leave now as, I quote “there’s no way you’re catching up.” What do you expect him to do? That’s right, I walked. As fast as my little feet could take me…

The point is, why do I feel like such a leper? It appears that almost everyone else has stuck it out, and really wants to learn shorthand apparently. And now it’s all my friends can talk about, how something ‘terribly funny’ happened in shorthand, "weren’t you there James?" and then the look of realisation crosses their face followed by the inevitable "Oh that’s right. You dropped it." There’s something almost apologetic about the last bit. Like they’ve just mentioned a departed relative or something. And then they start writing little shorthand notes to each other, like they’re soooo cool. Little shits. It’s like I’m outside some exclusive club where everyone’s having a good time except for me, face pressed up against a steamy window.

Well we’ll see. Once that work load starts mounting, I can see 'em all dropping like flies…So much so that when they do, I’m going to start some sort of ‘NO SHORTHAND CLUB’ and we can all go and get smashed on Tuesdays, cause without shorthand we don’t have to be in till 1PM on a Wednesday! Come to the dark side, my long handed sons and daughters, together we shall write words in all their expanded glory!

Anyway, I’m sure that it’s not really necessary. Come on, in this age of solid state recorders for two a penny, and libel cases up the ying yang, what would you rather have when the judge looms over your defence barrister? A scientifically provable voice print, or some doodles in a book?

Iain Dale - 18 Doughty Street

I have to say, Iain was a refreshing breath of fresh air. Cool, calm, eloquent and inspiring. But before I brown nose anymore let’s get the crap out the way. There was a point where I think narcissism would be a kind description. A five foot Dale face filled the screen, Iain breathed heavily into the microphone, while he showed us his latest “polemic monologue” from Doughty Street. I felt slightly claustrophobic in this supersized Dale world, but it soon passed and with it, the cynicism I had about a Conservative setting up a politics channel, which fell from my eyes like scales from Saul (If you don't get that reference, READ THE BIBLE you heathens!). I also think he will live to regret coining the phrase "I don't think therefore I blog." It's one of those ones that will always come back to bite you in the ass.

Back to the crawling then. I certainly felt energised by the potential Dale and Co. seem to have tapped into. Their idea seems so blindingly obvious and simple, now someone has done it, I can't see how it can fail. He's right when he says that the mainstream media have marginalised politics, and he's right when he says that plenty of people will want to watch something with more content. The internet then is clearly the place for this niche market. And it is a niche Iain, and you would be a fool to think otherwise. I suppose that some barriers may be in the way due to the affiliation to the Conservatives that they will be marked with, but perhaps they could introduce an independent element in the future. It would probably require a re-launch and Dale handing over his control to receive any credibility, but I think that could work. Currently it will appeal to all the people who watch News night and This Week, and I do think it would add an extra dimension to their viewing. But what Dale has to realise is that the fashion in which he referred to Portillo and Abbott, is exactly the same way other people will refer to him and Doughty Street, due to his clear blue stance. He will always alienate a group of political opposites no matter how neutral and how high the quality of his show.

Further I enjoyed his comments on how old media still doesn’t understand how to influence the new. Blogs still are a rather unexploited avenue that has yet to peak. Interesting to hear that American politics seem more affected by it than ours currently are. I do think that currently, the power of blogs lie within their independence and detachment. Clearly then, this will be affected by their rise in popularity, and soon I’m sure we will see a more subversive kind of blog appear. It’s all very well to say that a ghost written blog will stand out a mile, but all it will take is for a particularly slick PR firm to get involved and it will be a piece of cake. A perfect example is the guerrilla marketing used for Sandi Thom, which exploited the internet in exactly the same way that blogs will be.

Word of the Day - po·lem·ic

Main Entry: po·lem·ic
1 a : an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another
b : the art or practice of disputation or controversy
2 : an aggressive controversialist

David English's Swear Box:
" I hate pets."

Amanda Powell - Editor BBC Wales Online.

What can I say about Amanda? I suppose the first thing would be that I wish her surname was Hugnkiss, but that's by the by really. Overall, she was interesting-ish. I was surprised that the average user is only on the BBC site for three minuets, and it was nice to have a look at the Beeb's CMS, or CMP as they like to call it... I think it's a bit weird how the Beeb does seem to have its own language and values. It almost feels like you have to be a certain type of person to fit in there, and that was, I think exemplified by Amanda. She's a bit wet. I haven't heard the term ‘wag’ used so many times since the World Cup, (and in the context Amanda used it, since 1955). And, come on, the picture gag for the transit of Venus, would barely make it onto a comedy spam email. Additionally she didn't seem as comfortable with the technology as she should be. Saying that cropping a photo in Adobe can make it more attractive is just a little patronising.

Maybe I’m being a little harsh, and it must be a tough gig following Charles Reiss, I'm sure some of that stuff was relevant to some people. Just not to me. And unfortunately this is my blog, so hard lines Amanda.

Hmmm. Now I'm wondering whether Simon and Bob have considered the irreparable damage to future careers these blogs might have...

Word for the day - Invidious

Main Entry: in·vid·i·ous
1 : tending to cause discontent, animosity, or envy
2 : envious
3 : of an unpleasant nature

David English's Swear Box:
"About as useless as a spare prick at a wedding"

Ooooh, here's a blog from my favourite blogger! Rummage.org, started from a keen interest in the ebay community and the 'characters' found therein. I first enjoyed a read all about some of the weirdest feed back left on ebay. As far as I can remember, something along the lines of someone saying "Thanks, I look forward to strapping it to my cat...." The posts have broadened in subject now, and incorporate a plethora of subjects. Writing is tight and on the whole pretty funny. Give him a try. http://www.rummaging.org/

David English's Swear Box:
Words heard from the mouth of the English this week were.... to a female colleague "if you were from broadcast I'd have told you to look at your navel."

I felt a little nerdy starting my first blog with two words that have heralded geekdom's rise since the early 90s, but hey, two of those nerds just sold their company for something like 350 million. I don't really care if that's dollars or sterling-it's an equally filthy amount in either fiscal term. Plus, the purpose company's software, as far as I can tell, is to allow people to upload videos of themselves bouncing on things, falling off things and being hit by things. Then after they've done that they can then look at other people bouncing on things, falling off things and being hit by things. Who'd have thought an interactive 'You've been framed' would be worth such a staggering amount of money. I bet Jeremy Beadle's turning in his TV grave.

hello world...