Every reason to live in terror of a resurgence in Japanese militarism. Someone spent months making this thing.
Journalism
4
Aug 09
NPR: the perfect promo video?
OK, so it’s a little stiff-kneed, but this is actually a perfect promo video for its audience – honest, well-edited and informative. I’ll live without the tricksy cuts and in jokes: I wanted to go try and site at the end of watching the flick.
2
Aug 09
Why charging may be good for journalism
So the European Court of Justice decides that even a snippet of text from a newspaper can be enough to break the law, in the same week that The Associated Press decides to take aggressive steps to protect its content.
First, here’s the predictable response that the web’s most vocal analysts are barking to anyone who’ll listen: the traditional news agencies are waging a war that’s already lost. The music and movie industries have spent the last five or more years learning that lesson, and have now decided that it’s easier (and more rewarding) to piss from within the tent.
And those entertainment industries arguably didn’t face the oversupply issue that news faces today: the day of the release of a new Eminem album didn’t coincide with the launch of 52,000 beat-for-beat photocopies of the same thing (well, not 52,000, anyway). A corner store owner will tell you that you can only sell so many bean cans to so many people. Get the supply of tins to meet demand, and you’re in the money. News is not in short supply. Continue reading →
29
Jul 09
The little trio of journalists that could
I work in an industry that’s obsessed with its own demise. The newspaper business spends its days planning its own funeral party (crisps, anyone?), while ironically enjoying an online gold rush (in traffic, anyway). My Google Reader feed is a river of contradictory figures and silver bullets. Snake oil salesmen? The web wrote the book.
But in the midst of seemingly self-destructive second (third? fourth?) industrial revolution, there are some remarkable things. I got lost for 30 minutes today studying the stats for one of our sites. I won’t go into detail or name names, but three guys had produced 1000%+ leaps in traffic through the power of what we used to call journalism. Good stories told well, and usually before any the crowd had spotted the signals.
As I said, I won’t name them (internal rivalry is rife, and there’s nothing worse than being handed an apple – ‘specially by me), but you know who you are. Regardless of how this one works out, you deserve to prosper: any endeavor that has that kind if energy and imagination can’t be allowed to fail.
15
May 09
The real reason why the football team lost
Look at the date of the last post. Years ago. But then, I have been busy. Or maybe it just feels like I have.
Since the last missive (which wasn’t a missive really – I mean, you can’t call a video embed a cogent thought, can you? Can you?), some water has flowed under some bridges.
In summary:
- Journalism took an odd turn. Radio 4 used the word ‘provision’ in association with the profession, something you’d normally associate with social services.
- The UK’s most used search engine began its journey to become a content provider. Go on, Google something, and click that ‘show options’ link top left. Bugger.
- I listened to journalist colleague explain how the industry he served expected him (or his site and journal) to act as its saviour.
And to put a nice hermetic seal on all that, I spent two hours today arguing the case for two websites to, well, just bloody work.
A childhood friend was absolutely convinced that his favourite football team would lose if he didn’t watch them. In the same vein, the events of recent months have only come about because of my radio silence.
Expect 10,000 words next week. There, it’ll all be alright now.
9
Aug 08
How to stop your audience from feeling used
The virtuous circle from Digitaldickinson on Vimeo.
I spent two days last month discussing the future of journalism at the University of Central Lancashire with a group with representatives of all corners of the UK media scene. Fascinating two days, not least for the wealth of disagreement (no bad thing).
It’ll come as zero surprise to know that the way in which journalists deal with an audience that can instantly react (and even begin steering the news agenda) swallowed much of the 48 hours.
One of their esteemed tutors, Andy Dickinson, has just posted The Virtuous Circle depicting his version of how it should work.
3
Aug 08
Telegraph redesigns, a tab at a time
Once upon a time, I made magazines. When we wanted to change that magazine, we would gather three, four or five of our shiniest brains, stick them in a room for a period with a half-decent brief, and out would pop a fresh magazine – better organised, more contemporary, and all-new.
This morning, I opened Firefox to be greeted by an all-new Telegraph.co.uk. ‘Cept it isn’t. Oh, the home page is new alright: a much better organised affair, with none of the ‘You, boy at the back – can you describe the logic behind this page?’ that haunted the DT of old. Very nice, if short on novelty.
But then you start clicking, and realise that this is what my chums in the digital media world would describe as a ‘phased delivery’. Continue reading →
22
Jul 08
WordPress for iPhone hits the Store
The theory is that the new iPhone 3G is not a converged mobile at all, but the world’s first truly personal computer.
And here’s some evidence that this is true – my first post using the brand new WordPress App.
It took under 30 seconds to set up. And if you can see this, it works.
31
Mar 08
BBC News refresh: air’s in
Open Firefox this morning, and an old friend shows a new face. The Beeb revamp sparked a fair flurry of debate among colleagues: one camp decided that it was too conservative, while the other concluded that Aunty had shown the maturity you’d expect.
I sit in the latter camp. The design has shifted to the centre of your browser, and also widened to a 1024 width from its long-established 800. But to my eyes, those apparently major moves are invisible. The real beauty is in the care shown around the text: while the old BBC News home was a masterpiece of efficiency, the newcomer is the work of someone who respects words.
Every line has exactly the right amount of space to put the emphasis on the story instead of the design. You simply absorb the news, without fussy artifacts throwing up noise. The only flaw I could find was below the fold: the centre column’s ‘Around the World’ group of links badly needs someone to put more definition to those crossheads. Other than that, she’s a beaut.
