Journalism, radio and stuff like that
I’ve been playing with WordPress 2.7 for a wee while now, and my first impressions are up on Techradar:
Moving from 2.6 to 2.7 is no mere point upgrade: it’s more like moving from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. For beginners, it’s easier than before; for existing WordPress users it’s more flexible and considerably less annoying.
I don’t know anything about this so I thought I’d post the email I’ve just received:
Here at CCA (Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow) we are launching a new quarterly publication named 2HB for which we are seeking contributions from writers and artists. The focus will be on short pieces of fiction and also creative critical pieces on the themes of eroticism, sci-fi, philosophical fiction, art as writing and detective fiction.
We are looking for brave writers who are able to step outside the ordinary and command their readers to take note of a new perspective of reality.
If you have any such contacts, please could you direct them to the 2HB page on our website
www.cca-glasgow.com
There they will find directions for submissions as well as details of deadlines and publication dates.
Another old MacFormat one – this one predates not just Leopard, but Vista too – but I’m amused by the intro, which is a load of old bollocks. Fun bollocks, I hope.
Mac ownership is often described in religious terms, but the link between Macs and the heavens goes back further than you might think. In the Garden of Eden, Eve took an Apple from the Tree of Knowledge (pedants say it was an Apricot, but what do they know? They’d probably argue that the serpent was a Dragon 32) – and of course her partner was the proud owner of Adam’s Apple. The links continue to this very day: every time you buy a Mac an angel gets its wings – but whenever a Mac runs Windows, an angel is twanged into a tree.
[Originally published in PC Plus. Some of the privacy options mentioned in this article, particularly for Facebook, have changed since this piece was originally published – Gary]
Never mind ID cards: social networking sites are creating a data mine governments would kill for. As Gary Marshall discovers, the devil’s in the details.
In July, US security services’ plans to harvest massive amounts of information about air travellers caused an outcry. “That’s terrible,” everybody cried, before handing over their most sensitive personal data to a plastic frog.
The frog was on Facebook, the social networking site where more than 30 million people share all kinds of information from their educational and career histories to their sexual orientation. As security firm Sophos discovered, while many of us worry about ID cards, government databases and anti-terror watch lists, 41% of Facebook users will happily share their secrets with Freddi the Frog – and thanks to social search engines and database diggers, privacy is increasingly looking like a thing of the past. (more…)
This week’s episode of Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe was fascinating. Instead of pouring bile on the usual deserving targets, Brooker sat down with the writers of Doctor Who, Peep Show, Hustle, Shameless and the IT Crowd and asked them to talk about writing. Which they did. Russell T Davies was a particular delight, but I found the whole thing fascinating.
In particular, I was surprised just how universal some things are: impostor syndrome, the feeling that writing is the easy bit (it’s the thinking that’s difficult), the importance of editing, editing, editing and then doing a bit more editing, the problems of drinking too much (booze at night, coffee by day) and writers’ complete inability to even start writing until the voices in their head tell them to get working.
If you’re interested in writing, not just for the telly but in general, it’s well worth your time. The clip I’ve embedded is the first part; the whole thing’s currently on iPlayer.
Newsquest, publisher of the Herald and Evening Times, is giving redundancy notices to more than 230 journalists and giving them the “opportunity” to apply for “new” jobs. 30 to 40 hacks will get the bullet. According to Media Guardian:
The move is seen as a way of dismantling a powerful National Union of Journalists chapel at the group, which publishes the Herald, Evening Times and Sunday Herald, according to one senior insider.
Political and trades union leaders in Scotland also said they were shocked and alarmed by the scale of the restructuring measures implemented by Newsquest, which is owned by US newspaper company Gannett.
“The worry really is that what they’re really trying to do is slash wages and conditions. So if you go for a job, it will be a much lower paid one,” the Herald & Times Group source said.
“This is all to do with the fact that the Herald is a relatively well-paid newspaper. What they clearly want to do is to put these jobs on provincial English pay rates. What they just can’t understand is why the Herald should be paying more than they do in Southampton or Bradford,” the insider added.
…Circulation of both the Scotsman and the Herald have been in steep decline, which many observers believe has been accelerated by staff cuts at both titles and their failure to adapt quickly to the digital news industry.
Update: Shaun Milne asks, “What about the readers?”
And as I’ve already argued over what I fear will be similar dramatic developments to come at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, progress should and could be made to benefit quality journalism, not in spite of it.
Is it any surprise that sales have fallen at a time when there is less quality journalism, campaigns and investigations to lure readers in?
Where is the tipping point? How mundane and bland to we have to make these fine institutions before there is no point printing papers of record at all?
You wander downstairs, bleary-eyed, and grab the morning paper. The front page is blank. So is page two, and page three, and every other page. The paperboy’s delivered 70 bits of blank paper and a biro, but when you call the newsagent to complain, he says you should be happy. “It’s newspaper 2.0!” he’ll cry. “Behold the power of user-generated content!”
In the old days websites published stuff and we looked at it. If we clicked on the adverts the sites would make money – which was fair enough, because the sites created the content in the first place. With user-generated content, though, you and I provide the content for free and the site owners still keep the money. In 2005, photo sharing site Flickr.com was sold for $30 million (£17 million). Flickr users got nowt.
User generated content is mainly a web phenomenon, but it’s spreading. Tabloids regularly ask “do you have any news stories? Decent photos? Can you spare half an hour on Friday to empty the bins in our office?” and TV stations want you to send in your videos. Even restaurants are getting in on the act. Some places already encourage you to pick your own ingredients and cook them at your table, and it’s just a matter of time before you get the opportunity to do the dishes afterwards.
All grandparents tell the grandkids that “in our day, we made our own entertainment” – but we’ll be the first grandparents who are actually telling the truth.
[Originally published in Official Windows Vista magazine.]
This gleefully biased piece was written for MacFormat aaaaaaages ago – Leopard wasn’t out, MSN Music was still a going concern, etc – and it was designed for potential switchers who might be sneakily reading Mac mags in the newsagents [There’s a companion piece, the Seven Deadly Sins of Apple Ownership, that I’ll post later].
Some of the advice is hackneyed and some of the prices are out, but I’m still amused by the really bad jokes…
1 Our Apples don’t explode
The slogan “Dude, get a Dell!” did wonders for the PC firm, but perhaps it’s time for a new slogan – such as “Dude! Get a fire extinguisher!” In August, Dell embarked on the biggest battery recall programme the world has ever seen, replacing 4.1 million laptop batteries that suffered from an itty-bitty, teeny-weeny problem: some of them exploded, taking people’s PCs with them. Of course, Apple recalled laptop batteries too – but it didn’t wait until things blew up to take action.
The Sun reports that condom sales have increased. The headline? “BRITAIN HUMPS THROUGH SLUMP”.