smallfishbigpond

Peter Clifton, Head of BBC Interactive

2005-11-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

Fab and really informative talk from Peter Clifton, Head of BBC Interactive. A real insight into the BBC's current and future ambition.

The most significant aspect for me was the increasing presence of user generated content on the website. You have to consider the future of journalists, with developments like this. July 7th 2005 will have changed journalism for ever, I think.

The majority of images arriving most rapidly on the website were from by-standers and people involved with the tragedy. UGC has been creeping up for the past year, but the events in July really highlighted how influencial the public are becoming over the media. How this will truly affect the industry will have to be learnt from future experience.

If the BBC, as Peter revealed, is starting to allow the consumer a greater significance and control over the news, then is the institution's authority over what is newsworthy going to be more frequently questioned?

The personalisation of news is also an interesting concept which has been discussed by other media peeps recently. An offshoot of reader control, the BBC will have to take into consideration what news people want. By giving them more choices they are making it permissable to question their right to dictate what news they think we should know.

Will this give people more freedom of information, if we start to demand more from certain areas, or will we hide from more serious news, like politics and disasters and seek ignorance in fluffy fashion and entertainment chat?

Discuss!

Kim Hollamby, Head of Electronic Media, IPC Media

2005-11-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

Kim Hollamby, Head of Electronic Media, IPC Media.

There aren't many instances when the audience are involved in lectures, so this talk was quite unusual. Shrewd but approachable, Hollamby constantly asked for the imput of the students. This was probably for his benefit, as much as it was for our learning experience. He has to consistently market his brand, so feedback is obviously an important consideration.

His preparation was really impressive, although many who were planning a mid-morning nap had a change of circumstance when he began asking them questions. And you have to contribute, don't you? Stop dribbling onto your shorthand notepad and interact.

I really appreciated the effort he put into the presentation, as it was so information packed. Additionally, the workshop he gave us in the maglab was so helpful. The main learning curve was that online and magazines should be treated like the different mediums they are. They can support each other, offering readers different services, but shouldn't be confused. For example features are never going to work online, as they aren't enjoyable to read, but subscription offers and news e-letters are a sure cert.

Richard Burton returns to Wales!

2005-11-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true, he has! But, no, not the Mr Burton of stormy Lizzie Taylor romance. I bet he hasn't heard that one before. Editor of the Telegraph online, he shot straight from the hip, giving a really pertinent low-down on his medium. Accuracy and speed were of course important, although they seem to work against each other, the ability to upload news so
rapidly potentially threatening accuracy. This is obviously a serious consideration, when defamation cases can find for the claimant so the nightmare tune of £250 million. The styistic constraints of online were also raised. As reading a screen isn't as enoyable as perusing a glossy mag in the park on a sunny Saturday, succinctness and readability are prime. Magazine students with their eyes on features also learned the concept didn't marry well with online....lots of white screen, boring scroll downs, attention deficit for more than a paragraph. The power of advertising was also revealed, as ever it seems to be getting its tentacles into everything.

Fantastic and honest insider's insight. A firm thumbs up...

A sad subject

2005-10-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday afternoon I decided to go the Jelena Bjelica lecture on the sex trade. This Serbian journalist has been investigating sordid transactions in young eastern European girls. Apparently they are sold dreams of working as hairdressers or waitresses in western Europe, by people who in turn sell them to brothels. Ugh.

It's a difficult issue to present, as it's so depressing. Even if the girls are lucky enough to escape, their former lives are sometimes impossible to regain. They will carry a stigma back to their homelands and maybe rejected by their family. Alternatively they maybe caught again by the trafficers and returned to the brothel.

A different world, seemingly miles away. But if these girls are in the grimy massage parlour you walk past on your way to work everyday, that's not so far away, is it? You could almost touch.

Thank you, Rosa Parks.

2005-10-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine that a country which is striving to introduce their brand of democracy to Iraq could 50 years ago fine a woman for sitting on the wrong bus seat. Because she should have been white to take that seat and been black elsewhere. Good luck, Iraq.

Teeline theory comes to an end this week, and after being rushed through the textbook faster than Superchav in a TK Max sale it's time for some more in depth dictation.

Online and BSkyB

2005-10-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sure the hot topic of the week among us university journo bloggers will be BBC Wales Online Editor Amanda Powell...Her succinct and precise oration style seemed to synthesise very much with the format of online writing. I thought she was an efficient and engaging speaker. When you ask someone the most excitings story they've ever covered and they tell you it's the '84 miners' strike...then you realise that was 20 years ago. There must be a lot of rich experience packed into those two decades in journalism. Interestingly, but perhaps not surprizingly precision and accuracy were emphasised as the core of good journalistic practice. People seem to view shorthand as antiquated, but on litigious subjects, there isn't any room for mistakes.

BSkyB's current acquisition drive, starting with the grab of Easynet...looks like Midas-Murdoch touch is beginning to fondle an even larger part of the communications and media market. Scary?

A lunch-time funk

2005-10-19T04:12:00.000-07:00

The lunch-time funk is underway, as I am beavering away in the bunker of creativity that is the university magazine lab. It's a wonderfully equipped room, but unfortunately lacks windows and so deprives the occupants of any view of the outside world. Like being in the head of President Bush. Oh, come on, you know it's just a joke. Don't go clicking off just yet.

While my stomach is growling away for the squashed offering in my bag, I am going to diligently carry on, sourcing the net for interesting happenings in our great city. Hunger pangs can really sap the creative juices.

Thought of the day; Saddam Hussein on trial. This current charge on the 1982 disapperance of those 143 unfortunates...there must be so many other vicious incidents and brutalities which he visited on his citizens. How to qualify and account for all these other wrongs? There will be some names which now only belong to bones, that will be remembered and accorded retribution, but many others that will never get any justice. How can there be justice?