July 2008 Archives
July 31, 2008
Quiz Time: Flipchat Artwork
Your challenge for today: what points about community was I trying to illustrate with this?
July 30, 2008
links for 2008-07-30
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New video podcast about the social web, and interaction between social sites.
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A blog service I really must experiment with.
July 29, 2008
B2B Blog Traffic versus Nationals Blog Traffic
I've always assumed that, by nature of being from niche B2B titles, our blogs were significantly less popular than those from national newspapers. And then I saw a story on journalism.co.uk reporting on The Times' blogs and their traffic figures. Here's the graph:
Based on those figures, and comparing month-for-month, our best blogs would sit comfortably amongst the middle of them.
I feel much better now.
Based on those figures, and comparing month-for-month, our best blogs would sit comfortably amongst the middle of them.I feel much better now.
links for 2008-07-29
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How corporate focus can stifle innovation.
July 28, 2008
Budapest in the late 90s
One of the consequences of my Mum's death is that I'm having to sort through all my junk I had stored at her place. In one box, I found 3 old APS films that I shot in the late 90s. I sent them for scanning at Photo Express, and the results dropped on my desk this morning. Amongst the images were a small selection of shots from my first trip to Budapest, in late 1999. I was there to report on the emerging commercial property market for Europroperty.
I returned some years later, and you can see the results elsewhere on this blog, but, while the later pictures are objectively better, I kinda like the colourful simplicity of the earlier ones. It does catch the mood of the city at the time, as you can see in the next shot:
I returned some years later, and you can see the results elsewhere on this blog, but, while the later pictures are objectively better, I kinda like the colourful simplicity of the earlier ones. It does catch the mood of the city at the time, as you can see in the next shot:
Continue reading Budapest in the late 90s.
July 26, 2008
links for 2008-07-26
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Tough times at AOL's blogs, by the look of it.
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Yeah, and we've done it, too. But no-one cares about B2B. :)
July 25, 2008
What is the role of MSM blogs?
I read a blog post by The Telegraph's Shane Richmond a couple of days ago that has been bugging me ever since. Not because I disagree with it, because on the whole I think he's right. It's just that something seemed "off" about it. Shane suggest that mainstream media blogs might have a role to play in promoting middle-ranking bloggers:
The conclusion is this: perhaps MSM blogs, often seen as the cuckoo in the nest by those who are going it alone, have a role to play here. Perhaps our position gives us the opportunity, maybe even the responsibility, to help drive more "non-crazies" into the top tier of the blogosphere.
And this bothered me for a few days. Yes, I do think it's a key role of journalist bloggers to link to the best of the community around them, and to encourage the growth of individual bloggers. But there seems to be an underlying assumption in Shane's piece that MSM bloggers have an inherent power that they can use for bloggy good. And my experience is that they don't have that power. They have to earn it like everyone else in the blogging world. A well-known name of brand is good for getting a first look, but that's all. It's the quality of what you produce that gives you power, be you MSM or amateur.
Continue reading What is the role of MSM blogs?.
links for 2008-07-25
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Blimey. Use Facebook to sign in and comment on Movable Type blogs. Nice.
July 24, 2008
Web Video That Works
The sad truth: the Muppets understand web video better than most journalists:
Short (under two minutes) and well worth waiting until the end for... Just perfect.
July 22, 2008
links for 2008-07-22
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Interesting move to deprecate Office for Google Apps
July 19, 2008
Bungay, Photographed
I've just finished uploading the best of an afternoon's photography in Bungay, Suffolk.
Feel free to browse and enjoy.
July 16, 2008
links for 2008-07-16
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Finally, we're starting to take fibre to the home seriously...
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Great set of videos on using Aperture
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Could beat journalists transfer their skills to blogging and become a threat to existing publishers?
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John Welsh, the digital director of one of our competitors, CMP, is now blogging
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Some nice new features in the latest version of Wordpress
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Key quote: "Blogging is a symptom of a massively connected public. And that public’s nature necessitates a fundamental change in the way news org’s behave, whether print or broadcast."
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Interesting discussion of how social media can be misundestood
July 15, 2008
links for 2008-07-15
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What happens when the money goes?
July 14, 2008
3 Mobile Broadband: Rural Failure
Mr Rogers reminded me of the recent post by Mr OnionBagBlog decrying the performance of his 3 mobile broadband dongle, querying how this tallied with my own experience.
Well, in all honesty, in the best part of three weeks I've been in Suffolk, dealing with Mum's death, the 3 network has failed me utterly. I have not been able to find the slightest sniff of a signal anywhere. Indeed, this has been my experience of the dongle every time I step away from a major city.
This is clearly not a general problem - 9 times out of 10, the dongle can see signals from the other networks. There's just no 3 signal to be found. My free time with this dongle must be coming to an end and, while I'm keen to get one for my own use, the coverage problems mean that I won't be using 3 in any circumstances.
July 10, 2008
Storage
I've been storing some stuff in Mum's spare room prior to selling our flat in London. With Mum gone, and her house to be on the market shortly, I've had to resort to that warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark for some of my beloved book collection...
July 9, 2008
links for 2008-07-09
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Fascinating analysis of the left and right wing political bloggers and their likely role in a shift of political power
July 8, 2008
Ann Tinworth, 1939 - 2008
There are some phrases that your head just refuses to accept as applying to you. "My Mum is dead" is one of them. But my head is going to have to get used to the idea, as Mum passed away, surrounded by her family, last Wednesday.
Continue reading Ann Tinworth, 1939 - 2008.
July 5, 2008
links for 2008-07-05
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Auntie Beeb switches from Microsoft to cross-platform Adobe tech. Good news.
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Does what it says on the tin
July 4, 2008
The Little Green Wholefood Shop
Time out from family issues in Suffolk
