One Man & His Blog

Blogging Your Way Out of the Hackopalypse?

2008-11-19T18:33:27Z

In a meeting earlier, I made a throw-away remark about the publishing news being so bad between now and next spring that all our journalists will be scared stiff. I was joking. But judging by the news coming in (hat tip to Heidi from Computer Weekly for these), magazine after magazine is going away.

In the context of this, the offer Six Apart (which is going through its own rough patch) made to out-on-their-ear journos looks like a smarter move than people gave them credit for. If you're sitting on a redundancy payment, in a market where no-one's hiring, a free blog with a little bit of income might just be the right way to reskill..

What I hadn't fully expected was how gripping the stories from individual journalists have been. The mood of the emails we've gotten has ranged from hopeful to heartbreaking, from cynical to sincere. Overall, there's an optimism which indicates that having a starting point to do something proactive and positive will be a great first step for many journalists to take control of their careers in an industry that is going through enormous upheaval.

Sometimes, the most horrible change can be a step in the right direction.

Two New Blogs from Former Student Hacks

2008-11-19T17:01:47Z

Bit frantic at the moment - been off for a week, and returned to a pile of work. But today I've discovered to my delight that two old friends from my days on Felix, Imperial College's student rag, are blogging.

Declan Curry, best known as the BBC's cheerful face of business on breakfast and daytime TV is now blogging on the Working Lunch site.

And Andy Butcher, who's moved from computer games journalism, to community management, through to game development, has just started a blog called Lucky Number 2D6.

There you go. Something to read while I scythe through my workload...

What can the news media learn from the Obama campaign?

2008-11-16T13:16:14Z

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Welcome to this month's Carnival of Journalism, a monthly celebration of the best in blogging about journalism

This month's topic, suggested by Bryan Murley from the Center for Innovation in College Media by:

What can newspapers (or the news media) learn from the Obama campaign?

I'll be posting responses to this one as they come in, between now and Tuesday.

Jack Lail gives us Five Ws from the Barack Obama campaign: the five best web 2.0 or technology uses in the campaign.
John Hassell tells us what we can learn from the mobile aspects of the Obama campaign.
Charlie Beckett builds on Jack's post to suggest that you don't just have to go onlone, you have to participate in online culture.
Bryan Murley answers his own question with five "E"s. No, not that sort.
Alfred Hermida suggest that we need to stop peering at the social media world, but need to dive right in. That's what gave Obama an edge.
Adrian Monck follows the money - and discovers where Obama was a big spender.
Doug Fisher looks at things from the other angle - and suggests that the media has let government overtake them technologically, and that may have serious consequences.

Adam Smith (The Drunk Journalist) Responds

2008-11-07T09:50:42Z

(Incidentally, I'm disappointed to note that neither Press Gazette nor The Guardian linked or credited MarkMedia who found the story first)

Some Coffee Reading

2008-11-07T09:30:14Z

A few links noted in passing:

The Obama win might point the way to understanding why people value print
CMP is looking at cutting back resources at its property magazines. I spent a decade competing against Property Week, but this can't help but make me feel awful for them.
Joanna Geary has kicked off a fascinating debate on the relationship between news and journalists, and the skills involved.

Hard News Journalism

2008-11-05T14:29:02Z

I know the guy had been drinking, but this is really quite shocking:

And we wonder why journalism is in trouble?

[via MarkMedia]

Update: the drunk journalist in question is Adam Smith of the Birmingham Mail. As Ian reported in the comments, his story on Obama's victory appears to have been pulled down.

US Election Night at The Frontline Club

2008-11-05T12:38:22Z

Graham was kind enough to invite me to the Frontline Club's election night bash last night. Here's some video I grabbed during the event:

US Election Night at The Frontline Club from Adam Tinworth on Vimeo.

Posters at the Frontline Club

2008-11-04T22:07:12Z

These two posters are Marvels, they really are... :-)

Me, on a Podcast #2

2008-11-04T15:26:31Z

Talking of World of Warcraft, as the last post was, some people known that I live a secret blogging life as a Warcraft blogger (fewer pageviews, but more feed subscribers than this blog, oddly). I was part of a round table of Warcraft bloggers that got together for a podcast a few weeks ago - and which involved me getting up at 5am.

Anyway, deeply tired and geeky ramblings over on the Twisted Nether Blogcast, or you can snag it in iTunes (it's episode 20).

Election Day (How Will the World of Warcraft Vote?)

2008-11-04T14:46:50Z

I haven't written anything about the election here because (a) I'm British and (b) I'm not politics expert. But I couldn't resist sharing this little video:

Distracting Web Editors With a Flip Mino

2008-11-04T13:56:27Z

The New Media: A Video Republic

2008-10-30T16:36:01Z

This is interesting:

Publishing: The Storm Clouds Gather

2008-10-28T12:54:36Z

Image by TomRaven via Flickr

I've had my head down for the last few days, catching up on things after my sojourn in Berlin. And in the meantime, things are beginning to look distinctly rocky, aren't they? Not only has the Christian Science Monitor become the first US national newspaper to abandon daily print publication, but Newsweek has financial problems and so does the New York Times. And there's plenty more bad news.

Even unrelated blogs like Web Worker Daily are asking "Would You Miss Print?"

Bleak times ahead I think...

But at least some people are standing up for the value of print.

Online Hoodies?

2008-10-28T09:57:39Z

Nothing like a little tabloid scare story to start your Tuesday.

Where does one get a digital hoodie? Do they offer iPhone integration?

Web 2.0 Expo Berlin: Day Two Gallery

2008-10-26T17:15:20Z