Goldsmiths: Futures of News?

11/24/2007 by Leave a Comment

I’m back from Goldsmith University’s inaugural symposium for it’s major research project: The Futures of News, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

I’ll try to give the day a full write-up soon, but it’s Saturday and I’ve had a couple of glasses of Rioja gran reserva.[not that rich!]

In the meantime, disappointed at the event organsiation….. it may have been the future of news but there were only about four laptops in the audience (including me) and no wifi. Plus the organisers seemed to have overbooked the event and we had to schlep between buildings for presentations and coffee/lunch.

In a nutshell, the over-arching parameters of the group’s research seems very media institution focussed and takes on "new media" from a definite top-down perspective.

Other worrying ommissions were RSS, social networks, YouTube…… in fact anything remotely technology related. Still, some interesting presentations. More to come.

Technorati tags: Goldsmith’s University, Futures of News, media industry, research

Filed Under: New media, Newspapers, Politics, Radio, Research, social media, Technology, Television, Web 2.0

Meme tags hit tipping point

12/18/2006 by 5 Comments

I’ve been tagged with a couple memes recently. Firstly Sam Oakley’s top 10 business benefits of blogging and now with the “Five things you didn’t know about me” meme… twice (thanks, Sherrilynne and someone else I’ve lost track of).

My apologies for ducking these memes thus far. I have been woefully busy for the last three weeks and it is steadily getting worse.

So, here goes with the “Five things you didn’t know about me” meme:

  1. I am getting married in March 2007 to my wonderful fiancee, Sarah.
  2. If you want to play that ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ game I can get to Saddam Hussein in three connections. Well, probably not now he’s banged up.
  3. I am slowly drowning under CIPR Diploma coursework.
  4. I succeeded in completing my BA (don’t forget the Hons) and MA in English Literature without ever reading Hamlet. Phew!
  5. We have two cats called Cosmo and Dibbs after the classic kids TV show made for schools. No-one but Sarah and I remember it but the voice-overs were done by Gary Wilmott and the theme music was by UB40 – respect!

As a sixth fact (consider it a Xmas treat) I also had my name read on Radio 1′s surreal pirate buy-in Radio Tip Top. Again no-one ever remembers the show that aired circa. 1996-97 but I became a Tip-Topper (as opposed to a Tip-Topette!) so please share those memories if you have them.

 Richard Millington, Sam Wilcox, Alex Pullin or other youthful bloggers are probably too young to remember the days of the crystal set ; )

Blogging will undoubtedly be light from now until at least 10 January 2007 when I’m meant to hand in my essays.

Happy Christmas and a great 2007 to everyone who reads the blog.

Peace out.

Ps. I have picked Child Poverty Action Group as Simon’s charity choice. Xmas is a happy time of year for most of us but it can be miserable for others. If you feel generous please give a few quid.

Filed Under: blogs/blogging, CIPR, Other, PR, Radio, Television

Even the BBC wants a piece of MySpace action

10/26/2006 by Leave a Comment

I was half-asleep last night/this morning when I heard an interesting piece on BBC World Service about an international search for musical talent.

The presenter of Outlook, a show that is a bit like a global Home Truths, announced a competition to find the World’s Best Young Band. Amazingly he urged young hopefuls to head to the MySpace URL www.myspace.com/theworldsbestyoungband rather than the usual bbc.co.uk site (always pronounced bee-bee-see dot see-oh dot yoo-kay for overseas audiences – you gotta love it!).

That’s unusual, I thought, so I checked it out on the programme listing this morning.

It reads:

Generation Next
The BBC is searching for the World’s Best Young Band. Right now, we’re inviting young bands aged 18 or under to send us their best song. We’re looking for brilliant new music. And on the weekend of the 9th/10th December there’ll be a special programme with six finalists to be judged by a panel of music industry experts. One of them will be named The World’s Best Young Band. The rules: It is for unsigned bands only, performing original material. To enter, go to the website www.myspace.com/theworldsbestyoungband and email in your best track.

How very web 2.0 for the BBC, although surely out of keeping with the corporation’s branding? I’m also surprised that the BBC’s technical guys couldn’t rig up something similar with their own site. Perhaps some bright young hopeful just set it up hoping no-one over at Bush House would notice.

Having said that, the MySpace page is working at the moment so it’s either not been set up yet (whoops!) or Mark Thompson got wind of it!

Filed Under: Radio, social media