Monthly Archives: July 2008

Citizen journalism: a rethink needed?

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Couple of fascinating posts on citizen journalism on BeetTV and Phil Bronstein on thoughts around citizen journalism. It has not, says Bronstein, taken off on a large scale. He also sums up the current position neatly:

“The whole concept of citizen journalism is still floating around waiting for a good example wave to carry it somewhere, and user-generated material has yet to be a huge hit within the media world unless someone with a Flip catches Brangelina running into a lamp post.”

Let’s up a quick recap first with the Condensed and Possibly Not Entirely Accurate History of Citizen Journalism According To Gary.

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Some day a rain’s gonna come…

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I’d really welcome a wet weekend soon. Partly because I don’t handle the heat well and am on the verge of melting on a daily basis. But also because I’ve got a ton of stuff I’d like to get done, largely online (that includes properly exploring Seesmic, trying to get my Phreadz postings to work along with a whole host of other stuff. I’d like to give this blog a bit of a make-over as well.

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A brief musical interlude

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Out of the many strange habits that have developed during my office-based working life is to dive onto YouTube at various points in the day to have a quick blast of music. Usually it’s out of a desire to hear a specific track or a specific band that isn’t on my iPod. It’s quick, easy and generally satisfies any urge I may have to listen to Hoddle and Waddle’s Diamond Lights [1].

Like Homer Simpson squeezing juice out of an orange by pressing it against his forehead, I’ve always suspected there’s probably an easier way to satisfy my arbitrary musical cravings. Certainly Muzu looks like it does the job a lot better. Largely because it’s nothing but music on there.

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By the book

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I’ve been tagged by Pink Sunshine on my reading habits. In fact, I think this is the first meme I’ve ever been tagged in on this blog. Another milestone.

Basically the rules are thus. Below is a list of classic books.

You are supposed to:

Look at the list and:
1) Bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) [Bracket] the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list on your own blog.

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Gary Elsewhere

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Soccerlens: why non-league is the breeding ground for tomorrow’s top talent (ooh, I do like a bit of alliteration in the morning).

Also in the piece: six of the best players to raise from non-league to the very top.

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Small bomb. Not many dead.

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Two days after my complaint that I’ve lost 30-odd followers (now restored) on Twitter, who were briefly denied finding out that I’d just had a latte or was busy so didn’t have time to say anything other than a brief update, the microblogging service once again shows its worth.

Earlier today a series of bombs went off in Bangalore in India. Not that you’d know from the major news sites, most of whom relegated it so far down their websites that, after the event broke, it was difficult to find anything about it.

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Why so serious?

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Even without Heath Ledger’s untimely death, The Dark Knight would have attracted large amount of hype. And following large amounts of hype generally follows disappointment, especially with the superhero genre. Thankfully Christopher Nolan’s film doesn’t just live up to the hype and some, it raises the bar for the genre so high that all other films should just give up for the next couple of years. It’s that good.

The Dark Knight is over two hours but you don’t notice it. From the first set-piece with six paranoid goons carrying out a robbery for the unknown ‘Joker’ to the final climax, the film rattles through at a fantastic pace, but never losing track of the deep characterisation that’s become a feature of Nolan’s films.

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Twitter borked. Again.

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Twitter sure doesn’t make it easy for people to give it the love they want to give. The downtime and the stressing out and the frequent appearances of the Fail Whale would have done in a lesser company by now, but we stick by it because Twitter is so damn useful.

But judging by the reaction to this morning’s problems that have seen people’s following and follower lists decimated or, in some cases, completely deleted, users are rapidly losing patience. Unless these kind of things are sorted, and quickly, then a Twitter-mass migration might be a way away.

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More on PR and blogging

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Following on from my rather lengthy thoughts on best PR / blogging practice, here’s a couple of excellent posts on the subject that should be a must read for any PR bod who’s remotely thinking of getting in touch with bloggers.

First up, Vero has an open letter to all PRs from a blogger’s perspective. And it’s a bit humbling to read, because I’m sure I’ve done a few of the don’ts in my time. But, again, a lot of this stuff isn’t rocket science – it’s just good PR that doesn’t differ wildly from how you’d work with journalists, other than a bit of tweaking and knowing the blogger or blog you’re pitching to.

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