Missing links for 2009-04-25

Here's some of the stuff that caught my eye over the last week whilst my auto-magic Delicious link republishing facility is still offline...

• Why journalists should learn to code (and why some shouldn't bother) :: 10,000 Words
  "There are journalists whose prowess remains in the written word and they shouldn't be admonished for sticking to what they know. Those who choose to adhere to long-standing forms of print or broadcast journalism shouldn't fret, but know that there will come a time when basic coding will become an integral part of a journalist's duties. It's better to jump on the bandwagon now than to be left in the dust later on".
• Why the Daily Telegraph was right to try twitterfall despite the twitterfail | Craig McGill
  "I remember saying to someone before that if I worked at a paper still and my main competitor set up traffic/weather tweeting systems I’d have them down in less than a day as you could easily flood them with unreliable data if you know how to play the system". He also lists some dirty tricks he did pull in his days in the newsroom...
• That Shane Richmond / Charles Arthur Twackdown in full... | Malcolm Coles
  Another unexpected outcome of 'Telegraph twitterfail' day...
• How online and print treat source materials differently « FTW Media
  "The interesting (and surprising) thing is that the online guys were more willing to credit The Guardian than the offline guys. Who says the online tendency is to violate copyright and that the offline one is to respect copyright?"
• Congratulations - you just wet your pants | NRK Beta
  "Why is it ok that I pay NOK 100 (about 15 US Dollars) to watch a movie at the cinema in Oslo. But it’s not ok to pay NOK 100 to stream it at home? When I’m at the movies, there are more people and companies between me and the people who make the thing. When I’m at home, they get more of my money. Why don’t they? Why do I have to travel to the cinema to see it legally? It doesn’t make sense, especially when you know that travel makes the earth less green and I tend to fill up on unhealthy snacks at the cinema..."
• Racial Awareness | Lost In Showbiz
  Is their an Internet acronym for "My jaw literally dropped to the floor"...MJLDTTF
• BBC to slash marketing budget by 25% | Media | guardian.co.uk
  "As part of the ongoing process of cuts in marketing, the BBC announced in February that it would not be renewing its deal with Digital Cinema Media for theatrical promotion of its programming in a bid to target youth audiences". Amen to that
• Guardian Trends
  A tool by Stephen Elliott using the Open Platform API that allows you to graph trends in Guardian editorial content.
• Wired magazine's grasp of history shown lacking | James Cridland
  "Not that I want to side with the Jehovah's Witnesses, of course."
• It is tough for trainees but is studying journalism all about getting a job? | Jon Slattery
  "What saddens me most is that a time when the newspaper industry needs to make the jump to a digital future it is losing out on loads of young journalists who have grown up with the web, have their own blogs, understand social media and have the multi-media skills that might just save the industry."
• Spectrum of Online Friendship | Mike Arauz
  Interesting plotting of types of social media relationships
• Gordon in the morning: Must we fling this filth at our... oh, apparently, yes | No Rock And Roll Fun
  "It's almost as if... well, we're now treating the calls to Andrew Sachs as a big lark and... well, almost being smug about them. Why the change in attitude? Ah, yes. Gordon [Smart] was invited to the studio, gets to take an awkward-looking photo with Noel Gallagher [and Russell Brand] and all of a sudden it turns out to have been a bit of a jape".
• Pet Shop Boys album censored in China: the official Pet Shop Boys site
  "In China the song 'Legacy' will appear only as an instrumental on the album as, according to EMI, the lyrics 'failed the censorship of the General Admission of Press and Publication department'". Now, call me old-fashioned, but I would have told EMI where they could stick releasing my album in a way which put craven appeasement of the Chinese government before artisitic integrity.
• Cinema Battle Hotting Up - Archipelago of Truth
  "If the UCKG's plans to convert the building to a church are successful, however, I can see a lot of the public's anger being directed at both the LibDems and the Labour Party, which will be an interesting outcome in a part of the borough where they share power and are currently the only games in town."
• 12-week summer holiday for MPs | News | Evening Standard
  "MPs have awarded themselves a 12-week summer holiday - a week longer than last year's break". Funny isn't it, we complain our politicians are out of touch and stuck in the Westminster bubble, but then moan if they have time to spend in their constituency. And it isn't as if there is a clamour in the country for more regulations and legislation, which is only what they would be doing if they were there ;-)