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Day of the Triffids: How long would the Internet survive, and could you still publish news on it?
Mobile phones and the Internet have transformed interpersonal communication since John Wyndham wrote his classic novel. I wondered, in a 'Day of the Triffids' scenario where most of the world has suddenly gone blind, how long would the Internet last, and could you still publish news on it?

Published February 1, 2010 - 11 comments so far - Read the full post

With professionals of this quality, who needs 'citizen journalist' enemies?
It is hard to argue that ethics and quality set the 'professional journalist' apart from the amateur blogger or 'citizen journalist', when newspapers persist in publishing professionally produced articles, like the Sunday Express 'exposure' of the BBC use of Twitter, which are so wrong that they have to be swiftly deleted.

Published January 19, 2010 - 17 comments so far - Read the full post

Too much David Tennant on TV? More like too many politicians if you ask me...
In response to claims that David Tennant was on BBC television too much over Christmas, a Conservative MP seems to think he appeared on over 200 channels.

Published January 4, 2010 - 4 comments so far - Read the full post

London IA Mini 4: Max Gadney - "The glass-bottomed boat"
Early in November we held the fourth London IA Mini conference evening. Zebra People sponsored the night, which was hosted by EMC Conchango. In the first part of my round-up of the evening, I had some notes and a video clip of Max Gadney's opening talk. BBC History archive - 'What is the way in?' Max was talking about how information design needs to be really useful for the audience, and not just about 'designing for ourselves'. As a commissioner...

Published November 27, 2009 - 1 comment so far - Read the full post

London IA Mini 4: Max Gadney - "Information isn't beautiful"
On November 11th we held the latest in our series of London IA Mini conference evenings. The hosts were EMC Conchango and our kind sponsors were Zebra People. We had a top selection of speakers - Max Gadney, Richard Sedley, Jason Mesut and Oliver Reichenstein. Today I wanted to post some of my notes and a video clip of the talk from Max. Max Gadney His talk had been billed as a 'challenge' to "much of current practice in data...

Published November 26, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop in The Guardian's archive
Earlier this year I was lucky enough to have the chance to see some of the surviving members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop play live at the Camden Roundhouse, and to attend a question and answer session with them beforehand. Photo by Stickpeople Almost certainly the biggest impact the BBC Radiophonic Workshop had on popular culture was Delia Derbyshire's electronic realisation of the Doctor Who theme. However, that didn't hit the nation's screens until 23rd November 1963, 46 years ago...

Published November 23, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

London IA Mini IV on Wednesday night
After last month's "London IA in a pub + talks" experiment, on Wednesday we are back to having one of our regular London IA Mini events, this time hosted by EMC Conchango near London Bridge. We've got a great line-up of speakers. Richard Sedley, director of the cScape Customer Engagement Unit will be giving a debrief from the Design of Persuasion conference in Brussels, and talking about "some of the more common uses of social psychology in website design and...

Published November 9, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

Live-blogging the BNP on Question Time across the web
Live-blogging the BNP on Question TimeA look at how newspapers and political blogs covered Nick Griffin's BBC appearance online.

Published October 26, 2009 - 9 comments so far - Read the full post

What Jan Moir can teach us about handling an Internet brand crisis
What Jan Moir can teach us about handling an Internet brand crisisHow prepared are you for finding yourself in the middle of a perfect Internet storm?

Published October 20, 2009 - 2 comments so far - Read the full post

However much James Murdoch wishes, the World Service made a BBC News website inevitable
James Murdoch's speech in Edinburgh, and a recent survey suggesting that more people favour advertising or subscription as a funding model rather than the Licence Fee, has continued scrutiny of the role of the BBC in the digital media landscape. The ICM poll shows that whilst 43% of people think the Licence Fee is the best way of funding the BBC, 57% do not. Murdoch described the BBC News website as 'dumping free, state-sponsored news on the market', and I...

Published September 10, 2009 - 3 comments so far - Read the full post

Does the embedded video deal lead to papers burying bad BBC news online?
The deal to share BBC video content with leading national newspapers websites, including that belonging to The Guardian where I work, moves us into some murky uncharted waters. Joanna Geary of The Times, who are not taking the video content, said that: "I’ve got this horrible feeling that the BBC deal proves that many articles produced by newspapers provide little or no uniqueness to help distinguish them in a flooded market." It is early days for the deal, but it...

Published August 7, 2009 - 5 comments so far - Read the full post

The mysterious case of The Telegraph's anonymous columnist who cost the BBC £45,000
It was No Rock And Roll Fun who I saw pointing out that The Telegraph had reported on the BBC's £45,000 payout to the Muslim Council of Britain, all the time referring to an anonymous 'panelist' who had made the libelous statements on Question Time. Most other media outlets mentioned that the mysterious 'panelist' was Charles Moore. They also seemed to think the fact that he is a columnist for, and ex-editor of, The Telegraph was a significant element in...

Published July 18, 2009 - 1 comment so far - Read the full post

No SOS needed for newspaper RSS
Last week Malcolm Coles wrote a blog post entitled 'Newspapers: turn off your RSS feeds'. It was a provocative title, and it certainly gained a lot of attention. Whilst Malcolm was right to point out that subscriber numbers to many national newspaper RSS feeds are low, his interpretation that this made them worthless was wholly wrong. At the time, Malcolm, myself, Ian Douglas from The Telegraph and Charles Arthur from The Guardian had a debate about newspaper RSS feeds on...

Published July 6, 2009 - 3 comments so far - Read the full post

How major publishers are using social media to drive traffic - Part 5
This is the fifth of a series of posts based on a talk I gave during May 2009 at WebCertain's "International Social Media Summit" in London. You can find the first part here, and view the original presentation slides on SlideShare. Blogging With the rise of social bookmarking and the media championing Twitter, blogging has begun to seem distinctly old hat. It does look, however, to have survived the early predictions of it being CB Radio for the 2000s,...

Published June 30, 2009 - 2 comments so far - Read the full post

How major publishers are using social media to drive traffic - Part 3
This is the third of a series of posts based on a talk I gave during May 2009 at WebCertain's "International Social Media Summit" in London. You can find the first part here, and view the original presentation slides on SlideShare. The social bookmarking feedback loop The ratings you get on social bookmarking sites are valuable feedback, and some major news publishers utilise them to add value to their site. The Telegraph, for example, has a 'Most Dugg' widget...

Published June 26, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

Michael Jackson's death sweeps BBC expenses from the front pages
"Michael Jackson's death spares the BBC" What would have been on Friday's front pages.

Published June 26, 2009 - 1 comment so far - Read the full post

Wembley on the web: Part 2 - The FA Cup Final online from Sky Sports and the BBC
Yesterday I started blogging about some of my thoughts on the live online coverage provided for the FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Everton, with a look at the websites of the two channels showing the game live, Setanta and ITV. Today I wanted to look at two networks who no longer have the rights to broadcast the game - Sky Sports and the BBC. Photo by umbrofootball Sky Sports For Sky Sports it must be a major irritation...

Published June 12, 2009 - 1 comment so far - Read the full post

"It's SunTalk Wot Won It"
During the recent election campaign, the BBC's community areas will have been operating under 'special election rules'. Moderation will have been much tighter than usual when people were talking about politics. Actually, this system has got more relaxed over the years. I remember that one of the most disrupting elements of h2g2 being assimilated by the BBC was during the 2001 election campaign. Then, the community were told that if they wanted to discuss politics, they'd have to leave the...

Published June 5, 2009 - 1 comment so far - Read the full post

BBC Radiophonic Workshop Q&A at the Camden Roundhouse
On May 17th I went to see an evening with 'The Radiophonic Workshop' at Camden's Roundhouse, which was part of their Short Circuit festival of electronica. Yesterday I posted my review of the gig. Photo by Stickpeople Before the show started there was an hour long Q&A session with 5 members of the Radiophonic Workshop, which I was lucky enough to attend. Here are some of my notes from the event. The conference circuit Thanks to their involvement with Doctor...

Published May 31, 2009 - 2 comments so far - Read the full post

BBC Radiophonic Workshop live at the Camden Roundhouse
"BBC Radiophonic Workshop live" Read my review of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop gig at Camden's Roundhouse, along with my notes from the Q&A session which preceded it.

Published May 30, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

The Apprentice and the unintended consequences of social media

Published May 19, 2009 - 2 comments so far - Read the full post

Web search at the BBC: Extras

Published April 13, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

Web search at the BBC: Part 9 - The end is the beginning is the end

Published April 7, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

Web search at the BBC: Part 8 - Editions of you

Published April 6, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

Web search at the BBC: Part 7 - Shake and crawl

Published April 3, 2009 - No comments yet - Read the full post

Web search at the BBC: Part 6 - TV on the radio