currybetdotnet Blogging archive
On holiday...
I went on holiday yesterday, and, with the exception of my commitment to write a blogpost for Ada Lovelace Day, I'm also going to be taking a long overdue holiday from blogging. currybetdotnet will be back in April. In the meantime, here are some dates for your diary, of things I'm speaking at or attending over the next few weeks. March 30th: I'll be chairing "London IA 2010 on Innovation" which features speakers Richard Rutter, Glenn Jones, Claire Rowland and...
'Identity' at The Wellcome Colection
A visit to the Identity exhibition at The Wellcome Collection was the first time I've seen 'blog comments' appear as part of an exhibition.
Implementing hNews on a blog - what does 'Value Added News' mean for a blogger?
As part of the recent redesign process on the currybetdotnet blog, I implemented the 'Value Added News' hNews microformat to provide additional metadata on my articles. Doing so raised some questions that were not just practical about how to implement the format, but philosophical about the nature of the blog itself.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 4
In the final part of this series about my recent blog redesign, I look at how I set the criteria for success, and use the Venn diagram in the top right-hand corner of the banner area to set my content strategy.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 3
In part three of this series looking at the currybetdotnet redesign, I talk about the new 'hub' and 'theme' pages, and what I hope they will achieve.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 2
In the second part of this series looking at the how and why of the recent changes I've made to the site, I'm focusing on the homepage and the demotion of the linklog.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 1
At the beginning of the year I changed the design and information architecture of this blog. This series of posts examines how and why I finally fixed the IA of an IA's blog.
'The curation gap' - what journalism can learn from "Citizen History"
My post yesterday, inspired by some of the fallout from the news:rewired event, generated some healthy debate on the blog and on Twitter. Scott Dougal suggested I was being a little unfair holding that article from that paper up as an example of professionalism journalism, and David Higgerson on Twitter said he just wished the debate 'would move beyond pointing out faults'. I promised him that I'd post how I thought everybody could live together happily ever after instead. In...
Top ten currybetdotnet posts of 2009
My annual round-up of the posts on currybetdotnet which have attracted the most attention and page views this year.
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...
Thank you - currybetdotnet survey results
I wanted to thank everyone who took part in my recent survey about the blog. I had nearly 100 responses, over half of which were from people who said they had read the blog for two years or more. The bottom line was that most of you enjoyed most things most of the time. Only my infrequent and incongruent write-ups of ghost walks proved really unpopular. Video and the linklog entries were the Marmite issues. The majority of people who...
Tweeting a link or a picture? Don't forget to blog it as well...
Over the last few weeks I've had three tweets receive a lot of retweeting action. I thought it worth sharing what I'd learned from it about the relative values of tweeting a link, and blogging about something. Celtic fans at Kings Cross On the afternoon of the Arsenal - Celtic Champions League match at the Emirates, some Celtic fans posted unofficial notices around Kings Cross Underground Station. I thought they were pretty funny, snapped a picture on my phone, and...
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'Learn to blog smart' training in October
There will be another chance to take part in my "Learn to blog smart: join the conversation" training day in October. The course will run on Friday October 30th at The Frontline Club in London. The day long course is aimed at "new and aspiring bloggers, or companies just beginning to dip their toes into the daunting 'blogosphere'". It is ideal if you are in a position where you need to get a blog up and running, but are a...
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,...
Spector Twitter hoax shows online honesty gap between bloggers and newspapers
Earlier this week Joanna Geary blogged about the Birmingham Mail's decision to hold a story about ex-Villa player Gareth Barry back from the web in order to maximise exposure in print. That story is interesting enough in itself, but I wanted to look at something about the culture of blogging that was revealed. Joanna initially got her facts wrong.She'd got the time the web version of the story had been published wrong, and in a great display of social media...
Upcoming Martin Belam presentation and blog training day
I wanted to briefly mention a couple of speaking and training events that I've got coming up. International Social Media Summit On Thursday I will be at the British Library, and for once I won't be skulking around trying to use it as an office, or be filming people for 'ambush' user testing. Instead I'll be speaking at WebCertain's International Social Media Summit. My presentation is called "'Teenager finds bat asleep in bra' or How major publishers are using social...
How not to approach a blogger for PR
One question I often get asked is 'How should PR people go about pitching things to bloggers'. I always suggest that it is important to build a relationship with a blogger, and that is better to approach 10 small blogs who are passionate about your niche, than 100 popular blogs on the off-chance. If you do it badly, you expose yourself to potential brand damage - just like the PR person who sent me an astonishingly poor pitch the other...
3 key moments when the NUJ 'effing blogs' dust-up might have been avoided
Last week I ran a training day at The Frontline Club in conjunction with journalism.co.uk about blogging, and towards the end of it I included a session loosely known as "101 things that will go wrong with your blog". As part of it, I used the recent NUJ vs Adam Tinworth 'effing' blogstorm as an example of how situations can quickly get inflamed. As an outsider, it strikes me that there are three very clear moments where the personal elements...
Currybetdotnet recent comments round-up 2009-02-26
This is one of an occasional series where I round up some of the interesting comments that have been left on the blog over the previous few weeks. You can find earlier examples from August, September and October of last year. The PCC, the Daily Mail, and "the slut" A couple of useful points were raised in the comments on my piece about the 13 year old girl that the Mail allowed their readers to label a 'slut'. Rav Casley...
The BBC's "Points Of View" online culture clash - Part 1
Press Gazette or Jon Slattery? Why not quickly read both with RSS?
'The Fry Effect' - mentioning Twitter on the Jonathan Ross show
Police try to stop Walthamstow blogger taking pictures of a bus crash
Things you may have missed on currybetdotnet over Christmas
"Learn to blog smart: join the conversation" - training day in February
A few of my favourite blogs of 2008
The 10 least popular currybetdotnet posts of the year 2008
The 20 most popular currybetdotnet posts of yesteryear in 2008 - part 2
The 20 most popular currybetdotnet posts of yesteryear in 2008 - part 1
The 20 most popular currybetdotnet posts of the year 2008 - part 2
The 20 most popular currybetdotnet posts of the year 2008 - part 1
Reflections on the BBC Internet Blog's "iPlayer day"
Currybetdotnet recent comments round-up 2008-10-28
A (dead) lemon tree of our own
Currybetdotnet recent comments round-up 2008-09-28
More on the Daily Mail and my comments about their 'suicidal five year olds' article
Currybetdotnet recent comments round-up 2008-08-29
Greek TV station Head of News receives death threats from blogger
'Lost playlists' and Chipwrapper in the Guardian's Music sections
Here we go again...not that bloggers vs journalists debate
"Can you trust a media blogger?"
currybetdotnet scrapes into Wikio Top 100, but where is Guido?
Reviewing the Instablogs 'citizen journalism' platform
A great visual way to advertise your blog's highlights
Woman's Own gets a print 'blog'
Would you like to buy some advertising on ($name)?
Making the most of blog comments: Part 13 - 'The best of' comments on currybetdotnet
Making the most of blog comments: Part 12 - Using comments to defuse complaints
Making the most of blog comments: Part 11 - Everything in moderation
Making the most of blog comments: Part 10 - Participation, participation, participation
Making the most of blog comments: Part 9 - Future blog comment interfaces
Making the most of blog comments: Part 8 - Comment usability
Making the most of blog comments: Part 7 - Comment form positioning
Making the most of blog comments: Part 5 - 'Recent comment' RSS feed template for Movable Type
Making the most of blog comments: Part 4 - Do people read comments via RSS?
Making the most of blog comments: Part 3 - The 100 blog survey II
Making the most of blog comments: Part 2 - The 100 blog survey
Making the most of blog comments: Part 1 - Promoting blog comments
Is nobody blogging about the BBC's The Editors Blog anymore?
Search the blogs of the Miami IA Summit
10 tips for integrating your del.icio.us links into your blog
IA Summit bloggers mash-up feed
Personal search engine optimsation for Information Architects
Google DMCA complaint follow-up
Gene Marks is dangerously wrong about "Tech 'solutions' your small biz can't use"
No tick-box for me in the Online Journalism Blog survey
Issuing a DMCA take-down notice to Google over splogger
Reflecting on reflections of a Newsosaur
The 20 most popular currybetdotnet posts from yesteryear in 2007
20 most popular currybetdotnet posts 2007
Blogging at the BBC: Part 9 - The formal blogging years
Blogging at the BBC: Part 8 - Guidelines
Blogging at the BBC: Part 7 - The downside of blogging from the inside
Blogging at the BBC: Part 6 - The upside of blogging from the inside
I'm not convinced online voting shows Rhydian was robbed on X-Factor
Blogging at the BBC: Part 5 - Blogging from the inside
Blogging at the BBC: Part 4 - Life, the Universe, and Everything
Blogging at the BBC: Part 3 - ...and Islands
Blogging at the BBC: Part 2 - Highlands...
Blogging at the BBC: Part 1 - My introduction to blogging
Currybetdotnet archives re-open for business (#3)
Return of 'A lemon tree of our own'
I make Doctor Who news at last
Movable Type comment spam solutions
10 years of BBC.co.uk on the BBC Internet Blog
Unsubscribing from a blog stealing my content
Top 100 UK Blog RSS feeds and OPML file
Biased BBC blog in the BBC's Ariel newspaper
Why my Doctor Who blog failed: Part 6 - Enlightenment
The BBC's Editors blog links to currybetdotnet - and illustrates one of the downsides of RSS
British newspaper and blog feeds OPML file listed on Grazr
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Talks & presentations
"Journalism in the digital age"
I'll be appearing on a panel with Sarah Hartley and Iain Hepburn at the Edinburgh International Science Festival on Sunday April 11th. More details...
Posts of the moment
Day of the Triffids
If everyone suddenly went blind, how long would the Internet survive, and could you still publish news on it?
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, if the 'professional' keeps publishing articles so wrong that they have to be deleted.
Read more about...
- The future of news
- IA and UX events
- Local and hyperlocal news
- Martin Belam talks and presentations
- Media policy and regulation
- New media best practice
- Newspaper website design
- Notes and quotes from media and web events
- 'Old' media relationship with 'new' media
- Site search management and design
- Working at the BBC (2000 - 2005)
- Working at The Guardian (2008 - now)
Also on the site
or any current or former employers or clients.
Contact: martin dot belam at currybet dot net. © Martin Belam where appropriate.
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