currybetdotnet London archive
Council coverage in local newspapers: Waltham Forest and Romford
Sarah Hartley has been using the 'Help me investigate' crowd-sourced journalism tool to find out how local newspapers cover local councils. I've chipped in with a review of coverage in the Waltham Forest Guardian and the Romford Recorder.
Katherine Green: "Wood Street, E17" and "1948 Olympians"
Two of photographer Katherine Green's projects have been about subjects close to my heart - one documenting the shops on Wood Street where I used to live, and one a series of portraits of British Olympians from the 1948 London Olympic Games.
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...
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 3 - My Olympic memory
On November 7th I took part in the Olympic Memory Marathon, a video project by artist Simon Pope capturing 104 Londoners talking about their experience of the Olympics, whilst he walked the length of a marathon through the streets of the boroughs hosting the 2012 games. These are the memories that I related to him. I've never been lucky enough to go to an Olympics, but I have visited several of the stadiums where the games have been held....
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 2 - "I am one of the 104"
At the weekend I took part in an art project for the London 2012 Olympics called the "Memory Marathon". Artist Simon Pope walked the distance of a marathon whilst talking to 104 people who lived or worked in the London Boroughs hosting the next games about their memories of the Olympics. Yesterday I blogged about the workshops leading up to the event, and today I wanted to write about my experience on November 7th, the day of the "Memory...
Olympic Memory Marathon: Part 1 - The project and workshops
"This is an unusual project, and I can tell that by being here you are unusual people" Our facilitator wasn't wrong - within a couple of minutes of arriving at my first workshop for the Olympic Memory Marathon I was being accosted by a wonderful fiftysomething out of work actress assuring me that didn't do porn (but that she did get asked), and by another guy tipsy enough that he gave the impression of not remembering why he was...
"Waltham Forest is calling for back-up" campaign lays down a welcome mat for criminals
I became a crime statistic last week, when my bike was stolen in Walthamstow.Again.It has prompted me to blog about something that has been irritating me in the Borough for some time. On the day I discovered my bike was missing, I'd been in Selbourne Walk The Mall, where volunteers were out in force trying to get me to sign a council petition. "Waltham Forest is calling for back-up" is a politically motivated council campaign calling for more police in...
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...
Ice Sunday: Part 3 - The death of the ice trade
Over the last couple of days I've been writing about my visit to the London Canal Museum on "Ice Sunday". This was a chance to explore one of Carlo Gatti's ice wells - a remnant of an industry that flourished during the 1800s, but which was gone by the time the First World War arrived. I often write about music and the newspaper industry, both areas where technological advance has disrupted established businesses. In his talk during "Ice Sunday", Malcolm...
Ice Sunday: Part 2 - Descent into the ice well
Yesterday I was posting about a trip I made to the London Canal Museum back in June. It was on a special open day called "Ice Sunday". Usually visitors to the museum can only peer down into the ice well that lies below the building, but on this day, guide Martin Sach was leading groups down into the depths. The well is thought to be about 40ft deep. This measurement comes from documents recording that a workman fell 40 ft...
Ice Sunday: Part 1 - The Victorian ice trade at the London Canal Museum
Way back on June 14th I went to the London Canal Museum for "Ice Sunday". This seems to be one of those annual events that was going to happen anyway, but which somehow got co-opted into 'The Story Of London' as if they were actually being put on and funded by the Mayor. The day consisted of a short talk about the ice trade by Malcolm Tucker, followed by an opportunity to descend into this Victorian fridge. Whilst we take...
London IA in the Pub on Wednesday...now with added slides
Wednesday 14th October sees the latest edition of London IA in the Pub. We are going to be at the Island Queen in Islington, and this time we are going to have a series of quick'n'dirty presentations in the upstairs room. Lab49 are kindly supplying the kit for that. We hope that on the night we'll have the following talks: Stuart Cruickshank - The UX of search Leisa Reichelt - What I’ve learned about UX freelancing Boon Chew - The...
Last chance to object to the church plans for Walthamstow's art deco cinema
Today is the final day to object to a planning application seeking permission to turn Walthamstow's listed art deco cinema into a church. As you may know, the cinema has been closed for some time, and the church owners have allowed it to fall into considerable disrepair. Back in the sixties, the EMD used to have concerts on, including The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who. It also has lots of cinematic history, being the cinema where Alfred Hitchcock grew...
London Linked Data meet up: Notes and take-away quotes - part 2
This week I've posted quite a bit about the Linked Data London meet-up that I attended in Hammersmith last week. As well as a two part transcript of my contribution to a panel about 'linked data and the future of journalism', yesterday I published the first part of a set of notes and take-away quotes from the event. Here are some more. 'About a third of a newspaper is data' - Andrew Walkingshaw Either he is stalking me, or I...
London Linked Data meet up: Notes and take-away quotes - part 1
Last week I attended the first London Linked Data meet-up. It was organised by Georgi Kobilarov and Silver Oliver, and they kindly invited me to speak on a panel about 'Linked Data and the future of journalism'. Earlier this week I published a two part rough transcript of my contribution to that debate. Today I wanted to publish the first of two posts looking at what I made of the rest of the event, which was, at times, a little...
London IA Mini Conference III: UX London Redux
It seems an age since it took place, but a couple of weeks ago we held the third London IA Mini Conference. This time the venue was a space near London Bridge donated by The Team, and the theme of the evening was a redux of the UX London conference organised by Clearleft. The event was kindly sponsored by Zebra People. Andy Budd on the future of UX London Andy Budd of Clearleft opened the evening, talking about how the...
'thelondonpaper' website review
I don't know, you take a couple of days off work to move house become homeless, and people start closing newspapers behind your back. My commute home will shortly face one less obstruction when I'm walking down York Way. It was only at the end of May that doomed free newspaper thelondonpaper was advertising their free website for London - thelondonpaper.com - with a big wrap-around spread that reproduced the newly re-designed site in print. Free seems to have very...
The BT broadband boxes that have muzzled the Muswell Hill fibre trial
Muswell Hill BT fibre controversyPictures of the new BT broadband boxes causing a nuisance on North London streets.
Celtic fans take over Kings Cross Underground noticeboards
For a while today, Celtic fans managed to redecorate Kings Cross Underground Station with their own take on the important information they needed to know about getting to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium for their Champions League play-off tie. At first glance I thought it was an example of London Underground being extra helpful to visiting fans to London, but I soon realised that the poster had been put together by fans of the Queen's Celtic themselves (© Fivers passim) This was...
Free newspapers or free wifi - which appeals more?
Free newspapers or free wifiIf a cafe, bar or pub near you offered the choice, which would you prefer, free newspapers or free wifi?
'Fabiola' by Francis Alÿs at the National Portrait Gallery
Spotted! A multi-lingual sign on the tube
London IA Mini Alpha & Beta tonight in Soho
My 'undecided' view of European Election literature in London
"Actor in Muswell Hill UFO Sighting Mystery!"
'Local newspaper week' - The local council publicity machine
'Local newspaper week' - Council newspapers in London
A quick online guide to the minor party and independent London European Election Candidates
The (sometimes) free London Evening Standard
Thinking about future London IA Mini event formats
'Local Newspaper Week' - Being local...
'Local Newspaper Week' - Council newspapers
'Local Newspaper Week' - Democracy
'Local Newspaper Week' - Advertising
'Local Newspaper Week' - Welcome to your new local...
Coded terrorist signals on the Victoria Line
How the Ian Tomlinson G20 video spread The Guardian brand across the media
Tracking the "Credit Crunch" with Google Street View: Crouch End
Tracking the "Credit Crunch" with Google Street View: Muswell Hill
'No message' at Walthamstow Central
London Festival of Railway Modelling at Alexandra Palace
London's abandoned Underground Stations on Google Street View
The fragile future of newspapers at the British Library
The future of 'the future' - the British Library and technology
"Stacks, Readers, Staff" - Building the British Library
The Independent goes free...in Muswell Hill at least
London Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace
"The Tottenham Outrage" centenary
BBC Television studio open day at Alexandra Palace
Open day at the Alexandra Palace Victorian Theatre
Police try to stop Walthamstow blogger taking pictures of a bus crash
What is the collective noun for a group of atheist buses in London?
'Parachuting Teddy Bear Jumps' in Muswell Hill
VAT rate cut information design in Muswell Hill
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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.
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- Martin Belam talks and presentations
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- New media best practice
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- 'Old' media relationship with 'new' media
- Site search management and design
- Working at the BBC (2000 - 2005)
- Working at The Guardian (2008 - now)
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Contact: martin dot belam at currybet dot net. © Martin Belam where appropriate.
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