currybetdotnet Radio archive
"In the future, there will be journalists"
At a UCLAN workshop in Preston, I was part of a group trying to discover the digital skills and training that a young journalist in 2012 would need. This post explains what we thought the journalist of the future would look like.
Activate 09 at The Guardian: Notes and take-away quotes - Part 1
The Guardian's Activate 09
A series of posts with my notes and take-away quotes from the Activate 09 Summit.
"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...
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...
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.
Stan Collymore scores with me on Twitter
Part of the recent buzz around Twitter in the UK has been driven by the adoption of the service by celebrities. Some of them have been using it as a pure broadcast medium, but there are also some examples of fantastic audience interaction there, and people who seem to be real naturals with the medium. One of them is Stan Collymore. Since he retired from football he has often been a controversial figure, but I've been totally impressed with the...
"An Open BBC?" at Broadcasting House
With my posts over the couple the last couple of days about The Guardian's Open Platform and m.guardian.co.uk, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was going to be wall-to-wall Guardian on currybetdotnet from now on. However, on Tuesday night I was back at one of my old stomping grounds, the BBC, for the event wrapping up Steve Bowbrick's time as the BBC's "open blogger". Although, to be fair, Emily Bell was on the panel, so there is still...
'Delivering Digital Britain' still too much about 'delivery'
I was lucky enough to get a seat yesterday morning when Lord Carter presented the next steps for his Digital Britain report at NESTA. The event was heavily over-subscribed and the busiest I've seen at NESTA HQ. The release of the report was heavily criticised in many quarters, some of which was captured by a move to put it into a more malleable format than the PDF document that was initially published. I wondered whether Lord Carter would address any...
Digital Britain Interim report - first impressions
Today is day that the interim 'Digital Britain' report was published by the DCMS. It follows hard on the heels of the Ofcom report into the future of Public Service Broadcasting as part of this curiously two pronged approach to sorting out the regulatory and policy future of the UK's media. I turned the Ofcom document into a Wordle cloud: I've done the same for today's Digital Britain interim report: And, as prompted by @JemStone, here is the comparison chart...
The Hexenturm Files...coming to Radio 4
You might recall that 18 months ago I was living in Salzburg, Austria, whilst working with Sony. At the time the joint blog that my wife and I write about our travels was called 'Some Edelweiss Of Our Own' rather than 'A lemon tree of our own'. Whilst in Salzburg, my better half wrote a series of articles which she called 'The Hexenturm Files'. She had noticed a picture of a spooky old building in the laundry she used on...
BBC fails the online Brand damage limitation test
One of the joys of having the web as a corporate communication channel is that it is very flexible and can be very, very dynamic. Not all businesses take full advantage of that, though. The BBC has not been very nimble in its response to the Brand / Ross / Sachs sex scandal, and this has been especially true on the web. At lunchtime today, even as the Corporation announced the suspension of Ross and Brand, if you visited /programmes...
Currybetdotnet recent comments round-up 2008-08-29
Back in February and March of this year I did a series of articles about blog comments, and one of my suggestions was that doing an occasional round-up of interesting comments was a way of making sure they got attention, particularly if they had been left on older articles. One way or another I've been in a bit of an Internet connection black hole for the last five weeks or so, and it means that the moderating of comments on...
Can you trust going to a 'Can you trust the media?' event for a good debate?
I've been lucky enough that whilst I've been in London for a month working, there have been a couple of interesting events that I have been able to go to. Last week it was Chinwag Live, and this week it was the launch of Adrian Monck's book "Can you trust the media?". It is some testament to the openness of media professionals in the UK that you could just walk into a college and go to a debate featuring big...
The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Doctor Whoniverse
Thirty years ago today, at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a new landmark sci-fi comedy - the first part of Douglas Adam's "The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy". I was first introduced to the radio series by a school friend. Staying round his house in the early 80s, we'd stay up as late as we could get away with, listening to some C90 recordings he had of the episodes. He didn't have totally impeccable taste mind...
That 2002 BBCi Search impartiality problem in full
In my recent post on the BBC's Internet Blog about the development of the BBC's web search engine, I mentioned in passing that in 2002 the BBC was accused of artificially inflating the rankings of BBC content within the results. James Cridland picked up on it, reminding us that searching for 'Classic FM' used to bring back BBC Radio 3 in top spot. The original draft of my blog post went into a little more detail about this 'technical glitch',...
Happy birthday Radio One - Established 1967
Today is the 40th anniversary of national institution Radio One. To celebrate they have emulated the NME's Ruby Trax compilation, getting modern artists to cover the 'classics' of yesteryear. I've never been a great consumer of radio myself. I used to listen to John Peel late at might, and the Annie Nightingale request show on a Sunday during my tweenage years, and before that I'd often hear the top 40 countdown in the car on the way back from visiting...
"Show must go on" culture at the BBC more to blame for errors than a calculating culture of deceit
In all my time working at the BBC there was never anything as high-pressured, stressful, or as worrying as having an application with a 'TX critical' deadline - meaning that it had to go live and work at the appointed moment that it was mentioned in the broadcast stream. Software updates could be put back, new content publishing could be delayed, whole website launches could be shelved, as long as it wasn't going to be mentioned on TV or Radio....
Free the BBC from the same old tired DRM debate
I was pointed via Wonderland yesterday at the Free The BBC site, where a petition is gathering against the BBC's proposed use of DRM in the upcoming iPlayer application. And of course, a quick look shows that this has sparked the same tired circular arguments on the backstage.bbc.co.uk mailing list. One person has been arguing that DRM is a bad thing because their sister accidentally wiped clean their iPod, whilst someone else is claiming the only basis for the BBC's...
Slacker equivalent already on the market in Europe - meet Sony and Vodafone's Radio DJ
There has been a bit of a buzz around the announcement of a service called Slacker in the USA, which will be a device which plays personalised radio stations to the user on the go. Matt Marshall at VentureBeat even touted it as a potential "iPod killer". As I read through the promised feature-set, I started to get a little nagging voice in my head, saying "Hang on, isn't....this....what...I..do?" Because for the last few months I've been working on...
Playing with the Virgin Radio player beta
I was nudged the other day into looking at Virgin Radio's beta test of a new streaming internet radio player. The limited testing is only open to those who have registered as VIPs on the Virgin Radio site, which was a nice way of getting a small group of enthusiastic users of the site to try out the new service. My first impressions of the player were very good. Apart from having the streaming area and radio controls, the...
Paul Dacre's claim that, due to the BBC, commercial radio is "ailing"
Today and the Hunting ban repeal vote
The one-way Mary Whitehouse radio experience
The New York Times and geo-location of internet users - what I might have said on Radio 4 yesterday
Vote for your favourite John Lennon track using our new system
Five Live and George Best on the BBC Homepage
John Peel Day on Flickr and the BBC Homepage
The Best Of The Best Woman's Hour Vote on BBC Radio Four
Greatest Painting Result In Print
Turner Prize - The Greatest Painting In Britain Vote Result
Last Chance To Vote For Britain's Greatest Painting
The Today Programme's Greatest Painting In Britain Vote
He Thinks Therefore Michael Gove Is Not Voting Marx
Now In Our Time shows the BBC is "ignorant as well as biased"
Cardiff Singer of the World Audience Vote
If You Want To Outvote Marx....
In Our Time Greatest Philosophers Vote in The Guardian
In Our Time Greatest Philosopher Vote
Vote to name the new Wembley footbridge on BBC.co.uk
Bob Geldof is the Listener's Lord
Last chance to vote in Radio Five Live's Sporting Year
BBC Radio Five Live's Sporting Year Vote
DCMS Review of the BBC's Digital Radio services
Carling Cup free-for-all on Five Live
Gramophones and Grooves on Radio 4
New Radio 3 site and a more open BBC all in one
Zidane is the Radio Five Live Eurostar
Radio Five Live Veteran's Vote
Five Live Sporting Century vote in the Evening Standard
Free access to the BBC's archive, or sale to the highest bidder?
Barry Cox calls for an end to public service broadcasting?
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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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