links for 2010-06-29
-
Four researchers from the Department of Computer Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have performed a multi-part analysis of Twitter. They conclude that it's a surprisingly interconnected network and an effective way to filter quality information.
links for 2010-06-28
-
Independent local papers are a vital part of any thriving democracy. The rigour with which local journalists scrutinise the activity and spending of councils is a key factor in open and transparent government where local people can hold their councillors to account.
The steady creep of publicity beyond council-related matters started in 2001 when a watering down of a statutory code lifted the restrictions on council publicity. The new Secretary of State intends to clamp down on this by making changes to the statutory code that will stop unfair competition, ensure a tougher value for money test, and prevent municipal literature passing itself off as independent journalism.
-
For me this is now a severely antiquated argument which simply needs to stop. Those still hung up about sorting the ‘professionals’ from the ‘amateurs’ need to seriously think about their future in journalism – because there needs to be an attitudinal shift from singular news-agenda-driven content to understanding the value of collaboration and community driven projects.
links for 2010-06-25
-
What new skills from other sectors will we need to acquire?
1. Core ‘craft’ skill
2. Platform specific specialism: audio, video, stills, text.
3. Additional technical knowledge or expertise from other sectors (e.g. non-linear narrative, data & infomatics, mobile etc)
4. Broad skills and knowledge to utilise (e.g. Agile project management, business models, managing conversations)
5. Most important, reader/customer/consumer in mind at all times: what they want, how they want it and when & where they want it. -
If I was (through some huge error) in a position to hire journalists, I'd ask where they blog. If they didn't, goodbye. iPhones now have 720p HD video, soon it'll be on every crappy mobile phone. There's no excuse.
links for 2010-06-22
-
This was not a bid for citizen journalism to take on professional journalists as the debate has ofen skewed to,
but a genuine attempt to hear from the bottom upwards new voices and fresh stories. In many ways the excercise also mirrored videojournalisms unrehearsed look and feel towards approaching reports. -
We in the UK are now expecting ‘a tsunami of data’ to flow from government thanks to the Big Society declaration (including a new ‘right to data’). Some people have begun using the data for development – such as the live train map for the London underground. But it is well worth casting our eyes across the Atlantic – we can learn alot from current developments in the US.
-
Local online competition is on the rise….and now, at a much faster pace. Don’t be fooled into thinking, ‘hyper-local doesn’t work yet’. Those early journalist-lead experiments from CUNY, New York Times and ChicagoNow still struggle for financial stability due to this common flaw: revenue & sales expertise took a back seat to editorial & tech in the start-up phase. Indeed, ‘build it and they will come’ does not work so well on the web.
Crain's Manchester and Salford Star: Counting the cost of getting up people's noses?
It was sad, but perhaps not that surprising, to hear that Crain’s has finished its Manchester publication.
Sad, because it brought along with a specialised in-depth printed product, a decent website, regularly updated and with some free-to-air elements. Unsurprising, because of the overcrowded marketplace of the business niche in Manchester.
A statement posted on its website this morning explained
“While we have been pleased with the support received from Crain’s Manchester Business readers from the beginning of the project, ultimately the limited support from key advertising sectors has made the project unsustainable,” said Chris Crain, senior vice president, Crain Communications Inc. and editor-in-chief, Crain’s Manchester Business.
The Manchester based journalist David Quinn was quick to give some analysis to the demise of the title with five points which included the pertinent;
“I was told by contacts from time to time that they’d stopped talking to Crain’s, supposedly because the paper had messed up some story or other. But from what I could see Crain’s very rarely got things wrong, it just printed things that others either missed or ignored. This got up people’s noses.”
……..and in a seamless link to another publication which is often accused of getting up people’s noses, the Salford Star today had its appeal hearing against the loss of funding by the devolved community committee of Salford Council deferred. I’ve already posted at length on this at The Guardian and the Star is due to release its statement on the ongoing saga tomorrow.
links for 2010-06-21
-
A great opportunity now presents for a truly open form of governance. Working together as central, regional, local with the creative input of the agile software developer community we can begin to shape what a transparent state might look like for the benefit of citizens.
So here are a couple of do's and don't's for councils starting out on this road.
-
Former journalist Retha Hill was one of the 12 winners of this year's Knight News Challenge. Her winning concept, which was awarded £90,000, is CitySeed: an online platform where local people can propose topics for local news media attention.
The project will include a widget that news websites can put on their community pages to direct readers to suggestions for neighbourhood improvements.
-
"We have raised over £2,500 from donations and merchandise but not enough to publish – we believe that with millions of public £ going into 'giving the community a voice' and 'empowering' people a tiny % should go to real community magazines whether us or anyone else."
-
Gannett Broadcasting is launching community-focused websites in 10 of its TV markets that will be integrated within its existing websites in those markets.
-
Everybody’s piling on. The latest to join the fray?
Google. Via YouTube.
SF Weekly has the story here about Google very quietly contacting local bloggers and journalists in San Francisco with news of a video-based citizen journalism project that’s happening in July and August.
-
Open data is not a magic recipe for righting wrongs. What will move things on is the stories that communities tell about their situations and their possible futures. If open data has a part to play in this it will be through the bootstrap empowerment of projects like savvy chavvy, social startup labs and transition towns.
links for 2010-06-19
-
I am pessimistic about the ability of a lot of newspapers to survive. So I'd like to suggest that, however you feel about newspapers, it's important that we generate ideas for replacing the local watchdog functions discussed in this post. Are there any readers who've observed viable replacements for the beat reporter in your community? Does anyone have ideas that are as yet untried?
-
I do not see councils as ‘using’ hyperlocal sites because they are not there to interfere nor moderate/own the hyperlocal websites. They hyperlocal websites belong to citizens and they are the ‘users’ of hyperlocal websites. Councils are unofficial contributors to useful information that can help citizens within that particular area. So you can view councils as being just another member of that community sitting side-by-side with citizens, reaching out on citizens level without any barriers or judgements. This type of engagement will hopefully break down the barriers or walls that currently exist between councils and citizens and increase citizens trust towards local authorities.
-
A hyperlocal business model requires community participation. The one-way broadcast “newspaper” model of Topix local news + advertising is just a variation on the old Web 1.0 model. ONE THING IS NOT EVEN BEING MENTIONED IN THIS CONVERSATION ABOUT HYPERLOCAL ADVERTISING – Local advertising revenue models may not even be viable once local merchants discover that they can reach and market to their community through Twitter. Free. Of course, this is based on the assumption that Twitter continues its rapid adoption by the masses, which in one form or the other (see Facebook/Friendfeed) should happen.
-
Therefore the failure of other media to do this, creates a hole which must be filled. Yet the very reason why local papers don't divert their resources to it, is an imbalance between the resource needed to do it and the rate of return of readers. In short, I'm not sure there is a demand for that level of engagement; certainly not enough to build a business on it.
links for 2010-06-18
-
Pretty much all newspapers rely heavily on press releases for content these days, now that they are understaffed and experiencing severe financial pressures.
-
What David fails to recognise is the diversity among hyperlocals. When I read the post I instantly though of the phrase ‘tarring with the same brush’ which is a connection shared by Guardian Local editor Sarah Hartley. Will Perrin offered the following examples of hyperlocals in the comments;
http://pitsnpots.co.uk/
http://www.greenerleith.org/
http://bournvillevillage.com/
http://www.greenerleith.org/
http://parwich.org/
http://thelichfieldblog.co.uk/
http://ventnorblog.com/
As I said in my comment, these are largely examples of sites that are at the news end of the hyperlocal spectrum. Often journalistic in nature, these do aim to provide news coverage to their community.
MEN reporter V hyperlocals
Blogging lesson one: Never walk away from a debate
An interesting debate is taking place today on one of the Manchester Evening News blogs. Or more accurately, a debate was started but now the conversation is all of a twitter because the unmoderated comments are sitting in the ether somewhere waiting to be published.
The spark of controversy is David Ottewell’s assertions about hyperlocal news sites;
“Too often, though, these sites disappoint. They end up simply regurgitating press releases, or ripping off stories from local newspapers, because they are one-man bands run by amateurs who don’t have the time, resources, or sometimes skills to dig out the news.
“Often you’ll find the authors of these site blur the lines between news and commentary. Instead of finding exclusives, and dealing with them responsibly (by giving right or reply, say, and checking all facts are correct), they simply put their own heavy spin on other people’s stories. This isn’t ‘doing’ news, hyperlocal or otherwise. It’s commentary. And it is far less valuable. That’s what CP Scott meant when he said “Comment is free, but facts are sacred”. Finding the news is hard. Talking about it is easy.”
Provocative stuff and one that I didn’t want to let lie unchallenged so I responded an hour ago to say;
“Well done on voicing support for the Salford Star David, hopefully the MEN will follow the story through and give it some support too. However, your (probably) link bait assertion about what hyperlocal sites do ‘too often’ shouldn’t be left unchallenged. There’s heaps of sites up and down the country doing the sort of scrutiny you should applaud and unearthing stories of genuine importance to their communities – and that’s the point ‘their communities’. Maybe those stories don’t appeal to your professionalised view of journalism? I know not. Rather than generalise about these sites, perhaps some credit where it’s due and then name names if you have examples where churnalism is going on rather than tarring everyone with the same brush.”
And this is what I’m still seeing;
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
It’s very possible and reasonable that David’s just stepped outside on his day off – perhaps he could leave a message to say so. But now the twitterati is somewhat indignant at having the opportunity for response closed off. Only it’s not. Ooops……….
(btw, any delays in posting comments on this blog will be caused by me driving home so don’t say you’ve not been warned!)
leave a comment