Multimedia journalism has been an interesting module, covering the convergence of multiple media platforms to elaborately illustrate journalism in the online age. The advent of web 2.0 has changed journalism, creating a new level of interactivity previously impossible on other formats.
Studying the online world of journalism is a little more depth was an interesting experience, though one I was personally fairly familiar with. The push back into blogging and Google applications was beneficial for me, however, as i'd been letting myself slip in those areas. I discovered some truly inspirational (and other completely diabolical) multimedia websites in the course of the module, which was an influential experience.
The audio module was basic, but it was plain to see that good audio equipment skills are essential in the fast-paced journalism world. I've since employed microphones for impromptu interviews, and the techniques i'd learnt on the module had seemingly become second nature, which was helpful. Audacity is the most basic editing program on the market and nowhere near industry standard, so it would have been useful to have learnt editing on different and better software.
The video module was, though informative, something I personally found little value in. I unfortunately have no intention of going into filmmaking and so the techniques were fairly wasted on me. I was already familiar with Final Cut Pro, so the refresher was alright but I couldn't help feeling like I could be making better use of my time. The look at video journalism techniques was interesting in the sessions, but in practice it felt unprofessional and not journalistic at all. It would be a sad state of affairs if a journalist was left to man cameras, microphones and be on camera all at the same time and this just felt unrealistic.
The online and audio aspect of the module were great, however. The push back into blogging has been the most invaluable product of this module, and establishing my online presence again will be good steps for the future.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Audio: An Evaluation
Faced with the task of producing a podcast, I knew that i once again wanted to work with already-established interests - this time experimental music and sonic art.
The work of a good friend of mine's was the subject of my piece, as I tried to delve a little deeper into what made him tick and the influences behind his work. Knowing that he had a couple of projects currently ongoing, I saw the opportunity for a decent interview and went for it.
Armed with a zoom kit, I wanted the interview to have a conversational feel rather than a straight up Q&A session so I placed the microphone in an unobtrusive place that could pick up his voice well without behind held in his face and potentially putting him off a little. This helped the conversation flow naturally I felt, but would only be a good technique in a quiet indoor environment like I used.
I decided to open the piece with a sample of 'IZ-US' by Aphex Twin - a personal favourite of mine and something that felt altogether out of place - a mood i wanted establishing from the offset. I continued using music by Aphex Twin as a backing track for the interview, settling on 'Blue Calx' from the album 'Selected Ambient Works Vol.2'. The great thing about using an ambient track of this variety was that, whilst unobtrusive and not distracting, it still gave the piece a slightly unsettled atmosphere.
The stings I used were samples of a tribal chant - once again for the slightly unsettling audio value.
I think the piece was successful both in interesting views I got from the artist and in the slightly unsettling atmosphere evoked in the Podcast. It feels fairly fluid to me, though i'd add commentary before playing the samples of Ollie's work and VHS Head's work during the interview, as I feel it isn't absolutely clear what the listener is hearing when it's played. Other than that, i'm happy with the piece.
The work of a good friend of mine's was the subject of my piece, as I tried to delve a little deeper into what made him tick and the influences behind his work. Knowing that he had a couple of projects currently ongoing, I saw the opportunity for a decent interview and went for it.
Armed with a zoom kit, I wanted the interview to have a conversational feel rather than a straight up Q&A session so I placed the microphone in an unobtrusive place that could pick up his voice well without behind held in his face and potentially putting him off a little. This helped the conversation flow naturally I felt, but would only be a good technique in a quiet indoor environment like I used.
I decided to open the piece with a sample of 'IZ-US' by Aphex Twin - a personal favourite of mine and something that felt altogether out of place - a mood i wanted establishing from the offset. I continued using music by Aphex Twin as a backing track for the interview, settling on 'Blue Calx' from the album 'Selected Ambient Works Vol.2'. The great thing about using an ambient track of this variety was that, whilst unobtrusive and not distracting, it still gave the piece a slightly unsettled atmosphere.
The stings I used were samples of a tribal chant - once again for the slightly unsettling audio value.
I think the piece was successful both in interesting views I got from the artist and in the slightly unsettling atmosphere evoked in the Podcast. It feels fairly fluid to me, though i'd add commentary before playing the samples of Ollie's work and VHS Head's work during the interview, as I feel it isn't absolutely clear what the listener is hearing when it's played. Other than that, i'm happy with the piece.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Video: An evaluation
My video piece was and ill-advised and altogether unorthodox documentary piece playing with the concepts of hearsay and misdirection.
The concept itself was realised after multiple afternoons at the Undercroft with friends of mine discussing a mysterious next-door neighbour by the name of 'Salvo'. Their stories were often a case of Chinese whispers, but always of interest. Salvo was, on the surface, a simple mustachioed builder of Neasden. Their stories, however, painted a very different story. I decided to document these stories into some sort of mildly coherent short about the man.
I don't want to claim the piece was 'mockumentary' as the claims in the story were mostly unfounded rumour - they may or may not be true, and I as the filmmaker do not and probably will never know the origin of these rumours.
I adopted an interview style for the piece - a 2/3 shot of the interviewees that gave spacial context to their sides, which was furthered by the use of intrusive cutaways. The cutaways were almost claustrophobic in execution - something i want to incorporate to add a little suspense to the piece. This was poorly executed on reflection, and i should have added more of them.
There was a little visual distraction in a few shots - particularly a sign next to one of the interviewees. I noticed this at the time of shooting and moved him, though I liked the piece i'd recorded with that particular interviewee and so left it in regardless. I feel it adds a little to the genuine feeling of the piece.
The piece was recorded with a particular humour in mind - I feel this suffered in the cutting room. I couldn't include all of the footage i wanted to, and so a lot of context surrounding the character was lost. I don't think i noticed this at the time of editing as I had the context in my head and so it made perfect sense in my head. A little more consideration for the understanding of audience was needed.
I do, however, like the finished product. It's fairly narrative, well presented and (I think) fairly original amongst the crop of other (though fantastically executed and a lot more professional than this) pieces i've seen. Time will tell if the grade i receive agrees with me.
The concept itself was realised after multiple afternoons at the Undercroft with friends of mine discussing a mysterious next-door neighbour by the name of 'Salvo'. Their stories were often a case of Chinese whispers, but always of interest. Salvo was, on the surface, a simple mustachioed builder of Neasden. Their stories, however, painted a very different story. I decided to document these stories into some sort of mildly coherent short about the man.
I don't want to claim the piece was 'mockumentary' as the claims in the story were mostly unfounded rumour - they may or may not be true, and I as the filmmaker do not and probably will never know the origin of these rumours.
I adopted an interview style for the piece - a 2/3 shot of the interviewees that gave spacial context to their sides, which was furthered by the use of intrusive cutaways. The cutaways were almost claustrophobic in execution - something i want to incorporate to add a little suspense to the piece. This was poorly executed on reflection, and i should have added more of them.
There was a little visual distraction in a few shots - particularly a sign next to one of the interviewees. I noticed this at the time of shooting and moved him, though I liked the piece i'd recorded with that particular interviewee and so left it in regardless. I feel it adds a little to the genuine feeling of the piece.
The piece was recorded with a particular humour in mind - I feel this suffered in the cutting room. I couldn't include all of the footage i wanted to, and so a lot of context surrounding the character was lost. I don't think i noticed this at the time of editing as I had the context in my head and so it made perfect sense in my head. A little more consideration for the understanding of audience was needed.
I do, however, like the finished product. It's fairly narrative, well presented and (I think) fairly original amongst the crop of other (though fantastically executed and a lot more professional than this) pieces i've seen. Time will tell if the grade i receive agrees with me.
Group Blog: An Evaluation
'Messi Music' was the title of our group blog - a risky (and perhaps ill-advised, going by the reputation of its counterpart 'Messi Music') play on the dreadful but essential Monday night party at the Undercroft bar. Though altogether cringe-worthy, it's a night familiar to every student on the Harrow campus, and so was an instantly recognisable name. Essentially, this was the staple for the original concept because, though a slightly shameful name in itself, we were writing to serve a Westminster audience and so establishing this through the name itself (without resorting to using the word 'Westminster') was a great idea.
As a group we quickly organised individual roles for the group - I was working on the aesthetic side of the blog. Though initially apprehensive to accept this role, I made creative decisions and set up the key stylistic features of the blog primarily. I stick by some of the decisions I made - for example the minimal structure, the black-on-white text and the eye-catching banner - a knock-up of an image I took of a local Cambridge band earlier in the year. I took criticism on board - for example making the banner smaller so the main headline was not below the browser fold as it initially was. There was, however, an issue with navigability. The banner itself, though bold, dominated the main space of the blog, removing emphasis from links and stories - something i'd change in future productions. There was a lack of consistency with back-tracking, something could have been solved with greater use of Tumblr's archive function. This wasn't made clear on the homepage though, and so I accept this as a creative failing on my part. I do stick by the strong visual concept though, I just feel that I may have held the aesthetic above the functionality - a definite development to take into consideration for the future.
The group was consistent with blogging - we all worked extremely well to pre-decided timetables and there was no issues regarding scheduling and content uploads. We consciously tried to link pieces together on specific days - for example a day dedicated to music festivals, which we felt was one of our strongest concepts. This consistency for corresponding posts on particular days was definitely one of our strongest points.
I felt the quality of writing was high - all of the writers were music fans with vastly different tastes. This was one of the concepts we brought to the table in our first meeting: how our different tastes would provide the blog with colour and introduce interesting ideas that weren't cliched. This worked well, though the writing styles differed greatly between the group - for example Ian went for a very conversational style - a great way to speak to the audience and encourage that community feeling for the blog, whereas I felt like my pieces were more in-depth features which seemed a little less accessible to the casual reader. I think this was simply a case of our differing tastes, which clearly extends to journalistic styles too! I didn't think this was a great problem at all, I feel it could have perhaps seemed a little more consistent however if we had provided a link system so that readers could access the type of story they wanted to read - i.e. features, top 5 lists, reviews etc. I didn't think this was a problem though, as the quality writing spoke for itself.
Overall i'd consider our blog a success - strong writing, consistency, a wealth of multimedia content and a hugely relevant subject matter. I'm extremely proud of a few of the pieces I produced for the blog, and so that's personally rewarding in itself. Working as a team was an exciting experiment - it was fantastic to throw ideas around with a dynamic group of people.
As a group we quickly organised individual roles for the group - I was working on the aesthetic side of the blog. Though initially apprehensive to accept this role, I made creative decisions and set up the key stylistic features of the blog primarily. I stick by some of the decisions I made - for example the minimal structure, the black-on-white text and the eye-catching banner - a knock-up of an image I took of a local Cambridge band earlier in the year. I took criticism on board - for example making the banner smaller so the main headline was not below the browser fold as it initially was. There was, however, an issue with navigability. The banner itself, though bold, dominated the main space of the blog, removing emphasis from links and stories - something i'd change in future productions. There was a lack of consistency with back-tracking, something could have been solved with greater use of Tumblr's archive function. This wasn't made clear on the homepage though, and so I accept this as a creative failing on my part. I do stick by the strong visual concept though, I just feel that I may have held the aesthetic above the functionality - a definite development to take into consideration for the future.
The group was consistent with blogging - we all worked extremely well to pre-decided timetables and there was no issues regarding scheduling and content uploads. We consciously tried to link pieces together on specific days - for example a day dedicated to music festivals, which we felt was one of our strongest concepts. This consistency for corresponding posts on particular days was definitely one of our strongest points.
I felt the quality of writing was high - all of the writers were music fans with vastly different tastes. This was one of the concepts we brought to the table in our first meeting: how our different tastes would provide the blog with colour and introduce interesting ideas that weren't cliched. This worked well, though the writing styles differed greatly between the group - for example Ian went for a very conversational style - a great way to speak to the audience and encourage that community feeling for the blog, whereas I felt like my pieces were more in-depth features which seemed a little less accessible to the casual reader. I think this was simply a case of our differing tastes, which clearly extends to journalistic styles too! I didn't think this was a great problem at all, I feel it could have perhaps seemed a little more consistent however if we had provided a link system so that readers could access the type of story they wanted to read - i.e. features, top 5 lists, reviews etc. I didn't think this was a problem though, as the quality writing spoke for itself.
Overall i'd consider our blog a success - strong writing, consistency, a wealth of multimedia content and a hugely relevant subject matter. I'm extremely proud of a few of the pieces I produced for the blog, and so that's personally rewarding in itself. Working as a team was an exciting experiment - it was fantastic to throw ideas around with a dynamic group of people.
Editorial, a bit of research.
I produced a music blog. Well, I produced a collaboration blog with three other students about the music scene at our dear old university. The art direction of said blog was left up to me, so I had a look around at how other music websites were laying their stuff out.
Making an executive decision from the offset to use Tumblr, I kept the URL pretty basic (wearemessimusic.tumblr.com) and the style minimal. Initially wanting to use Tumblr to exploit the easy yet interesting aesthetic values of the site, I also liked that it was seen as something of a wildcard by our tutor. I knew that the aesthetic and current "cool" surrounding Tumblr far out-weighed the safety found with standard blogging site for the class Wordpress.
Music news frontrunners like Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound employ a simplistic minimal design - an black-on-white aesthetic that feels authoritative and professional - a core design value i wanted the blog to have. Colourful visually overloading blogs seem like colouring books when compared to the professional minimal designs, so this principle was something i took from Pitchfork.
Simple, clean-cut and above all: professional.
Making an executive decision from the offset to use Tumblr, I kept the URL pretty basic (wearemessimusic.tumblr.com) and the style minimal. Initially wanting to use Tumblr to exploit the easy yet interesting aesthetic values of the site, I also liked that it was seen as something of a wildcard by our tutor. I knew that the aesthetic and current "cool" surrounding Tumblr far out-weighed the safety found with standard blogging site for the class Wordpress.
Music news frontrunners like Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound employ a simplistic minimal design - an black-on-white aesthetic that feels authoritative and professional - a core design value i wanted the blog to have. Colourful visually overloading blogs seem like colouring books when compared to the professional minimal designs, so this principle was something i took from Pitchfork.
Simple, clean-cut and above all: professional.
Got the RSS for that.
Google Reader is essentially an old, old concept with a pretty branded logo.
RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is a concept with its roots back in 1995. Though not truly realised by Netscape until 1999, RSS is regardless a simple and very done concept. Aggregation software is one of the Internet's triumphs - the ability to bring up exactly what one wants to read, from the sources one desires without changing page. As if a newspaper dedicated to the interests of the reader, it's a truly fantastic concept and one that could only be achieved online.
So what is Google Reader bringing to the table?
Erm, well...not a whole lot.
Reader is a fairly capable RSS tool - accessible and fairly straight-forward for your seasoned RSS-er. Simple images and basic text layout are all that are retained from the original source material - something that has always deterred me from using RSS feeds religiously. It is, however, commonplace - so no marks lost on that one. It's an aggregator, and it does as aggregators do.
Subscribing to feeds is an uncomplicated affair, as one would expect. Reordering feeds in the menu is a no-no, as is further aggregating into sub-folders to folders for a more focused viewing experience. With marks for innovation dropping like flies, Reader is conceptually viable - bringing the world of RSS feeds to a wider market and making it accessible. The 'Google' stamp makes an audience feel comfortable and at home, but as a tool for users looking for a more professional aggregation experience Reader falls painfully short.
RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is a concept with its roots back in 1995. Though not truly realised by Netscape until 1999, RSS is regardless a simple and very done concept. Aggregation software is one of the Internet's triumphs - the ability to bring up exactly what one wants to read, from the sources one desires without changing page. As if a newspaper dedicated to the interests of the reader, it's a truly fantastic concept and one that could only be achieved online.
So what is Google Reader bringing to the table?
Erm, well...not a whole lot.
Reader is a fairly capable RSS tool - accessible and fairly straight-forward for your seasoned RSS-er. Simple images and basic text layout are all that are retained from the original source material - something that has always deterred me from using RSS feeds religiously. It is, however, commonplace - so no marks lost on that one. It's an aggregator, and it does as aggregators do.
Subscribing to feeds is an uncomplicated affair, as one would expect. Reordering feeds in the menu is a no-no, as is further aggregating into sub-folders to folders for a more focused viewing experience. With marks for innovation dropping like flies, Reader is conceptually viable - bringing the world of RSS feeds to a wider market and making it accessible. The 'Google' stamp makes an audience feel comfortable and at home, but as a tool for users looking for a more professional aggregation experience Reader falls painfully short.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
A short documentary.
After hearing my friends frequently sharing stories of a prolific figure in Neasden, I decided to investigate in an attempt to find out the truth about this figure they know only as "Salvo".
Sunday, 13 March 2011
An Interview with Sam from Black Polaris
Black Polaris are a Herts-based metal 5-piece fronted by vocalist Sam Burgess. I caught up with him in the street and picked his brain for a couple of minutes before he took to the stage at the Camden Barfly.
More information can be found on Black Polaris on their official Facebook page here
Google News
Google have undergone a serious transformation since its founding at a search engine in 1998.
It now truly transcends this status by offering services that have and still are revolutionising the way things are done on the world wide web. Google Earth is one of the most innovative user-friendly satellite tools, Google acquired YouTube in 2006 and has begun branching into renewable energy production.
As a company, Google have dominated a number of markets. Google News is, however, perhaps a different story.
The words together give the unjust impression that Google as a company have branched into the production of reporting, becoming a kind of trans-medium news behemoth. This is not the case, and Google do not take part in the production or reporting in any way, shape or form.
Google do as Google know - they filter. The Google News homepage is an aggregation of top stories from a number of respectable news sources - The Guardian, BBC, the FT and so forth. The stories are filtered and arranged in order of relevance and the homepage is reportedly not edited or managed by judgement, instead relying on an algorithm to select stories. This could potentially remove some of the bias Philip Schlesinger spoke of with regards to how the news is selected, but it must be remembered that, since the news presented by Google is simply an aggregation, it is still given precedence through assumed relevance by the original producer. This means that whilst a lack of human editing body capable of bias gives a sense of freedom from socio-political partiality, the presentation of Google News is only as impartial as the governing bodies behind the producers allow their own sites to be.
It is possible, however, to become your own editor of the Google News homepage. Working much like an RSS feed, the reader can select sources and news media - subject to what is topically and geographically relevant to them.
Though this isn't a revolutionary system, it's a step in the right direction for how news is broadcast and the Google brand will give exposure to new ways of consuming news media. The lack of monitoring in lieu of a electronic editing system is a controversial topic, one that could cost jobs when the algorithm is fully realised and news media moves more and more in the direction of Google News aggregators.
It now truly transcends this status by offering services that have and still are revolutionising the way things are done on the world wide web. Google Earth is one of the most innovative user-friendly satellite tools, Google acquired YouTube in 2006 and has begun branching into renewable energy production.
As a company, Google have dominated a number of markets. Google News is, however, perhaps a different story.
The words together give the unjust impression that Google as a company have branched into the production of reporting, becoming a kind of trans-medium news behemoth. This is not the case, and Google do not take part in the production or reporting in any way, shape or form.
Google do as Google know - they filter. The Google News homepage is an aggregation of top stories from a number of respectable news sources - The Guardian, BBC, the FT and so forth. The stories are filtered and arranged in order of relevance and the homepage is reportedly not edited or managed by judgement, instead relying on an algorithm to select stories. This could potentially remove some of the bias Philip Schlesinger spoke of with regards to how the news is selected, but it must be remembered that, since the news presented by Google is simply an aggregation, it is still given precedence through assumed relevance by the original producer. This means that whilst a lack of human editing body capable of bias gives a sense of freedom from socio-political partiality, the presentation of Google News is only as impartial as the governing bodies behind the producers allow their own sites to be.
It is possible, however, to become your own editor of the Google News homepage. Working much like an RSS feed, the reader can select sources and news media - subject to what is topically and geographically relevant to them.
Though this isn't a revolutionary system, it's a step in the right direction for how news is broadcast and the Google brand will give exposure to new ways of consuming news media. The lack of monitoring in lieu of a electronic editing system is a controversial topic, one that could cost jobs when the algorithm is fully realised and news media moves more and more in the direction of Google News aggregators.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Designing big news sites
Information architecture plays a huge role in the readability and user-friendly-ness of online news media. News websites with unique, concise and clear design are key to securing readers and drawing them into related stories without overloading them with unwanted information. Simple design is the vital aesthetic for a successful news publication, free from over-the-top image incorporation and a recognisable hallmark structure.
The New York Times
This homepage is something of an overload on the sense for a first timer. On closer inspection the website follows a fairly consistent presentation method, with links on the far left, and stories in the centre, followed by editorials and stocks, more links, weather, advertisements on the far right. Consistency aside, this home page still comes across as an information assault, overloading me with stories and not drawing my attention to any one article.
The design itself feels like a newspaper, just one with all readability removed. The eyes aren't immediately drawn to the left, conventionally this page doesn't appeal from the offset.
The Huffington Post
The award for the most grossly intrusive use of images goes to Arianna Huffington's news beast, The Huffington Post.
This looks almost amateurish when compared to the home pages of more established news media organisations, and subsequently pushes me away a little. The story in question is U.S-based and so doesn't appeal as greatly to an international audience automatically, but there's nothing wrong with not considering an international scope. The links bar under the header, which appears in the Huff' Po's institutional colour scheme, is very vague in defining categories - 'Front Page', 'Politics', 'Business'. This is decidedly effective to find interests, but doesn't encourage discovering stories that don't fit into your predetermined interests. The site still has a heavy focus on blog culture, linking to a variety of opinion pieces along-side the breaking stories, being a USP for website and the foundations upon which it was built, one would expect this.
The Guardian
The Guardian, one of the United Kingdom's best known left-leaning news platforms, has produced a refreshingly readable front page, stepping back from the 'online newspaper' facade and moving towards progressive, interactive news media hub.
The institutional header is unobtrusive and, by taking up little of the 'above fold' of the page, dedicated space for story headlines is established. The colour scheme, though not necessarily institutional, is inviting and eye-catching, though presented in pastel tones to appear once again unobtrusive against the news stories.
The layout is pleasingly uniform: stories, each with its own headline, thumbnail image and standfirst on the left; features in a slightly grey box to the centre-left and regularly update topic summaries (e.g. Sports, Fashion) to the right. A fairly standard feature for online news publications, Guardian.co.uk makes use of a 'most viewed' box - tapping into the 'trending topics' format commonplace on Twitter allowing readers to see what others are interested in. All in all, a damn good egg.
The New York Times
This homepage is something of an overload on the sense for a first timer. On closer inspection the website follows a fairly consistent presentation method, with links on the far left, and stories in the centre, followed by editorials and stocks, more links, weather, advertisements on the far right. Consistency aside, this home page still comes across as an information assault, overloading me with stories and not drawing my attention to any one article.
The design itself feels like a newspaper, just one with all readability removed. The eyes aren't immediately drawn to the left, conventionally this page doesn't appeal from the offset.
The Huffington Post
The award for the most grossly intrusive use of images goes to Arianna Huffington's news beast, The Huffington Post.
This looks almost amateurish when compared to the home pages of more established news media organisations, and subsequently pushes me away a little. The story in question is U.S-based and so doesn't appeal as greatly to an international audience automatically, but there's nothing wrong with not considering an international scope. The links bar under the header, which appears in the Huff' Po's institutional colour scheme, is very vague in defining categories - 'Front Page', 'Politics', 'Business'. This is decidedly effective to find interests, but doesn't encourage discovering stories that don't fit into your predetermined interests. The site still has a heavy focus on blog culture, linking to a variety of opinion pieces along-side the breaking stories, being a USP for website and the foundations upon which it was built, one would expect this.
The Guardian
The Guardian, one of the United Kingdom's best known left-leaning news platforms, has produced a refreshingly readable front page, stepping back from the 'online newspaper' facade and moving towards progressive, interactive news media hub.
The institutional header is unobtrusive and, by taking up little of the 'above fold' of the page, dedicated space for story headlines is established. The colour scheme, though not necessarily institutional, is inviting and eye-catching, though presented in pastel tones to appear once again unobtrusive against the news stories.
The layout is pleasingly uniform: stories, each with its own headline, thumbnail image and standfirst on the left; features in a slightly grey box to the centre-left and regularly update topic summaries (e.g. Sports, Fashion) to the right. A fairly standard feature for online news publications, Guardian.co.uk makes use of a 'most viewed' box - tapping into the 'trending topics' format commonplace on Twitter allowing readers to see what others are interested in. All in all, a damn good egg.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Tweets 101
Since 2006, writing Weblogs has become more accessible than ever thanks to the introduction of San Francisco-based ‘Twitter’. Twitter is the website that started the ‘Microblogging’ revolution, allowing users to update their personal Twitter ‘feed’ in real time, giving short, concise updates to the 190 million registered users. So popular is this method of social media that the site averages 65 million ‘tweets’, or news briefs, a day. The majority of ‘tweets’, like weblogs, simply consists of commentaries of the mundane. However, when people are at the scene of something newsworthy unfolding, they have a habit of ‘tweeting’ about it (thanks to mobile device support). Using Twitter’s integrated search function, it is possible to sift through the posts and discover insider accounts of events in real time. For example, if there happened to be a shooting on Oxford Circus, one need only search for ‘Oxford Circus’ to have a wealth of information from the scene. For journalists, this removes a lot of legwork and, subsequently, a lot of their worth.
Emily Ingram has put together a great guide for those who have somehow still managed to avoid getting to grips with Twitter.
May this signal the end of confused individuals telling me they don't understand how it works, or what the point of it all is!
You can find Emily's guide here
This video might also help if you still can't quite get your head around it...
Death From Above 1979 - Reunited and in London
Thought to be long-dead after disbanding
suddenly in 2005, Canada's Death From Above 1979 have announced they will be playing a London date in May - their first since the split and first headlining performance in 5 years.
Speculation about a possible long-term reunion of the band began when they were announced as a surprise performer at this years U.S. Coachella festival in April. This speculation was quickly laid to rest as drummer and lead vocalist Sebastian Grainger updated the band's website for the first time since they disbanded stating that the duo are "together again, as was always the intention, as a collaboration."
Death from Above 1979 will be playing a sold-out show at London's HMV Forum on May 5th 2011
suddenly in 2005, Canada's Death From Above 1979 have announced they will be playing a London date in May - their first since the split and first headlining performance in 5 years.Speculation about a possible long-term reunion of the band began when they were announced as a surprise performer at this years U.S. Coachella festival in April. This speculation was quickly laid to rest as drummer and lead vocalist Sebastian Grainger updated the band's website for the first time since they disbanded stating that the duo are "together again, as was always the intention, as a collaboration."
Death from Above 1979 will be playing a sold-out show at London's HMV Forum on May 5th 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Don't Dooce and drive.
Today, I discovered the vastly-detailed world, and life, of Heather B. Armstrong. Writing under the pseudonym 'Dooce', Armstrong has documented the most significant events in the last ten years of her life in an increasingly public domain.
Marketing herself on her easily navigable domain as a snapshot of the modern American mother, she updates her horde of followers about the mundanities of her family life through reflections and photographs.
Who is reading this? What's the big idea? Somebody is. Enough people to garner her multiple Weblog Awards, a million and a half followers on Twitter, an entire online community page of like-minded (read: domestic and desperate) individuals and enough revenue from advertising on her page for her, her husband and children to live very comfortably without day jobs.
But is this reality? Armstrong's forte is little more than giving her baying audience their daily dose of Heather. Except she's shooting her family on a $2,000 Canon 5d. And editing the photographs within an inch of reality. And, if her carefully-produced 'About Me' section is to be believed, Heather is really living the American Dream the old-fashioned way. She's single-handedly found reform (and a generous bundle of income) by means of self-expression, the love of a family and the simpler things in life. Or so her finely-crafted persona tells us.
The truth is, the sort of persona Armstrong has woven is one that appeals to all Western women in earnest. She's the woman you want to meet for a latte, the woman you want to talk about 'women's problems' and PTA, she's the woman you want to meet for playdates with the kids. You'd name her a Godmother if you could.
But you can buy calendars with vomit-inducingly cute photos of her dogs in amusing situations. And she was an honoree on the Forbes list of the '30 most influential women in media' alongside Oprah and Ellen. But there's a painfully cute story behind her pseudonym (Her 'lack' of typing-ability. Can't you just relate?)
The truth is, Armstrong is as much a soap opera (complete with sponsor breaks) as a personal life blog. The depth of her confessions, the topics she touches on and the frankness that won her millions of followers will have been toned down from the day she realised a large number of people were reading, and even more so when it became her source of income. Because we all want to protect our career, and so Armstrong will protect hers. I could be, of course, being terribly cynical and maybe Heather is a pre-packaged PR dream with marketability and sponsorship deals to boot, but what are the odds?
Marketing herself on her easily navigable domain as a snapshot of the modern American mother, she updates her horde of followers about the mundanities of her family life through reflections and photographs.
Who is reading this? What's the big idea? Somebody is. Enough people to garner her multiple Weblog Awards, a million and a half followers on Twitter, an entire online community page of like-minded (read: domestic and desperate) individuals and enough revenue from advertising on her page for her, her husband and children to live very comfortably without day jobs.
But is this reality? Armstrong's forte is little more than giving her baying audience their daily dose of Heather. Except she's shooting her family on a $2,000 Canon 5d. And editing the photographs within an inch of reality. And, if her carefully-produced 'About Me' section is to be believed, Heather is really living the American Dream the old-fashioned way. She's single-handedly found reform (and a generous bundle of income) by means of self-expression, the love of a family and the simpler things in life. Or so her finely-crafted persona tells us.
The truth is, the sort of persona Armstrong has woven is one that appeals to all Western women in earnest. She's the woman you want to meet for a latte, the woman you want to talk about 'women's problems' and PTA, she's the woman you want to meet for playdates with the kids. You'd name her a Godmother if you could.
But you can buy calendars with vomit-inducingly cute photos of her dogs in amusing situations. And she was an honoree on the Forbes list of the '30 most influential women in media' alongside Oprah and Ellen. But there's a painfully cute story behind her pseudonym (Her 'lack' of typing-ability. Can't you just relate?)
The truth is, Armstrong is as much a soap opera (complete with sponsor breaks) as a personal life blog. The depth of her confessions, the topics she touches on and the frankness that won her millions of followers will have been toned down from the day she realised a large number of people were reading, and even more so when it became her source of income. Because we all want to protect our career, and so Armstrong will protect hers. I could be, of course, being terribly cynical and maybe Heather is a pre-packaged PR dream with marketability and sponsorship deals to boot, but what are the odds?
Saturday, 22 January 2011
The Places We Live - Multimedia Worlds
Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen has created what is essentially a multimedia installation piece via you browser.
The Places We Live is a gallery of beautifully composed photographs with stark messages about the state of certain communities around the world - namely those in Caracas, Nairobi, Mumbai and Jakarta who are forced to live in favela-esque slum dwellings.
Bendiksen incorporates relevant ambient street sounds to his images to enhance the experience through audio, allowing the images to become immersive and feel alive without motion.
The beautiful photographs, shot in each of the four locations and accessible via an interactive map of the world, are accompanied by educational texts, giving background to the images and making them contextually stark. Often, in my eyes, a hinderance to photography, i feel the background information and use of numbers for scale adds to the cultural experience delivered by the website.
We are reminded, however, that Bendiksen is not producing groundbreaking images of some of the poorest areas on the planet out of righteousness - we are encouraged to purchase a copy of his new book with further images inside. The images are, however, of such a high quality and given so much context through the multimedia aspects of the website that the page works as a fantastic tool to sell books and I, for one, would be very interested in seeing more of Bendiksen's work.
It is interesting, however, to provide a multimedia experience as a means of advertisement for a product that is not in itself multimedia in nature.
The Places We Live is a gallery of beautifully composed photographs with stark messages about the state of certain communities around the world - namely those in Caracas, Nairobi, Mumbai and Jakarta who are forced to live in favela-esque slum dwellings.
Bendiksen incorporates relevant ambient street sounds to his images to enhance the experience through audio, allowing the images to become immersive and feel alive without motion.
The beautiful photographs, shot in each of the four locations and accessible via an interactive map of the world, are accompanied by educational texts, giving background to the images and making them contextually stark. Often, in my eyes, a hinderance to photography, i feel the background information and use of numbers for scale adds to the cultural experience delivered by the website.
We are reminded, however, that Bendiksen is not producing groundbreaking images of some of the poorest areas on the planet out of righteousness - we are encouraged to purchase a copy of his new book with further images inside. The images are, however, of such a high quality and given so much context through the multimedia aspects of the website that the page works as a fantastic tool to sell books and I, for one, would be very interested in seeing more of Bendiksen's work.
It is interesting, however, to provide a multimedia experience as a means of advertisement for a product that is not in itself multimedia in nature.
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