see talk and ipex 2002

I have been putting more stuff on the Talk pages of the Guardian web site, media - press and publishing. Topics on PDF Guardian still and also Printweek. There have been recent articles on the printing industry and also Emily Bell on 'denial' - her word - as an explanation for media attitudes to the web.

Last week Guy Kewney made a definite statement on a future for e-books. Things will move on from just PDF versions of print design. I can't see why the Guardian is waiting to write about the 'digital editions'. It makes their media coverage seem a bit strange.

Meanwhile a free DVD of Cinema Paradiso is no bad thing.

Victor Keegan writes about media

In the Guardian today Victor Keegan points out that Samsungs new mobile phone has a 1.3 magapixel camera, as available in South Korea. He suggests that phones will influence everything, even newspapers. China Women Daily now has a mobile version.

The only problem with this article is that it appears on a Thursday, tucked in the inside back page. Will such stuff ever appear on a Monday somewhere near the front where UK media syudents might find it?

text continues at Ohmynews International

I have written a longer piece for Ohmynews and this has been accepted.

Last week Jack Schofield wrote about Ohmynews in the Online section. The combination of editorial staff and 'citizen reporters' has worked in Korea where broadband is widespread. The international message board is a start on extending the idea.

The idea of a 'joined-up Guardian' is intended to link the content in Online with the coverage of newspapers in media. So far there is not much in print about the PDF option and the digital edition. My guess is that there is more happening with web media than is reported at the moment. The ABC figures for web subscriptions may change this.

Direct linking is difficult as the reference seems to change with each quibble, a term for comments. Try the main site, then the talkboard

http://english.ohmynews.com

Correction to previous post

I failed to read the listing of 100 media people carefully enough.

http://mediatalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@bbcweb@.774726fc/1

The Guardian Talk helped me realise this when I raised a similar point.

Lurkbot pointed out that Ashley Highfield is at no 33. There is quite a lot of information also on how the BBC is approaching the web.

I still think there might be more web activity covered as part of the media.

Back pages missing for 100 media stars

Today's MediaGuardian has nothing at all at the back where there ought to be stuff on 'new media'.

Instead there is a listing of 100 inluential people in media, from Rupert Murdoch to Terry Wogan.

There is almost nothing about the web. Emily Bell is one of the panel so it is not surprising she is not included. I would think the Guardian web site is one of the main UK sites that register on global charts. The outstanding one is the BBC, the only global media brand based in the UK. I might have missed it but I can't find any mention of anyone working on this within the Guardian pages. They often find space for some independent writer arguing that a commercial website would find life easier if the BBC stopped doing anything much. I'm not sure they realise how world wide the web is. The BBC is the main chance for the UK to appear on a global search result.

I wonder who the people are who edit the BBC web sites? They don't get much attention.

Web scare stories start a silly summer

The Guardian seems to have gone back in time to write up the web as full of danger.

Front page about how easy it is to get fake degrees. Roy Greenslade on how the Telegraph includes links to gambling web sites. This is the kind of stuff that appeared about the web when it first reached print journalists around the late '90s.

Maybe later there will be an article about how the web impacts on the world of journals and libraries. Is the credibility of universities much the same as ever, even with genuine certificates? How sensible is the Telegraph web policy in general? These kind of issues tend not to be covered. Plenty on music downloads though.

Couple of messages

I have put a comment in about the UK e-university. The Guardian wrote it up as a problem but I don't think they looked at why UK academics have not gone further with this. My opinion is that there could have been more attention some time ago.

See 'part time job in ICT'

and

UK universities world-class?


Meanwhile there is some comment in a topic on 'fear and web culture'. This started with why digital / web animation is marginal for festivals. There is an Australian view on visual culture. There also seems to be quite a lot of Australian interest in e-learning. Not sure why the UK could not be similar.

Links follow

There is more interest in the education part in quality. The Business section are not into talk it seems. Having said that, most of the education people don't really like the idea of a quality system. Also IT is not seen as central. So much to rave on about here.

The Guardian print edition has very little about the PDF version available on subscription. My posts to talk contain more reporting than has appeared in print. So I will continue this but try to write online on sites for Acrobat Services as well. As journalism the story unfolds very slowly. Blog style is to write about what you don't know and hope some better information turns up.

I have some very old copies of the Guardian so some of this blog will be retro.

The Saturday Review is the only bit that is well printed. It has a total book culture bias. The web just sneaks in there. Meanwhile 'little things we like' has almost no space for graphics.