Lenny Henry and the YouTube dialogue

Fairly often I try to think about how to persuade established voices to be less beastly about YouTube, bloggers, citizens in general. The stream of abuse against the claimed destruction of civilisation continues apace no matter what else happens. Proper print journalists with pages to fill through opinion probably pay not much attention to the comments sent in. So why not respond to mainstream TV instead? Asking a question is not easy for any form of journalism so maybe just raving on is one method, while looking out for something that might show a new direction.

Lenny Henry is a classic artist for peak time TV. Why he takes the approach to web video that comes over on the BBC is a bit of a mystery. Maybe he wants to insist on the role of the star in the studio. The people who produce the clips are never treated with any respect and rarely get any credit as in a namecheck. See this clip on YouTube, posted for the purpose of review and comment. Genuinely this is only there to make the point that the comments are valid. There is no taking away from the BBC of anything of value.

Lenny Henry might engage in a conversation on camera or others might comment meanwhile, BBC followers on where the advice went wrong perhaps. So my idea would be to use Morecambe as a base for discussing the role of the comedian. Is comedy socially conservative, abusing the nonconforming? Could it be more progressive?

The clips so far are to show the set, Stone Jetty as a place to meet, Rotunda to meet the stars who stay in the hotel subject to budget (offers on comments please), Winter Gardens to look back on comic history, Lubin for continued conversation and to face up to the continued losses on all things YouTube. As Lenny gets an income from current business model it may not be surprising things continue as they are. But there could also be a more creative link between online and mainstream tv.

Link to New York Times, they have a point

The Guardian, meanwhile, surely captured the Zeitgeist Prize for Journalistic Angst when it announced in an article that it would do away with its print edition and publish exclusively via Twitter, an online social network that limits written communications to 140 characters.

The Guardian said it would also transform its archives into Twitter messages, or “tweets,” employing the same shorthand that teenagers use to update their friends on important developments in their lives, like tying their shoes: “OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more.”

source

Twitter story continues, not April fool day today

Today in print Guardian and blog, the Twitter story continues.

Apparently the finances of UK football are so soundly based that orchestrated Twitter feeds are not required. But the Twitter from half time has started. Makes a lot more sense than staying with the TV for the ads.

The Guardian joke included the idea that anyone can post news. However, this is true and continues to be true. I think the plausibility of the idea that a newspaper would close down print is significant and means this was a day to remember. Not that print will vanish anytime soon, but the web also has some credibility.

Local Media near Exeter

Guardian editorial today about local news. They claim there could be no reliable source of information without print journalists. I do understand there is a problem but it is disturbing that they do not recognise the model of citizen journalism. Still a lot of negativity towards bloggers in my opinion. Peter Preston in the Observer mentioned the views of Polly Toynbee and pointed out the significance of her interest in this topic. It must be getting important.

I don't think they would read it if I left a comment about the OhmyNews business model. The Guardian Talk never has any response from Guardian staff. Probably they are very busy. So I think adding a "pollytoynbeelocal" tag may eventually get some interest. Jeff Jarvis responded to a story in OhmyNews but rarely adds to my comments on Buzzmachine. Why would he, given his heavy workload. this blog is updated every so often but somehow Jeff manages to Twitter as well as updating Buzzmachine etc. I think he may be wrong to assume that all writing needs as little subbing as his own. OhmyNews invests in editors to work with citizen reporters. Needs more study by guardian etc. but i am just repeating myself. Long list of examples of disturbing views in print could follow but maybe later.

Meanwhile in Exeter Youtube is getting stronger. I think there is enough material for stories about technology, music and animation. Where detail is missing the audience can find it for themselves. For example "A2D09" in YouTube.

More dissonance

Two contrasting views in the Media section today. Jeff Jarvis has extra space to describe his new book about Google and the benefits of opening up to the audience. However, with even more space and a few pages closer to the cover is another lament for the unfortunate print columnist who is obliged to endure comments.

I may have mentioned this before but I think the tone of conversation would be better if Guardian staff joined in the threads on Guardian Talk. I doubt they even look at it except to delete stuff. The thread on the PDF version of the Guardian includes a detailed complaint from a paying customer. If she has been contacted offline she has not mentioned it.

As far as I know this is the first review of the Jeff Jarvis book to appear in the Guardian. Well, a sort of review maybe it fails to count as such if written by the author. Chance of a mention on a Saturday? Very low I would think. More likely to get a proper auther moaning on about how book sales are dropping off and there are too many bloggers about.

"Everything Is Miscellaneous" by David Weinberger has still not been reviewed in the Guardian. Not published in the UK so that extra editorial filter is still missing. But there is no obvious reason not to review "Whst Would Google Do?"

Editorial on YouTube

The editorial on media and broadband makes a lot of sense. YouTube has a major role in public broadcasting. I have started to notice more local reporting and also I have spent a lot of time checking out the music around the inauguration. Not sure why it was hard to find on UK TV. The BBC presenters chose to speak over the chamber music so I gave up on them. Sky was better, but much more content on YouTube.

The "debate" seems to be about how to find new money to prop up old systems. Nothing I can find about resources for citizen reporting, user content or whatever it may be called. Again YouTube could help here. They have the volume and the systems to support niche communities and to store content over time. I find with the Guardian that on Talk topics are deleted too quickly for themes to develop. On Comment Is Free the comments seem to stop quite quickly when allowed. A new headline is then launched so it is hard to sustain a line of argument. There is scope for further change in how the Guardian approaches the Web.

Simon Jenkins at 180 degrees to reality

You have to hand it to proper print journalists for readability and amusement. The text's readability, your amusement, not sure I can even structure a sentence with a verb in it. But hey this is only a blog.

Simon Jenkins argues at length that fashion is moving back in time. The Rolling stones can still tour. There is book publishing interest in the second world war. So therefore there is new interest in newspapers as in print. I think this is the main point he was getting to. The evidence apparently is the launch of "The Printed Blog" and he suggests for authority that we Google it, not look in a library for a journal.

However, when I look at the site,the Printed Blog turns out to be nothing like a traditional newspaper. It is much more like OhmyNews who publish a free weekly in print to get wider interest in their website. It appears there is not much of a budget for the source bloggers. They will gain from interest in their websites. The jobs advertised are for some inside journalists but there also seems to be an emphasis on editing. this again is similar to OhmyNews. They concentrate resources on editors, partly to support citizen reporters with advice and training. I still think Jeff Jarvis could allow for more sub-editors, not less, in his model of a future news organisation.

So the Printed Blog is not a throwback. Print and online continue to co-exist. The Guardian is still worth 90pence in print as a curiosity but as a guide you may want to check with other sources.

Haymarket moves Marketing Direct online

Mailing shot arrived this morning by post, encloses a fairly slim magazine - Marketing Direct - and announcement that this will be online from next month, February.

So what is the Haymarket take on print? What to make of editorial in Printweek and Printing World?

Guardian reports e-books as games

I have had a good look at the books review section of the Guardian from yesterday and cannot find anything about e-books, the condition of the publishing trade or the implications for access to knowledge resources. All the blog links have gone and the Bookseller extracts also.

So I do not feel I was too sweeping in stating that the ePUB format and the clarity of e-book acceptance at Online Information have not been reported.

Meanwhile the games page in the Guide reports that Harper collins have packaged 100 classic titles for the Nintendo DS at only £19.99. Dickens, Shakespeare and the Bronte sisters with others presumably also out of copyright. Apparently "from the dustier recesses of the HarperCollins back catalogue". It may not be off topic to recall that some New York publishers never paid royalties to Dickens anyway. The comment in the Guide is that some people will be disappointed and will try to swap it for a "proper game". There are several other issues to consider. Do the schools have a duty to inform pupils about Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive and other free sources for the classics? Literary review publications try to sell advertising to publishers but also should inform readers of what is on offer. Sony also claim "free" titles as a benefit for the Sony Reader but promotion in Waterstones fails to mention other free stuff available. The cost of the Sony Reader is enough to put a lot of people off so information on savings is relevant. There is also publishing scene around Creative Commons ideas and the Feedbooks service creating ePUB from blogs and RSS.

Last week the guide covered "Pop" as distinct from literature etc as found in the Review. It will be interesting to see how this works out over time. "Pop" might include anything on a portable device while the critics only recognise hardback books.

Perhaps the HarperCollins package includes some software but this could still be free. Stanza for the iPhone/iPod is being downloaded in larger numbers that the Kindle is delivered. Similar free software for existing mobile devices may be a large part of the scene around e-books, however described. Maybe the Guardian will report this on a Thursday.

Digital Planet and the death of culture

Trying to remember what I heard during the night on the BBC World Service. Usually this is part of going back to sleep again. During the holiday this was a bit of a blur anyway. Pretty sure this is a text version -

Internet critic Andrew Keen this month launches the new edition of his book The Cult of the Amateur – How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture.

In it, he claims that, ‘MySpace and Facebook are creating a youth culture of digital narcissism; the cacophony of anonymous blogs is deafening today’s youth to the voices of informed experts and professional journalists.’

Solana Larsen disagrees. She is managing editor of Global Voices Online, which publishes the best blogs from around the world.

They join Gareth for a discussion about the affect blogs and social networks are having on global culture.

I am jumping about a bit, but why Andrew Keen again? The Guardian has not reviewed at all the book "Everything is Miscellaneous" by David Weinberger. Nothing against Solana Larsen or bloggers, just asking why the literary world ignores a book? Maybe Digital Planet is not as respectful of a book as most of the BBC. Not sure about this but the tone of the introduction for Andrew Keen suggested to me that there is some special form of regard.

Stronger claims for bloggers this year

Getting back to normal life post holiday. Studying the Guardian for example. They are interested in the Web. The hard copy version claims that most news still comes from newspapers. But I can't find that bit in the online version. This just reports that newspapers are not the trusted source of news you might expect from some arguments about the danger to civilisation if print circulation continues to decline.

I think this year will feature some more rudeness about citizen journalism. The chances of most UK news organisations changing their methods to really welcome public engagement is pretty low. Hope I am wrong about this.

My own reporting for OhmyNews is standing up quite well to later events. The stories from people who are not professional journalists can be based on particular interests or niche knowledge. I have now done two stories about the ISO survey to show that certificates indicate a stronger base in China and then some decline in US/UK.

Also I think that e-books are not reported enough on the literary pages, for example the Guardian on a Saturday. This section just carries on as a print item. They dropped the blogging extracts. Very little about the Kindle or Sony Reader. They could cover the changes in forms of writing.

OhmyNews have published my three stories on the ePUB format, Penguin support for ePUB, and the Online Information show.

I think the Online Information event was an adequate base for e-books to flourish in the UK. There was a supplement in the Guardian ahead of the event but no reporting I remember on what happened. Probably around the time of the London Book Fair there will be some more on the dangers for culture of all this blogging stuff and predictions that the printed book will never change. Maybe they will report on what has already happened. The Sony Reader in the UK is about three years later than the model for Japan.

Carnage Scenario for UK newspapers

OhmyNews have published my story based on a recent talk by Emily Bell.

The background of falling print circulations is widely assumed and understood.

Some UK newspapers have not got very far with their websites. the news organisations that make a transition to being mostly web based will presumably change their culture enough to be more or less accepting of what happens online.

Future posts will look at some numbers. At the moment the circulation figures are for print or web and make no sense at all of where each organisation is at.

A poll about regional newpapers

Recently the question was asked, which regional UK paper group will go bust first. no answer was offered and it is an unlikely outcome. But which is in most difficulty? Some solution will be found. I think I can add a poll so will give it a try.

Imagined reader proposal

I would like to suggest a whatif from some time in the future. Say the Guardian guarantees £500 million over five years for Man Roland to develop a device with a screen size like the Berliner or G2 in colour of course and with Web access. Guardian fans sign a 24 month contract to spend around a pound a day and get a free prototype.

I could develop a detailed proposal on a modest budget if one could be found. Not too silly. Man Roland already has some research.

From Guardian Talk

Print version in actual Guardian

Guardian Technology has printed an extract from my blog about reading the Guardian. Yes, that is correct, the words are in print, letters page equivalent. They have chosen a section where I am polite about a proper print journalist, Victor Keegan and his writing about the Sony Reader.

I realise two main things from this so far. If I was a bit more creative and positive in my writing it may not put people off right away. and secondly this Sony Reader is more of a talking point than first appeared. It cannot be long before the Guardian writers for Monday, Tuesday and Saturday get involved.

This week Victor Keegan is writing about citizens in virtual worlds. He mentions he has an apartment in virtual Berlin courtesy of Twinity. I hope to visit one day and discuss citizen journalism etc. Maybe I will end up talking to somebody else but it works as a project. So far I have failed to install Twinity but I have found a YouTube video so have faked a photo with an avatar from Second Life.



Steve Ingram, the avatar in the picture, is one of the reporters for Rougemont Global Broadcasting, usually based near the Apple Store in Exeter. He is the sort of person to explore new and interesting ideas.

If I do manage to load Twinity and get to Berlin I think one clue could be to look for Shakespeare and / or monkey. These words often turn up in Victor Keegan projects. I am not sure he allows random creation a fair chance. While waiting for the virtual London there could be scope on Flickr for a guide to most streets, starting near Trafalgar Square.

Web Triumph Day

Jeff Jarvis is too apologetic. He worries about being behaving as the "internet triumphalist" but he thinks that "somebody has to". He tries to counteract a number of fears and complaints that won't go away. "There are inaccuracies on the internet" ; "Bloggers aren't journalists" ; "People are rude on the internet" . By the way a few pages on there is a jolly funny take on what a citizen journalist might say - "the blogosphere thrives on abuse and invective.."

Anyway, back on topic, Jeff Jarvis refuses to make a claim for the internet as if it is like other media, "packaged and perfected". He prefers to see it as part of life, something messy. However when material from his Buzzmachine blog turns up later in the Guardian print version it seems to be a lot closer to normal media. Maybe it is the effect of Guardian subeditors. Maybe the comments on the blog help to add some texture and scrutiny.

the aim today is to respond to fears and complaints" once and for all. I would like to go a bit further and just accept that the Web has arrived alongside print as part of media. I find the Guardian is still often avoiding this as an issue. Parts of the paper do not hang together.

Jane Martinson writes an opinion on how the numbers for newspapers "are not good and will get worse before they get better", I cannot find any mention of websites or "news organisations". How will the numbers get better without including the Web in the same conversation? On another page Mike Butcher considers the ABCe numbers for August. ( Audited circulation with the e after as not in e-learning) The Independent site up 90% on the previous August, compared to 24% fall over two years in full-price print circulation, according to Jane Martinson. However there is almost never any discussion of what the thinking is about a transition from print to the web. Is print still a cash cow? Where is the investment? How many newspaper managers believe they could concentrate on video?

There was a time when the Saturday Guardian had a section similar to a staff blog. This explained some of what was in progress. It was dropped for a Readers Page all of which is written by proper print journalists except the headlines apparently. My suggestion would be for the readers to have more space but accept that editors know more about headlines. this, by the way, is the approach at OhmyNews, where Guardian staff might visit sometime and make a study of citizen journalism.

Getting back to my main point, it seems to me that the Guardian is not really reporting what is happening with news organisations, or letting the readers of either paper or web pages know of where it is going.

One more example of the mess and muddle. Victor Keegan has written on a Thursday about the potential for a future reading device similar to the Sony but with internet access, larger screen and so on. The Saturday bookish bit has stopped taking copy from blogs and also stopped the news feed from the Bookseller. So it continues as flat pages increasingly unconnected in my opinion. The first mention of the Sony Reader I can remember came last Saturday from Andrew Lycett. Once Amazon and the Kindle appear in the UK, there could be a danger for print publishers. Add this to the list, please, Jeff Jarvis.

Most of the Guardian, print version especially, has become a series of examples of contradictions. Online there is some acceptance for "user generated content" and the idea that the Web has arrived. In print the bloggers are often insulted as if they are a different set of people. The printed words of Jeff Jarvis are a welcome exception. It is also worth the extra work involved in making sense of the blog version on Buzzmachine.

Victor Keegan investigates

Proper print journalist Victor Keegan has made a trip to Cambridge before offering an opinion about the Sony Reader and other devices. Good for him. It makes the cost of a newspaper seem cheap, even if they did skip the ICT bit last week.

The theme of where newspapers are at could turn up again on a Monday.

Add "editor" to Jeff Jarvis diagram

I found this again

Intj0808pdf

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: cuny journalism)

I would like to redraw the diagram on the news process with an editor in there somewhere. Citizen Journalism as found at OhmyNews relies on editors but somehow Jeff Jarvis is on another route it seems.

Also there could be some sort of loop. Often the stories I write are repeats of previous ones.

ICT vanishes from print version of Guardian

This week there was a supplement for a trade show instead of the normal Technology section on mostly computers and the Web. The topic was interesting enough but i think we should have been warned that the normal content was missing before we parted with the 80p.

Let us hope this was an unusual event, not part of a trend. Previously this would have been a supplement. Sadly the print version is becoming something I look at to follow how the Guardian is behaving rather than a source of news.

Meanwhile the blogs etc. continue.

Presentation mode ahead of September 4th

Here is a presentation for sept 4th when there should be several Sony Readers in Exeter. There are a couple of links to Guardian Talk so this is now part of a read / write web / newspaper.