大象传媒

Bringing the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog Project to an End (is only the beginning...)

• Robin Hamman
• 28 Mar 08, 04:06 PM

The 大象传媒 Manchester Blog will be closing on Sunday. When Richard Fair and I launched it in August 2006 we had high expectations, not just of the blog itself, but of how the blog would help us to trial a new model of how the 大象传媒 and other broadcasters could engage with what the industry calls "user generated content". Our first post explained:

"For years, the 大象传媒 has been looking at ways to engage more directly with it's audiences. We've promoted email addresses on air and asked for photo submissions, we've stuck comment forms on the bottom of articles, we've spend countless hours building message boards and community platforms, our staff have reviewed and approved millions upon millions of messages - and what have we learned? That all this is expensive business.

In the past, whenever the 大象传媒 has sought to do something with user generated content we've built new platforms, taken on the role of managing all the content that floods in, asserted some rights over that content (although not ownership in the vast majority of cases) and, some would argue, exposed the 大象传媒 to legal and moral risks. Furthermore, doing things in the old way had a bit of a sting in the tail - if a service really took off, and sometimes they did, the 大象传媒 would actually face increased costs because our services often don't scale well.

This project is an experiment in doing things a bit differently. Rather than building platforms, we want to help people create their own stuff on existing third party (non-大象传媒) platforms. Instead of contributors sending us content members of staff here at the 大象传媒 sifting through that content in a bid to find the good bits, we're simply going to ask contributors to tell us where they're publishing their content online and we'll keep an eye on it. The 大象传媒 won't claim any rights over the content and won't own anything..."

Our new way of doing things raised quite a few eyebrows with some, at least initially, skeptical of our motives, and others excited by our attempt to try something .

As part of the project we ran and organised some informal blogger meet-ups. And then you invited us . We read your blogs and invited some of you to read your posts on the radio. We quoted from and linked to your posts and . Basically, we did what bloggers do through their blogs and comments and links - we had a conversation.

We have yet to write the final review of the project, in part because our time to work with the model came to an end a long time ago but the blog has carried on under a different guise. That said, below we've provided a brief summary of some of the key things we've learned from the project:

• Being part of the community by participating as equals, as opposed to participating as a broadcasting organisation keen for new content but not interested in the community, brings with it many editorial and personal rewards.
• Even if you use time saving tools such as RSS, social bookmarking and technorati, sifting through content and write posts that quote from and link to the best bits.
• People don't necessarily blog or post content about the topics, stories and events that media organisations might hope they would - and, in our experience anyway, rarely post about news and current affairs.
• As a stand-alone proposition, the amount of staff time and effort spent was high in comparison to the quantity of content generated and size of audience served. But, when we were able to use the contacts and content we found through the blog on-air that equation immediately changed. That is, in resource terms, the blog was costly as just a blog but much more efficient as a driver of radio content.
• The best way to get noticed online is links and the best way to get links is to give good links yourself. That is, you have to play by the established rules of engagement and, online, that means linking prolifically.

Many of the ideas, tools and techniques we used as part of the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog have since been embraced by other 大象传媒 Blogs, websites and programmes. Indeed, word about the model we created for the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog has traveled and , , influencing a number of interesting projects elsewhere.

As for and - well, we'll probably keep on blogging and, with any luck, will keep in touch with some of the great people we've met through the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog.

We'd like to thank all of you who took notice of or participated in the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog. You'll find links to some great Manchester blogs in our sidebar.

Finally, we'd like to say a special thanks to our good friend Kate Feld who, for a few months at the beginning of the project, became the 大象传媒's first ever local on-air blog reviewer. If you want to delve beneath the surface of Manchester by reading it's blogs, Kate's is, in our opinion, the epicenter of the local blogging community.

Best wishes - and happy blogging.

Robin Hamman and Richard Fair

• Permalink
• Comments (5)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Manchester Bloggers Facebook Group

• Robin Hamman
• 11 Jun 07, 09:53 AM

Each day, join , a social networking site that allows you to keep track of and communicate with friends and colleagues. Or, at least, that's how I would have described it a few months ago, before facebook [NY Times Registration Req'd] users to do all sorts of customisations to their profiles, like pulling in RSS feeds from blogs and integrating services like .

Facebook was started by a student at Harvard University as a way to help new students meet one another. He then rolled it out across the American university system and, then, opened it up outside of academia. What once was just for students is now, some of those , being taken over by their parents.

Social networking services like linked in myspace, facebook, twitter and others aren't for everyone but I often find them a useful way to keep in touch with friends and contacts. If you're on facebook, or fancy giving it a go, why not join the that we just started. You never know, someone might poke you if you do.

(PS. Don't forget to think about your own personal safety when posting personal information online. See the 大象传媒's Chat Guidefor more information.)

• Permalink
• Comments (1)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Feed Us To Join Us

• Robin Hamman
• 8 Mar 07, 05:31 PM

At the recent 大象传媒 Manchester blogging workshop we explained that we had set up an RSS feed reader to make it easier for us to keep track of any new posts made by Manchester's bloggers. We reckon there's no harm in you seeing what we're reading so here's a link if you want to .

You don't really need to know what RSS is or how it works to participate in the project, but if you're interested in learning more this is a good starting point.

Do you think we should (or shouldn't) be watching your blog? If so, drop us an email: manchester.blog@bbc.co.uk

If you you should get an email from us in the next couple of days with some excerpts of the 大象传媒's Editorial Policies and our Producers Guidelines. To get a link from us all we ask is:

a) that you take a few minutes to read the guidelines
b) after reading those guidelines, you agree to let us know, preferrably before you hit the publish button, if you intend to or have broken those guidelines so that we can remove the link
c) we request that (although it's not mandatory) that you link back to us from your blogroll and, if possible, some or all of the other participants as well

That's it. In return we'll link to the front page of your Manchester based blog from our blogroll and, whenever we can, we'll highlight and link to the best of the content you post online.

If you don't see your name we're watching, send us an email with your url and a short description so we can have a look.

• Permalink
• Comments (0)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Your Reviews of the 大象传媒 Manchester Blogging Workshop

• Robin Hamman
• 28 Feb 07, 05:37 PM

Rather than writing our own, no doubt glowing review of the first 大象传媒 Manchester blogging workshop, we thought instead we'd practise a bit of what we spoke that evening and link out instead. Just in case you missed it, you can find links to all the different tools and services we spoke about, along with a handful of tips and ideas, in the rather long winded post I wrote the morning following the event.

The first point of call for finding "the conversation", as many bloggers call it, about the workshop was Technorati where I searched for which came up with around 5 or 6 posts.

I clicked through to each post or page linking to us and, if there were further links to be found there, clicked through to those too. Then, with loads of browser windows open, I set about bookmarking them using del.icio.us. You'll find the . This allowed me not just to keep track of the posts, but also to share them with other interested parties (eg. the boss, impressed mates, etc).

So, returning to those links, what did people think of the first of what we hope will be many 大象传媒 Manchester blogging workshops?

Well, my colleague Richard Fair certainly that I did most of the talking. After Richard did a short intro, and I waffled for a few moments, Julia helped us find our feet and get into the swing of things by telling us how she got started blogging. In her post about the event, which includes some of the better photos (silly me, I HAD two cameras there, I took ZERO good photos), does a nice job of encapsalating what it is we were trying to do with the evening:

"The goal of the workshop was to bring together the Mancunian bloggers of all degrees of proficiency and to cover a variety of topics, from choosing the right platform to making money with your blog."

Julia goes on to mention that Craig McGinty, brave soul that he is, got up and did a short turn towards the end of the workshop on how to monetise a blog. Craig is a freelance journalist who makes most of his living from the various blogs he authors, including , which he used to demonstrate how you can make effective use of Google Adsense, Amazon Associates and other revenue sharing programmes. Craig's now kindly posted up some on what he said. Thanks Craig.

Ickle web came to the workshop with a :

"An interesting evening all round, it was the 大象传媒 Manchester blogging workshop. Assembled were a wide selection of bloggers (and possible future bloggers) listening to Robin waxing lyrical on blogging. For me, I was looking for ways to sell some of my photographs as prints, posters and the like."

We didn't do a very good job of answering that one very definitively so if anyone has any ideas...

Speaking of photographers, , who is taking a photo each day for a year, came along. Sadly he didn't take any photos of the workshop but if he had, believe me when I say they probably would have been really beautiful and insightful.

, who has just published his first novel The Fatal Verse of the Valley, has been too busy blogging the Oscars to write about the workshop.

Stuart, whose blog has a technorati ranking in the low 2000's (that's REALLY good) and who wrote his own blog software because all the commercial stuff he used just couldn't support his traffic came along and scared us with acronyms: php, sql... uh, what?! Anyway, he said:

"What followed was a fairly casual walkthrough of some of the basics behind establishing, maintaining and promoting a blog - all fairly elementary but essential aspects of bloggery."

Next time I think we'll ask Stuart to stand up and do some of the less elementary bits! ;-)

Award for most complimentary (the cash we promised is behind reception - just give your name) blog post about the event goes to who wrote:

"The evening was very well crafted for people new to blogs and old hands alike. There was something for everyone. They touched on the various tools you can use to blog such as; Blogger, Wordpress, Moveable Type and Type pad. They also touched on ways to monitor the effectiveness of your blog with services like Technorati and Statcounter."

By the way, that box by the front door that says "please put your used visitor pass here" was a bit lighter than we expected it to be at the end of the evening. Speaking of guidelines, more about the 大象传媒's editorial guidelines and, in particular, what we might and might not be willing and able to link to. Well, if it's any comfort, and he got a link soon after from the 大象传媒 England home page so we must not be too greedy with those links, aye?

For those I've missed, you'll have to forgive me - having entirely missed out on the 50p cans of fosters rumoured to have been available behind the bar, I made up for it at our with a small group of people who stuck around. If I didn't link to you but you were there do post a comment below with a link to your blog, flickr photos, myspace page or whatever.

Thanks again to everyone who came along. We really enjoyed it and hope to organise more of these in the near future.

• Permalink
• Comments (0)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

The First 大象传媒 Manchester Blog Workshop

• Robin Hamman
• 23 Feb 07, 11:27 AM

A big thank you to the 20 people to turned up for the first 大象传媒 Manchester blogging workshop on Thursday evening.

Because it was the first session, we spent some time at the beginning introducing the project itself and explaining what both you and the 大象传媒 can expect. This was followed by a whirlwind tour of blogging tools and techniques which, we hope, gave everyone from complete beginners to experienced bloggers some useful ideas and information.

The tools we looked at included some blogging platforms that are easy to use and, where not free, at least offer you a free trial period to try them out: , and . We probably should have also mentioned , which offer some basic blogging features along with social networking. Some of the more technically minded people at the workshop also spoke about and . This isn't an exhaustive list - you may find other tools and services out there that more closely meet your requirements.

We also had a look at some bits and pieces that you can use in tandem with your blog to make your content available to a wider audience. Those included the photo sharing site where you can host and "tag" photos then use the "blog this" feature to post the image to your blog. This is a good way of putting some of your blog content out where audiences are, so make sure you link back to your blog from the images you put on flickr. We also briefly mentioned , a social news site where you can post newsie audio, video, images and stories and where you can post video - again, linking from this content back to your blog to help audiences find you.

There are lots of other bolt on services that add functionality to your blog. We pointed out which is a useful tool for understanding more about who your visitors are and how they found you. We also briefly showed which helps bloggers track the buzz their posts generate revealing all the posts on other blogs that link to you. I also showed , a service that makes it possible for people to read your blog on their mobile phone, and which tracks and displays the most recent music you've played on your computer or mp3 player.

Blogging is both the use of a blogging platform, often with lots of pieces of functionality from other services bolted on, but it's also a technique that enables you to become part of the conversation. , mentioned above, is the tool of choice for many bloggers who want to find and participate in that conversation. A lot of bloggers also use to make it easier to watch lots of blogs and other news sources at once. I also find useful because it allows me to bookmark and share interesting content and can also publish those links to my blog.

The first workshop was also a good opportunity for to find out a little bit more about you. It seems from the feedback that next time round we need to try to have two sessions, one targetted at beginners and that specifically helps them get registered for and start using some of the tools and techniques above, and another session targetted more at intermediate and advanced bloggers. The first session is pretty straight forward for Richard and I to plan so watch this space for details. The second session, however, is a bit more difficult for us to dream up on our own so please do drop us a line or post a comment below if you've got some ideas.

A few people have already blogged about the workshop. We'll do a wrap up post linking out to all of those in the next few days, giving people a chance to blog it if they haven't already done so. We're also looking for photos (silly us - we brought our camera and didn't take any pictres!) so if you've got some, maybe use this opportunity to post them to flickr and tag them with "bbcmanchesterblog" to make it easier for us to find them.

Finally, we'd really like for everyone who attended to post a comment below or send us an email giving us the address of their blogs so that we can put them into our RSS reader and start watching. In the coming days, we'll also send round an email with a few of our editorial guidelines so that you have a better idea of what we can and can't link to.

Many thanks again to everyone who came along and in particular to those who helped spread the word in advance. We're looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the next session(s).

Robin and Richard

• Permalink
• Comments (9)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Reminder: Blogging Workshop on Thursday

• Robin Hamman
• 21 Feb 07, 11:29 AM

The first 大象传媒 Manchester blogging workshop will be taking place from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday 22nd February at the 大象传媒 on Oxford Road.

Although they're quite friendly, the security guards on the door will need to check your name off the list and might want to have a peek into your rucksack so if you're planning on coming, and haven't done so already, make sure you email your details to us as soon as possible: manchester.blog@bbc.co.uk

The workshop will cover choosing the right publishing platform, tips for getting started, getting your content syndicated and noticed more widely, keeping track of "the conversation" your blog joins and becomes a part of, and ways you can make your blog pay for any costs you might incur.

We'll also be talking a bit about the 大象传媒's Editorial Guidelines to give you a better idea of what we might - and can't - link to or talk about on air. The format will be pretty open, with lots of opportunities for you to interact with us (the 大象传媒 guys) and other bloggers.

• Permalink
• Comments (2)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Manchester Blogging Workshop Today (Thurs)

• Robin Hamman
• 18 Jan 07, 01:26 PM

Tonight's the night for the first 大象传媒 Manchester Blogging Workshop.

The workshop will cover finding the right publishing platform, tips for getting started, getting your content syndicated and noticed more widely, keeping track of "the conversation" your blog joins and becomes a part of, and ways you can make your blog pay for any costs you might incur. We'll also be talking a bit about the 大象传媒's Editorial Guidelines to give you a better idea of what we might - and can't - link to or talk about on air.

The format will be pretty open, with lots of opportunities for you to interact with us (the 大象传媒 guys) and other bloggers.

If you haven't already sent us your name to get it on the list, drop us an email or post a comment on this post and we'll add you. Without a name on a list, it will be hard for us to convince the security guy we know you! Speaking of security, don't bring along anything dodgy (dirty underwear, handcuffs, etc) in your bags because they are liable to be searched upon entry.

Oh, and fingers crossed the train I'm sitting on somewhere in the Midlands gets me there before you arrive at the 大象传媒 on Oxford Road about 6pm (no entry after 6.30pm).

• Permalink

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Manchester Blogging Workshop Today (Thurs)

• Robin Hamman
• 18 Jan 07, 01:26 PM

Tonight's the night for the first 大象传媒 Manchester Blogging Workshop.

The workshop will cover finding the right publishing platform, tips for getting started, getting your content syndicated and noticed more widely, keeping track of "the conversation" your blog joins and becomes a part of, and ways you can make your blog pay for any costs you might incur. We'll also be talking a bit about the 大象传媒's Editorial Guidelines to give you a better idea of what we might - and can't - link to or talk about on air.

The format will be pretty open, with lots of opportunities for you to interact with us (the 大象传媒 guys) and other bloggers.

If you haven't already sent us your name to get it on the list, drop us an email or post a comment on this post and we'll add you. Without a name on a list, it will be hard for us to convince the security guy we know you! Speaking of security, don't bring along anything dodgy (dirty underwear, handcuffs, etc) in your bags because they are liable to be searched upon entry.

Oh, and fingers crossed the train I'm sitting on somewhere in the Midlands gets me there before you arrive at the 大象传媒 on Oxford Road about 6pm (no entry after 6.30pm).

• Permalink
• Comments (0)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Blogging Workshop at 大象传媒 Manchester

• Robin Hamman
• 30 Nov 06, 02:46 PM

The first 大象传媒 Manchester Blogging Workshop will take place at 大象传媒 Manchester at 6pm on Thursday the 18th of January, 2007. This free two hour workshop is for anyone who wants to learn more about blogging and/or creating and publishing content online.

The idea behind the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog has always been to use this as an experiment to see how we might be able to help people create and share content online. That is, we're hoping to use this project to help us find the good Manchester based content that's already online, initiate a conversation with the people creating it and see what we can do to help highlight that content by linking to it or getting that content on air.

So far we've had , , and on 大象传媒 Radio Manchester. Geoff and Kate also appeared, along with , in the piece about the Manchester Blog Awards that I did for 大象传媒 Radio 5 Live's Pods and Blogs

Having demonstrated to the bosses that there is compelling content (not that the were in any doubt in the first place - thankfully for us they really do get this!), it's time for us to move to phase two of the project: a workshop for Manchester based bloggers and would be bloggers.

Topics covered will include:

• finding the right publishing platform - from to , to , to there's a place that's right for you to publish your content online (and often it's free)
• tips on getting started - naming your site or page, getting noticed, getting listed by directories and search sites
• syndicating and sharing your content more widely - making it easier to find new audiences and for them to keep track of you using , email updates, email lists, (for podcasts), and social bookmarking services like
• techniques for finding and joining in "the conversation" - using RSS, , and other tools to find and track the buzz you generate
• keeping it going - how to make you efforts financially sustainable with , and other revenue sharing programmes
• We'll also introduce the 大象传媒's editorial guidelines, and provide a quick legal briefing covering libel and other issues, because we want to help you keep out of trouble and to understand what we can, and can't, link to from the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog

You don't have to have a blog to attend and we think that both those completely new to creating and publishing content online, as well as those who find it old hat, could benefit from at least some of the advice and discussions we're planning.

The workshop will be run by 大象传媒 Radio Manchester's Richard Fair who, in addition to covering blogs in his new radio show and posting here, has had a number of blogs for years and by Robin Hamman (me!) who heads up the 大象传媒's Blog Network, runs workshops for people authoring or producing 大象传媒 blogs, reports for 5 Live's Pods and Blogs, and whose has recently been listed as one of the top .02% of blogs globally by blog tracking service technorati. We're also hoping to have a number of guest contributors - TBC.

Space is limited so if you'd like to come along you have to do two things: leave us a comment below and send us an email at manchester.blog(at)bbc.co.uk

• Permalink
• Comments (29)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Photos in a Haystack

• Robin Hamman
• 24 Aug 06, 04:52 PM

I've been spending some time looking at photos tagged with Manchester on flickr. Lot's of time - there are of them and that doesn't even take into account photos that have been tagged with the name of one of the nine boroughs.

So how does Manchester compare to rival cities? Liverpool has and Birmingham, always the source of much lively debate on the 大象传媒 Manchester message board, has just photos.

What does it mean? Probably not a whole lot other than that there are loads of people taking snaps of Manchester and the surrounding area. So many, in fact, that we're faced with a rather large haystack and need some help sifting through it.

If you've published photos on flickr (or another photo sharing site) and want to help us find them, please tag them with or send us a link.

Our favourite so far? This by Jane, who we mentioned in an earlier post, of light and an anonymous figure filling the void between the curved walls of the and .

• Permalink
• Comments (6)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

Starting a Conversation

• Robin Hamman
• 24 Aug 06, 02:16 PM

We've started to get emails and some comments on the blog from people who are interested in finding out more about this project. We're aware that the email address seems to be bouncing - it works internally, honest! Someone is fixing that right now so if you've been emailing please try again in a bit.

We've also a few posts about this blog, starting with - thanks for being first. Spineyhead also reached out and linked to us - even after we to him in our first day online. Friends now mate?

Manchizzle, who recently organised a blog meet for Manchester bloggers (wish we'd known about it!) helped us get an awkward question out of the way early by :

For this, they will not be paid - well, not in anything but traffic and bragging rights (I can hear a few people snickering already about this being a clever way for the Beeb to land themselves some free, fresh, local content). But there's no denying that this could be an opportunity for some bloggers to increase their audience...

You aren't the first person to ask if this is just about the 大象传媒 getting some free content and we've put a lot of thought into this. It's true that some of the content from participants will appear on this blog and, perhaps, be used on the 大象传媒 Manchester Where I Live site or on-air. We could do this, so long as it fell within the normal "fair use" clauses of copyright law, without asking anyone. But that's not what this is all about. It's about building relationships with people who are, or who want to, create stuff and publish it online. We want to help participants build their own audiences and make their efforts self-sustainable.

With those goals in mind, we'd be happy, if asked, to show participants how to sign up for , or other sources of blog revenue. It also means that rather than lifting participant's content wholesale or grabbing entire posts/videos/podcasts, instead we'll be excerpting bits and wrapping some editorial around it to encourage our audiences to visit the source. It's more of a showcase for the participants - which is why we said in the first post here that the 大象传媒 won't actually own anything: not the infrastructure used by participants or their content.

As you say in your post, this might just be an opportunity for *some* bloggers to get a bit of promotion and traffic out of the 大象传媒. We hope that's exactly what it is. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to discuss that issue early on. Do feel free to comment below on our response!

• Permalink
• Comments (5)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |

We're Looking for Your Manchester Content

• Robin Hamman
• 23 Aug 06, 04:26 PM

As we mentioned in the first post, we're hoping to build relationships between 大象传媒 Manchester and people who are using, or want to use, the internet to create and publish some great content about Manchester. We reckon the best way to find potential participants is to open our eyes and ears to what's already online.

Our first stop was , a blog aggregator that lists UK based blogs according to their location, has listed for Manchester. Whilst, at first glance, it looks like some of those are spam blogs and others are long ago forgotten efforts, there are some promising looking blogs here. We've bookmarked the page and will start working our way through them over the coming days and weeks.

We're also using to search for mentions of - which, rather dauntingly, there were over 1000 of yesterday - as well as mentions of any of Greater Manchester's .

That's a lot of potential blogs to look at already so we're using an to subscribe to feeds from any blogs we decide to keep a better eye on.

I've also been looking around the photo sharing site and have come across some excellent local photographers, for example , whose photostream is full of beautiful shots, often taken in hazy light conditions, of South Manchester as well as other areas Greater Manchester. If you have photos on flickr that you'd like us to see you can either email us with a URL to your photo stream or tag your photos with "bbcmanchesterblog" and we'll find them.

In future, we'll also be looking at other photosharing, podcasting and video sharing sites.

You can help us find good Manchester related content - blogs, photos, videos, podcasts, whatever - by posting links in the comments below or emailing us. Those links can be to content you've created, stuff you've enjoyed finding yourself, or ideas for content you'd like to create and publish online if you had the chance to learn how to do so. We're looking forward to your tips!

• Permalink
• Comments (7)

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |