All entries in this category: Blogging
Manchester Blog Stories & Blog Awards 2007
- 26 Sep 07, 02:37 PM
is a project where readers can help determine the twists of plot in a work of blog based fiction or, as they explain:
"a fictional blog you can help to shape, set in real time Manchester. Each week readers can vote on future plot direction, choosing between three possible developments in the story's next chapter. The final instalment will be performed live at the on Wednesday 10th October."
The project is part of the , which takes place from the 4th to the 14th of October, and is written by author and produced by one of our favourite Manchester bloggers, (Manchizzle).
Speaking of Manchizzle... she's recently posted for this year's Manchester Blog Awards which take place on the 10th of October. Some are familar names from last year's awards but many are new.
I had a great time at last year's awards - meeting bloggers, talking blogs over a few pints and doing some interviews for 5 Live's Pods and Blogs - and am in no doubt that this year's event will be even better.
Sadly, I can't attend this year because I'll be on a business trip to a Networked Journalism in New York but 大象传媒 Manchester's Richard Fair is one of the judges and lots of people have already confirmed their attendance via Do try to make it if you can - it should be a lot of fun and is a great opportunity to meet some fellow bloggers.
Is this me?
- 5 Sep 07, 11:08 AM
So the student that put her feet on the train seat admitted to the error of her ways, went to court and got an absolute discharge. One can hope that the high profile of the case has made travelling a better place for us all. Yeah, right.
I was sat opposite an amoeba this morning on the train that, short of bringing his quilt and teddy with him, made himself very comfortable thank you very much, carefully placing his clean trainers under the adjoining seat while plonking his wet boots (containing his feet) onto the seat along with his bags.
We had the luxury of two ticket inspectors/guards, but not the luxury of enough seats for everyone. Neither of the guards asked the lad to remove his feet and neither did any of the standing passengers. So life goes on.
The trains are busy again because the summer holidays are over and the schools are back. And so too are the Blogs.
It鈥檚 always been a dilemma for me as to what to do with my Blog while I鈥檓 away. Do you just say nothing and not post for a couple of weeks at the risk losing all your regular readership? Perhaps a simple 鈥 Blog On Holiday 鈥 posting would suffice.
Well I鈥檝e had a really great idea. Blog Sitters - a team of people who you employ to mimic your postings and live your life while you鈥檙e away. I could make a fortune 鈥 if someone hadn鈥檛 beaten me to it.
For a minute there I got really excited and then I popped 鈥楤log Sitters鈥 into Google and got 2,550,000 results the first of which was blogsitter.net 鈥 world鈥檚 first blog sitting agency:
鈥淒o you face some no-internet-days, holidays or something else that keeps you from updating your precious blog? And you know that a blog without daily updates dies very fast? Don't worry any longer! Don't worry any longer! is the plattform for bloggers who need caring people to sit their blogs.鈥 (Although I鈥檇 be a little worried that they can鈥檛 spell platform.)
I great idea, if only I鈥檇 had it five years ago. But hang on, why stop there? What about Life Sitters? People you can hire to take over your entire life while you pop off for a few weeks in Spain or Rhyl. They could Blog for you, work for you, ring your Mother for you and no one would ever know that it wasn鈥檛 you. How cool would that be?
Actually, how can we be sure that these virtual people don鈥檛 already exist?
I need more coffee in the mornings.
Who ate all the Thai?
- 7 Aug 07, 09:52 AM
Free food, a Frank Sinatra impersonator, Thaksin Shinawatra singing Blue Moon and Sven-Goran Eriksson not singing at all. What more could you want on a pleasant sunny evening in Manchester? Well a City win would have been nice, but it was only a friendly after all.
Apparently Shinawatra鈥檚 name is so close to sounding like Sinatra everyone keeps mistaking him for a member of Ol鈥 Blue Eyes鈥 family. I'm not sure which one. Nancy perhaps - that鈥檚 Sinatra not Dell'Olio, that would be just weird.
There鈥檚 a great story in news this week about the police in the Thai capital, Bangkok, coming up with a new way of . They have to wear a Hello Kitty armband. It鈥檚 large, bright pink and has a Hello Kitty motif with two hearts embroidered on it and any officers who are late, park in the wrong place or commit other minor transgressions have to wear it for several days.
Perhaps Sven could employ something similar at Eastlands. Any player getting a yellow card would have to wear an inflatable Kevin Keegan head on his arm or have a perm.
was busy with cricket so missed out on all the fun and food, but no doubt he'll have an opinion come the weekend when summer officially ends with a blow of a referee's whistle.
Listless
- 31 Jul 07, 02:30 PM
I can鈥檛 be doing with lists on Blogs. I know the hypocrisy of that statement as one who used to have a blog with nothing on except shopping lists. But that was different, that was social comment on the purchasing patterns of鈥 Actually as I鈥檓 writing this I鈥檓 thinking 鈥渨hat a loser 鈥 get a life you sad person鈥.
Anyway, lists. What鈥檚 the point? Does anyone really care about your 鈥楾op Ten Things I鈥檝e Done With A Shoe鈥? Or 鈥楳y Top Ten Paving Stones鈥. Are we a country obsessed with lists of every kind? Apart from that small diversion with shopping lists, generally I鈥檓 not a list person. I鈥檝e tried making lists, but they tend to be To Do lists made up of stuff I鈥檝e already done so that I look really efficient.
I realise that the more organised of you out there rely on lists. I knew one woman who had a list of all the lists she had 鈥 one of which showed a detailed plan of all the Christmas presents she鈥檇 bought and for who over the past ten years, which is fine so long as you don鈥檛 sit next to her on a busy train when she unrolls it.
Making lists so you don鈥檛 forget things is a good idea, but why make lists of random things? The worse ones are the 鈥100 Things About Me鈥 lists which still seem popular and pointless. I鈥檓 not sure I even know 100 about me, so why I鈥檇 want to know a hundred about you is beyond me.
All this was sparked by who has listed 鈥溾 following a trip in Manchester. It includes Piccadilly Gardens and Chavs. Despite what I鈥檝e said about lists, this is probably one of the better ones as it wasn鈥檛 just a list of single words and provided a little more substance. But it is a list just the same.
Awards
I鈥檝e already mentioned that I鈥檓 judging this year鈥檚 Manchester Blog Awards again. Here鈥檚 an early one 鈥 the Award For The Blog Entry That Was Great Until The Second Sentence Went And Spoiled It All. It goes to for 鈥淢e and Girlfriend tramped through the fields looking for somewhere to let off my rocket.鈥 For the rest of this post, . I should be ashamed of myself.
Back on Terra Firma
- 24 Jul 07, 09:38 AM
There鈥檚 something mildly disturbing about watching grown ups ripping apart a floral Wallace and Gromit display. Flowers and soil everywhere. Young children elbowed out of the way and people standing on other people鈥檚 heads.
For most of the week Wallace grinned at me from under his blanket of flowers. Crowds gathered in the sun or rain to widen their mouths and say 鈥淪mashing toast Gromit鈥 or 鈥淣ot even Wensleydale?鈥 And then on Sunday afternoon over the PA system at the RHS Tatton Flower Show came the announcement that the big sell off was going to happen fifteen minutes early due to the bad weather. Panic.
I鈥檓 not sure if you are aware of what happens during the sell off. Basically it鈥檚 a free for all as people try to buy up the plants that have been used in the show gardens.
Some gardens don鈥檛 even bother selling and just allow the locust-like public to gorge themselves on whatever they can grab. Bags and wheelbarrows appear from nowhere and it all goes a bit crazy. And then, at 5pm, the Show closes and the swarms of heavily laden visitors head back to the car park to try and decide which child they should leave behind in order to get that free laburnum on the back seat.
How different the mood from the Wednesday when it was RHS Members Day and the most frantic moment was when someone knocked over a jug of Pimms.
It鈥檚 so good to be back in Manchester and perhaps some kind of normal service will be resumed.
RHS Tatton Flower Show
- 17 Jul 07, 10:44 AM
The RHS Tatton Flower Show is going to be great. It鈥檚 going to be just like Glastonbury, except that instead of music there will be plants.
The place will be crammed full of ageing horticulturists looking at alpine gardens and remembering the good old days when they were young, had too much rhubarb wine and on a whim bought a trolley load of saxifraga.
The thing I like about being there on the Show build days is that you meet all sorts of experts. Guys who know things like how to tow a bus out of sinking mud.
You can also rely on solid local knowledge. Within minutes the blue skies had turned black and torrential rain arrived. I was stood next to a guy who only lived a mile up the road. 鈥楾hat鈥檚 it now mate鈥, he said, 鈥榠t鈥檚 set in for the rest of the day.鈥 Within minutes the sun came out and we didn鈥檛 get so much as another spot all day. I looked round but the guy had gone. Perhaps he鈥檇 nipped home to get the washing in or to write tomorrow鈥檚 horoscopes.
I鈥檓 not sure if you鈥檝e noticed, but it has been raining quite a bit these last few weeks and the forecast for the RHS Tatton Flower Show isn鈥檛 what we were all hoping for. I think the guy who made a fortune on Japanese parasols last year is going struggle, unless he can get a shop load of that waterproofing stuff they force you to buy when all you really went in for was a pair of opened-toed wellies.
Manchester International Festival: Day 13
- 10 Jul 07, 08:57 AM
Apparently the quietest thing you can eat in a cinema is a prawn sandwich. This reliable piece of cinema etiquette comes to me from and she should know as she spends a lot of time eating prawn sandwiches or in the cinema, or both.
was just one of over twenty Manchester Bloggers who came to the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog Meet in the International Festival Pavilion. All huddled round various laptops like striking workers around braziers, we were somewhat conspicuous with only a couple of late comers asking if we were the bloggers. I'm not really sure who they thought we may have been sat there with more gadgets than Curry鈥檚 on the table.
It鈥檚 not the first meet-up we've had so it was nice to see so many new faces. 鈥淚 like to put a face to a blog鈥, as Stephen Newton put it just before a myriad of camera flashes went off as bloggers took pictures of bloggers while other bloggers took pictures of bloggers taking pictures. And then they do that thing that people with digital cameras do. They come and show you the picture they just took.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 you鈥. 鈥淚s it? Me? Gosh, I look just like I do in the mirror, only you managed to capture by bad side and my mouth looks like I鈥檓 hiding a gerbil in it. And this is going on Flickr? Oh, it鈥檚 already there. How fantastic is that鈥. But that鈥檚 technology for you. Gone are the days of grabbing the camera off them, opening the back and exposing all the film.
People blog for different reasons. You get those hardened bloggers - the ones that turned up with their laptops and passed free WiFi passwords round like Russian spies (sorry ) - the 鈥業f it moves, blog it鈥 type. Some don鈥檛 actually know why it is they blog - and some don鈥檛 admit to blogging as though it鈥檚 some kind of social disease 鈥 鈥淚 don鈥檛 blog myself, but I blog for others鈥. For some it鈥檚 a hobby, for some it鈥檚 a diary, for some it鈥檚 their work, for some it鈥檚 a way of networking, for some it鈥檚 a way of making money, for some it鈥檚 exhibitionism, for some it鈥檚 none of the above. They just do it because.
Thanks to all those that turned up. I must admit at being slightly worried about the picture of the cup that was left behind (see below). Nuts and bolts? Perhaps there鈥檚 a need for a blog about things people leave behind after blog meets.
Festival Pavilion
I had the offer of tasting some of Heston Blumenthal鈥檚 Chilled Summer Treats last night, but I decided to stay with the Bloggers and instead sampled the slightly warmer Mushroom Stroganoff in the Festival Pavilion. A good portion of mushrooms in a creamy sauce on a bed of rice with extra vegetables and salad served on a stylish plastic plate. All that and change from a tenner.
Under the canvas of the Pavilion with the rain outside I felt like I was on holiday in North Wales, the only difference being that Mum and Dad never had a live band playing folk music from around the world. The band was called 鈥淢uhumphamum鈥 I think, or it could have been 鈥淢edhomemonth鈥. I made a proper effort to listen to their name when they were thanked at the end, 鈥淢phftplumb鈥, I think the MC said but I may have been wrong.
Tonight
I鈥檓 off to see The Pianist. It鈥檚 had rave reviews so I can鈥檛 wait. I may even take a prawn sandwich with me for company.
Blogs
Those that blogged about last night鈥檚 meet are as follows (I will update this as more appear):
Rain, Sweat, Days Out in Liverpool, Linking and France - It Must Be Summer
- 25 Jun 07, 01:16 PM
The past days have brought many reminders that summer is now well and truly upon us: the summer solstice, the mud scenes from Glastonbury, the rain delayed start of Wimbledon... oh, and did we forget to mention the rain?
You might think that going on holiday might bring some respite from it. But The Airport Diaries reminds us that travel isn't always as pleasant as it sounds by at Manchester Airport:
"The sweat of a thousand strangers hovers in the air, your own stink mixed in. Sweat pools under your belt, under your arms and under your hair... The more water you take on, the more you sweat. The air is foul and thick with moisture; the walls drip, expanding and pulsing with the density of summer."
Yuck.
IckleWeb, unfazed by the weather nor, apparently, by fears of airport induced sweating, in south Liverpool. Outside he photographed an old DeHavilland DH89 Dragon Rapide.
Speaking of Liverpool, The Marple Leaf says that "The ongoing debate about Liverpool v Manchester takes an intellectual leap forward" with an from a lengthy NewStatesman feature. See, reading blogs can save you the time it would have taken to read entire articles. Which would seem a good idea if it weren't for that rain...
The last time we heard from he wasn't in Preston at all, but was traveling around America tasting wine in Napa Valley (24 May 2007) and later hiring a bike in Yosemite National Park (25 May). Maybe I'm just overlooking something, but I can never figure out how to link directly to posts on AFMIP.
Craig McGinty, who often blogs useful tips on getting the most from your blog, points us towards of typepad - the ability to, with the change of a setting, include links allowing readers to easily add a post to del.icio.us or Digg [what?]. He explains:
"Basically it means site visitors can spread your work across the internet with just a click placing it in front of other people who will already be following the subject you cover, but who may have never crossed your site.
It all comes down to the power of the link and the fact that your article never moves from its spot on the internet, which means people can easily access it from wherever it is featured elsewhere."
Another one of Craig's blogs, , is also packed full of useful tips - in this instance, about relocating to France which, considering the summer we've had so far is beginning to sound like a pretty good idea...
Manchester Bloggers Facebook Group
- 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.)
When is a Blog in Public Meant to Remain Private?
- 20 Apr 07, 11:33 AM
When it began to become clear that a was unfolding at Virginia Tech University earlier this week, I did what a lot of bloggers did and looked to the blogs.
I quickly found a whole cluster of Virginia Tech students on . As I fed these personal accounts to my colleagues in TV and Radio news, I also . For me, it was the most natural of things to do.
I wasn't the only person working for a news agency who turned to the blogs to find stories. One of the LiveJournals that I blogged, and which eventually ended up being read on-air, caught the attention of journalists from around the World, many of whom used the comments facility on the post him, often clumsily, for his story.
But he'd already told his story, right there, on his blog for all the World to see. Or maybe not.
Upon reflection the following day, I realised that I didn't feel particularly proud of the way that journalists, including myself, had descended upon the bloggers. Some of the LiveJournal posters voiced too - needless to say, they weren't too impressed.
I'm told by people with years of experience in news journalism that there is nothing at all unique about dozens, perhaps hundreds, of journalists working the phones, sending emails and doing whatever they can to secure stories from the victims of tragic incidents such as this. Nothing unique, that is, other than the fact that because many of those approaches, including a particularly unfortunate one asking the blogger to "shoot" the journalist an email, are, like the blog itself, published there in public for everyone to see. And guess what, just as some LiveJournal users were upset at the use of the post by the mainstream media, some journalists weren't too happy when they saw that lots of blogs were now quoting them.
Onemanandhisdog makes about the public yet private nature of LiveJournal posts that, I think, is quite worthy of discussion here. He writes:
"I can't help wondering if the nature of Livejournal is partly behind the outrage....the characteristic of Livejournal that triggered the creation of this blog was its community nature. Its system of "friends" and the "friends page" means that most Livejournals are read through Livejournal - it's for talking to a circle of friends, not to the world at large. Barging into that community and asking for comment feels not unlike barging into a pub and asking somebody for comments.
Now sure, journalism has a long and dishonourable tradition of doorstopping the victims of tragedies. But in the digital age, the communities around the victims have voices to express their outrage at the media's behaviour - and that's what we're seeing here."
I think it's a valid point. People can and do use LiveJournal, Myspace, MSN spaces and the dozens of other social networking sites to publish content online. But, for many of them, it's likely they do so only with the intention of reaching an audience consisting of their friends.
My wife and I have a blog that documents the life of our toddler so that friends and family who live overseas can feel miss out just a little bit less on her development. It's all there - the baby scans, the photo taken by a nurse moments after the birth, our first Christmas and some of her first steps. If I linked to it from here most of you would think it's utter rubbish because, let's face it, one family's cute kid is just a smelly, messy, noisy and expensive monster to many others. But for the audience that particular blog that is intended for it's the best blog there is, an irreplaceable repository of memories and moments - some of them very private. At the moment we don't have it password protected, although like on LiveJournals and Myspace pages, that functionality does exist. We don't use it because we don't think anyone is every going to stumble across the blog and because some of the people who read it find it easier when they don't have to remember a username and password.
We watch the closely so we know who visits, when and for how long. It's meant to be private. It feels like it's private. But I know how I'd feel if, suddenly, that blog ended up being read out on some of the most watched Television news outlets in the World.
The opposite is true of non-大象传媒 blog, where I willingly include links to my photos on flickr, my bookmarks on delicious, my dis-used Myspace profile, my often up to the minute twitter posts, a list of RSS feeds I read, the last ten songs I've listened to on my iPod and a map that uses my mobile phone to plot my exact location at any one time. That's a lot of personal information but the blog is intended for public consumption and, like many bloggers, I enjoy knowing that there is an audience that visits, reads, and discusses my blog. I wouldn't care, in fact I'd probably be delighted, if the 大象传媒 or CNN or whoever showed a screen capture of my blog and read some of a post out.
But how can a journalist, or anyone wanting to link to or draw attention to a post know when something that's published publicly online is private?
If I had to email a blogger everytime I linked out to one I'd spend half my day doing that and writing a single post with lots of links would take twice that long.
I suppose a badge showing that a blog has a creative commons license, particularly the version that basically amounts to "do what you please" would be one way to make a fairly educated guess as to whether a blog is or isn't meant to be consumed by a wider audience. But such a badge is only really likely to be used by someone who wants their content to spread, not those who might want to keep their content more private.
So it's over to you - let's hear your thoughts on how the media and other bloggers can better make decisions about whether your content is public or private. Are there some sorts of blogs, profiles or online places that you wouldn't link to if you weren't part of that community? Is there some stuff that is always ok to link to? How do you, as a blogger, make those decisions yourself?
It's a Small World
- 23 Mar 07, 03:49 PM
I was looking through the blog feeds today and stumbled across a post by Mancubist that made me have one of those "it's a really small world, isn't it?!" moments.
Mancubist had been to one of the development seminars, events that bring together people from all walks of the media world to discuss the changing shape of media in a more technology driven landscape. I made that line up by the way.
Speaking at this particular event was none other than my former 大象传媒 colleague, , who occupied my desk at the helm of the 大象传媒 blogs trial before me.
Anyway, if you are interested in this type of event but missed this particular one, Mancubist has distilled the day down to worth of good tips. See, reading blogs actually SAVES time...
More From You on RSS
- 9 Mar 07, 03:04 PM
No sooner had we about using RSS than we spotted, in there amongst our , some posts you've recently made about RSS. It nearly made us exclaim "Snap!" ;-)
Craig McGinty, a freelance journalist turned blogger, has tracked down some about RSS.
In on Modern Life is Rubbish, Stuart Brown provides "5 tips to help get subscribers, keep subscribers" including 1) offer full feeds rather than excerpts and 2) avoid amendments to feed items once they're posted. You'll have to click through to see the other three tips. Stuart's also recently done an interesting (well, we like it) to the websites of major newspapers and news organisations in the UK, including the 大象传媒.
Still no idea what we're on about? Don't worry, you aren't alone. Today I spotted on YouTube showing the results when people on the streets of Sutton, apparently the most average town in England, were asked "what's RSS?":
Resolutions and Reflections
- 2 Jan 07, 09:49 AM
Happy New Year, oh and by the way my has gone up 80p. Great. I鈥檒l blog about that later no doubt somewhere.
So here we are at the dawning of 2007. Generally the bloggers have been quiet over the holiday period but there has been the usual mix of post-Christmas postings and reflections on 2006 along with resolutions and plans for the New Year ahead. Here are some of the ups and downs:
was glad to see the year over and was planning on bringing it to an early end. 鈥淚 for one will be glad to see the back of 2006. If all goes to plan I should be tucked up safely in bed by 9pm tonight with a good book and mug of Horlicks.鈥
While seems to have had a good one. 鈥淚 feel pretty positive about the things I've done and the changes I've made鈥.
Not so good for . 鈥淚 received a Christmas card the other day, and written inside it was a simple message, hoping that next year is altogether better for me than this one has been. And I frowned, reading it, and pursed my lips, because this year has been a killer鈥.
has taken the time to check back on last year鈥檚 resolutions: 鈥Get my head down and work hard in the final year: I half managed this, though I suspect I could have work a bit harder if I hadn鈥檛 got completely bored with computer science by this point.鈥
Finally Julia on has a great resolution. (Can I come too?) 鈥淭o go and see my parents in Moscow. I don鈥檛 know, when I go and for how long, but this must happen. I even vowed to blog about my visiting Moscow. I鈥檓 being told certain things have changed considerably. I鈥檝e also changed considerably. So, it will probably be too considerable an experience to miss. 鈥
As for the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog, we only arrived towards the back end of 2006 so there鈥檚 little to look back on, however there鈥檚 plenty to look forward to, starting off with our first blogging workshop on Thursday 18th January.
There鈥檚 still time to book your place. Please remember to send us your e-mail address so we can send you the details. manchester.blog(at)bbc.co.uk
鈥楿nder Construction鈥 and 鈥楾aking a break鈥欌
- 19 Dec 06, 12:02 PM
Two phrases that send a shudder down my peripherals and leaves me screaming and shouting at my computer and anyone who just happens to be passing the house.
Under construction
What this actually means is that someone has gone to all the trouble of getting a domain name and web space and have managed to get on to some search engines, but haven鈥檛 actually found the time to write anything for the website.
In the early days of the web such a phrase was usually accompanied by a picture of either a man at work or some flashing yellow and black construction sign.
Some 鈥楿nder Construction鈥 pages had had a lot of work put in to them. But no matter how carefully crafted these pages are/were, they still fail to dispel my total annoyance at wasting my time as well as quashing my excitement when I think that Google has actually found a website about knitting projects for my pet budgie only to discover that all the information I need hasn鈥檛 been written yet.
Did you know that there are out there trying to stamp out the Under Construction absurdity? I鈥檒l sign any petition to stop this practice.
Under Construction tends not to be such a big issue on blogs as most of the freeware ones available are so easy to use it takes no time at all to get a couple of entries posted, so in the time it takes to put up an 鈥楿nder Construction鈥 sign you can post several entries.
No, the scourge of the blog is TABS - Taking A Break Syndrome.
All year long people sit and craft (some irony there) their postings on their blog. Then along comes a holiday season and they feel as though they need to excommunicate their readers and stop posting.
Newspapers and magazines pull out all the stops at holiday time to give their readers bumper editions with extra features. So why do bloggers feel the need to stop blogging? I have a theory.
Most bloggers blog from work. I don鈥檛 have any statistics to back this up, but think about it, why else would you not be able to blog at holiday time (apart from being away) unless your access to a computer and some spare time had gone?
So I鈥檓 going to continue to write 鈥 but not on the 大象传媒 Manchester Blog 鈥 as I鈥檓 sure my many, many readers to my would be distraught and feel withdrawal symptoms if I took a break.
Actually I鈥檓 working on a website now that looks at the whole issue of working and blogging. Sadly it鈥檚 still under construction and is likely to be for some time yet as I鈥檓 having difficulty finding just the right image of a guy leaning on a spade reading something on his laptop.
The Manchester blog will be back on January 2nd with tips on how to overcome the feeling that you鈥檝e not blogged for two whole weeks and you鈥檝e actually found something to do with your time.
Happy holidays!
How to blog
- 15 Dec 06, 10:42 AM
Blogging is child's play. It's the older ones that have difficulty, expecially 大象传媒 Radio Manchester's Eamonn O鈥橬eal.
Eamonn invited 12-year-old into the studio to show him how to set up a new blog.
You can read all about it on the bbc.co.uk/manchester website and you can listen again by clicking here.
Eamonn's new .
Is it OK to blog while off sick?
- 7 Dec 06, 09:52 AM
It鈥檚 not something I really thought about until earlier this week when I was taken to my bed with a near-death inducing .
Counting the tiles on the bedroom ceiling was driving me insane (13x12 = 156 plus a few part tiles round the chimney, so I鈥檇 say round it up to 160).
Despite the weakness of my arms and legs and uncontrollable urge to sneeze the contents of my nose on anyone within spitting distance of me, I needed to blog. But what if the boss looks at my site. 鈥淭oo ill to work鈥, he鈥檒l think, 鈥渂ut not too ill to blog. I鈥檒l sack that slacker when he gets back in the office. That鈥檒l put an end to his .鈥
So I don鈥檛 blog anything for fear that if the virus (that really was leaving me at death鈥檚 door) doesn鈥檛 get me, my boss will. Of course by not blogging I鈥檓 unable to share my real life experiences with my reader and thus render part of the ethos of blogging redundant.
It was the same, only slightly different, when I went through a spell of .
I was a slave to the computer and the house. Not daring to step outside for fear that it would be at the precise moment the boss would want to speak to me about writing something about . Then, not getting an answer on the phone, he would immediately presume that I was not in fact working at all, but off out to the park all day walking the dog or shopping for antiques or bread. While actually I was just in the toilet. (Of course I avoided using that too in case the phone rang and the whole 鈥榖eing out鈥 nightmare would become a reality).
There were many pluses working from home. I could get up fifteen minutes before starting work and be home before the computer had logged me out. There were days when I could work in my pyjamas and slippers and I could choose what to listen to - music or the radio or next door鈥檚 dog howling (except I didn鈥檛 have much choice in the latter, but the radio drowned him out).
Actually I think working from home meant more time working. None of the distractions of working in an office. And there were days when I was feeling under the weather a little and may have thought twice about dragging my aching limbs into Manchester, but was happy to sit and suffer at home alone. Without any sympathy. At all. (Actually, what was I thinking? I could have been really ill and no one would have known).
Anyway, blogging when you鈥檙e sick. Is it allowed? Is it ok to just post 鈥楽orry I鈥檓 sick and can鈥檛 update the blog鈥 鈥 or is that contradictory? Writing that you can鈥檛 write is like drawing a picture to illustrate that you can鈥檛 draw. Plus the boss may read it even though he doesn鈥檛 read blogs or know that you write one. But there鈥檚 always the chance that he鈥檒l stumble across it while checking for spares on Ebay.
So, blogging while off work being really, really ill 鈥 playing with fire or a part of the convalescing process?
(Just in case the boss does read this, I wrote it in work time, but had the original idea while at home fighting off the . I鈥檓 happy for him to see my germ-infested notes at any time.)
Manchester Wi-Fi Proposal - Good News for Bloggers?
- 5 Dec 06, 11:25 AM
大象传媒 News that Manchester City Council plans to make a bid for money from the Government's Digital Challenge Initiative to create the largest free wireless internet hotspot in Europe. Although not the first UK city to offer wireless internet connections - their network at the end of August - the proposal, initially covering 100 square miles and expanding to as much as 400 sq. miles, would create the UK's largest blanket of wi-fi internet coverage so far.
, for the uninitiated, is a wireless method of connecting to the internet. A base station connected to a high-speed internet connection broadcasts signals through the air, those signals are picked up by compatible computers, and commands made on those computers are passed back to the base station.
So what would this mean for Manchester Bloggers? Well, having been a wi-fi user for about three years myself, I think blanket wi-fi coverage opens up whole new avenues of possibility. Not everyone has highspeed internet at home, nor can everyone afford to pay the often high access charges for internet access offered by many coffee shops these days. At a very basic level, a city wide wi-fi network would help people who wouldn't normally have the resources to get online do so - as long as they have wi-fi capability in their computer. Hopefully this will lead to more interesting and creative people creating and sharing their content online.
As for existing bloggers, it will get easier to take your blog with you wherever you go and you'll be more easily able to blog as you down an egg butty at the local greasy spoon after a hard night out, write posts about the people and places you observe as you sit in the park or in another public place, and to post content live from sporting matches, public meetings or cultural events. This sort of thing is already starting to happen, of course, with increasingly powerful multimedia mobiles with fast data connections appearing - Newsnight's Paul Mason blogged about his recent visit to a Manchester City match where just about everyone seemed to be holding their mobiles aloft, snapping photos and sending videos to friends.
There are also lots of new wi-fi enabled devices appearing in shops - from machines which allow users to compete with other users over the network to that, rather than routing your call via the usual telephone network, can connect your call cheaply (or for free) using high quality voice over internet () technologies such as .
All that's fine and good, if not a bit geeky, but what's it actually going to do? Well, for me at least, all sorts of possibilities have been opened through my being able to connect to the internet from almost anywhere via a combination of my laptop's wi-fi connection at home and public places already offering free wifi and, where there isn't an open network, via my 3G mobile phone's data connection. I can read my RSS feeds on buses or trains. I can post a short entry while I wait for my lunch. I can live blog events, as I did from the Manchester Blog Awards until my battery packed in on me, and show people stuff, look up things, or check up on email from just about anywhere.
A city wide blanket of wi-fi like the one being proposed by Manchester City Council would certainly allow me to blog more often and from more places, but is that a good thing?
Would internet access anywhere, anytime throughout Manchester make it easier for you to blog? Would it affect where you blog from or what you blog about? Will it change your relationship with your blog, your blog's audience, and with the people around you? Will you take your blog with you everywhere or will you leave it at home? Tell us what you think, as people who create and post content online, the pros and cons of a city wide wifi network are for you personally.
[The photo in this entry was originally uploaded to flickr by .]
Fancy blogging
- 22 Nov 06, 11:29 AM
I don鈥檛 know about you, but sticking my head under the bonnet of the Blog always fills me with dread. I鈥檓 no technophobe, but I can鈥檛 help but worry that any little tweak I make will somehow launch some kind of butterfly effect that ends up plunging half of America and Canada into darkness. (I should make it clear that the recent blackout in Europe wasn鈥檛 my fault. I was on holiday at the time and didn鈥檛 touch the Blog.)
A couple of weeks ago we had a problem with the right hand navigation (it insisted on dropping down to the bottom of the page). It left Robin screaming and panicking and breathing into an empty cookie bag. It turned out that the Blog didn鈥檛 like large quotation marks and let鈥檚 face it, who does?
But there鈥檚 always the fear that making some minor change to the coding would render the whole thing useless and would result in me having to wake our Blog guru from his winter sleep (think bear/sore head).
The other problem I have is boredom. When I find myself with a bit of spare time on my hands I start to tinker aimlessly with layouts and extra features.
My own websites and Blogs suffer from this constantly with new flashy links being added showing the last pictures I took and the music I鈥檓 listening to, that kind of thing. When I鈥檓 bored I really do believe that people need to know this kind of information. This is rather odd as when I鈥檓 not bored and use my downtime surfing around other Blogs I find all this clutter distracting and it leaves me wondering what these people are thinking, bolting all those extras on their sites.
Anyway, I鈥檝e promised the guys in 大象传媒 Blog Central that I won鈥檛 play with the Blog coding (much) and if I do get a little bored I鈥檒l only lift the bonnet on one of my own.
Having said that I notice that we鈥檙e not using the Category feature and I鈥檓 not sure about the calendar and we could do with some more Manchester blog links and wouldn鈥檛 it be great if we showed the current record being played on Radio Manchester and the temperature in the city centre and鈥
Write? Right.
- 16 Nov 06, 12:34 PM
It鈥檚 Wednesday lunchtime and I鈥檓 sat staring at a blank screen. I need to write something for the Blog, but the phone鈥檚 been ringing all morning. And when it wasn鈥檛 ringing I was visited at my desk and questioned by people who tell me they kept getting the engaged tone when they called so they felt a personal visit may help.
It doesn鈥檛 as conversations face to face tend to drift off in all sorts of directions and take up more time than phone calls, which in turn take up far more time than e-mail, or better still, text. I have to go out.
It鈥檚 now Thursday morning and I still haven鈥檛 started writing something for the Blog. When do people find time to write stuff? I鈥檝e got a great idea for a topic, but I have a meeting in five minutes and I鈥檝e just been told I have to stand up and say something.
Thursday lunchtime. My time. I鈥檝e written this. I鈥檒l put some time aside tomorrow to work on my idea for the Blog, but right now I have to go out.
What is a Manchester blog?
- 9 Nov 06, 12:00 PM
I blog often. Too often some may say, but I promise I will get round to finishing the kitchen soon ok?
Sometimes I blog about Manchester. Things I see or hear or worry about. Sometimes there are other things going on in my life or my head that are not Manchester related and I blog about them.
So when I don鈥檛 blog about Manchester is it still a Manchester blog because the words are being typed into a computer in Manchester. And what if I鈥檓 at home (technically not actually in Manchester but close enough to see the early morning smog) writing about Manchester, is that a Manchester blog?
Looking through all the 鈥楳anchester鈥 blogs I keep an eye on, I鈥檓 surprised by how many of them don鈥檛 actually talk much about Manchester. The odd little quip here and there, but most of the time they鈥檙e talking about America or war or those little cotton things you shouldn鈥檛 stick in your ears but do because you can鈥檛 get your finger in there.
So I guess what I鈥檓 seeking here are some pointers towards Manchester blogs that talk almost exclusively about Manchester. Life, food, love, music, food, sport, food.
That鈥檒l do for now. Anyone know the best way to clean dried grout of kitchen tiles?
Manchester Blog Awards - On 大象传媒 5 Live Tonight
- 23 Oct 06, 05:06 PM
Those of you who were at the a week ago today will have noticed that I spent much of the evening wandering around with a large microphone and minidisc recorder.
I recorded the entire awards ceremony, which featured readings from , who went on to win Blog of the Year, and . I also managed to spend a few minutes speaking with the winner of the Personal Blog category, , Kate Feld who organised the event, and a handful of others.
It's just been confirmed that a good ten to 15 minutes of that audio will be broadcast on 大象传媒 Radio 5 Live's Pods and Blogs tonight (technically it will be Tuesday morning) between 2-3am. Unless you're like me and find yourself blogging away into the wee hours, you'll probably want to use the listen again feature that let's you - as it says on the tin - listen to the program again anytime during the next week. You'll find the link at the top of the Pods and Blogs blog.
Update: the audio from pods and blogs is here. The blog awards section of the program appears between 12.19 - 22.00 and includes readings from The 43 and A Free Man in Preston as well as an interview with Manchizzle who organised the event.
At the Manchester Blog Awards
- 16 Oct 06, 07:07 PM
As advertised, we're at Urbis right now, waiting for the Manchester Blog Awards to kick off.
, who is standing behind me busily trying to deny that she organised tonight's event - something that seems to happen at most of the blog related events I get to these days - on her blog that the awards kick off properly at 8pm and will be proceeded by music, which is on now, and poetry, which must be coming next.
As things get warmed up I'll return to this post...
20.05: The third perfomance poet, Conor Aylward, is still on but he admitted, at the start of his turn, that he's blogged his entire piece so I guess the overlap is forgiveable. Sadly, my mobile, which I'm using to access the internet, is nearly out of juice.
22.10: We're in the pub, which is where most good blog meets, at least in my experience, tend to end. I managed to record a podcast of the entire award ceremony, which included readings by Geoff who blogs about his and the anonymous blogger behind , both of whom were nominated for the blog of the year award which Geoff won.
In the other categories, , who also blogs anonymously, won best personal blog, and best arts and culture blog was won by . , recently the focus of another blogging event held at Urbis and much in the news, had it's own category, with Norman Geras's winning.
I did some audio interviews with the organiser of tonight's event and some of the winners which, with any luck, will be aired on 大象传媒 5 Live's Pods and Blogs next week.
Manchester Blog Awards: 16 October
- 9 Oct 06, 04:41 PM
The awards ceremony for the first ever will take place at next Monday (16 October) starting at 7pm.
The selection process, we're told, was difficult but there's now a of blogs vying for awards in each of the four categories: political, personal, arts and culture, and blog of the year.
The 大象传媒 Manchester Blog team will be there to cover the event for the 大象传媒 Manchester website and to record interviews for both 大象传媒 Radio Manchester and 大象传媒 5 Live's Pods and Blogs.
More importantly, we're hoping to meet with people who are already creating, or want to create, great web content so we can discuss how we might be able to work together. To encourage you to walk over and introduce yourself, we'll be bringing a limited number of 大象传媒 t-shirts to hand out at the event. Do come say hello!
The event, organised by as part of the , is free, open to all and will be followed by drinks (the only thing you have to pay for) and live entertainment from . Andrew Wilshere at created the blog awards logo above.
Why Blog?
- 14 Sep 06, 01:34 PM
"I blog therefore I am" - Ren茅 Descartes (misquoted)
But why do we blog? I can think of more reasons not to blog than I can think of for committing myself to the daily routine of writing blogs, reading blogs and commenting on blogs. But I still do it.
So why do we blog? How would you convince someone who has never blogged to start? I know people who've said that they don't blog because they've nothing to blog about, a concept that a vast number of bloggers have never really thought about (otherwise there wouldn't be as many as there are!).
Granted there are a lot of blogs out there that don't really serve a purpose other than to be a voice on the internet for the writer, but many more blogs do serve an audience. It could be for the sharing of ideas and opinions, problem solving, reviews, training, news etc. etc. But would we miss them if they were not there?
It would be interesting to know how Manchester bloggers first got into it. How have your blogs evolved. Are they personal online diaries or are they serving an online community in some way? And does being based in Manchester make any difference to what or how you blog?
Let us know why you blog by adding a comment to this post or by sending an e-mail to us. It'll help us understand a little more about what makes Manchester bloggers tick.
Political Blogging Debate @ Urbis
- 11 Sep 06, 12:04 PM
A few weeks ago I fell asleep on my sofa and woke up at half past midnight to find political blogger on , reading through the day's newspaper headlines. It was at that moment that I realised that political blogging, which has been huge in America for a few years with sites like the and getting than , had finally hit the mainstream here in the UK. The 大象传媒's Alan Connor recently put together a of political blogs if you'd like to have a look at what's out there.
With political blogs getting lots of attention from the media and political strategists alike, and Manchester playing host to the from 24-28 September, the being organised by local blogger is likely to be a popular event.
On the podium at from 4pm on Sunday the 24th of September will be Norman Geras, Professor Emeritus at Manchester University and author of , the Press Gazette's and Bill Jones, a former Manchester University lecturer and author of several books on politics who blogs at .
You can find of this free event on Manchizzle or over on the .
The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
