Disqus - Latest Comments for Adam

Re: Press Gazette relaunches, still excludes trade press

Adam — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:47:02 -0000

Oh, that's useful. Thanks, Graham.

Re: Press Gazette relaunches, still excludes trade press

Adam — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:25:30 -0000

Ah-ha. I completely missed that page of feeds, despite the fact I was looking for it. Any chance you could get the main feeds into the head area in the HTML, so that browsers will auto-detect them?

To be fair, the first article wasn't there when I posted, and the second only mentions trade in passing.

And yes, your "magazines" category probably covers a wider range of journalism than the national and regional newspapers categories added together… Splitting it into consumer mags and trade press would make much more sense.

Re: Very Late: Lewisham Blogger Meet-Up

Adam — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:01:53 -0000

Andrew: Depends on when the flat sells...

Kate: Probably something to so with javascript not being enabled in your browser. You can see them all on Flickr.

Re: Blogging is like sex: the more you do it, the better it gets

Adam — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:17:21 -0000

Kevin,

I suspect that star power is less of a factor within the trade media - certainly the closest thing we have to a star here is Tony "NHS IT scandals" Collins.

But it feels like we're approaching the whole blogging thing from a very different angle from you guys. On the whole, it's "if you want to blog, we shall make that possible for you", rather than "you are our chosen blogger". So, inherently, we're allowing the people with at least some passion to self-select themselves.

Oddly, though, its often the people who were most resistant to the idea that come to be its greatest evangelists. Your paper even covered one of them in some detail.

Re: Declan Curry: My (Non-Existent) Part in His Fame

Adam — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 01:23:28 -0000

I diagnose a case of skim reading, with a secondary infection of a dirty mind. :-)

Re: Blog Post vrs Magazine Article

Adam — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:18:10 -0000

Funnily enough, I was having a conversation on that exact topic a couple of hours ago.

You may be getting an e-mail in the next couple of weeks…

Re: Can Journalists Learn to Listen To Bloggers?

Adam — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:49:42 -0000

I've said in the past that I sometimes think that it's harder to turn a journalist into a good blogger than it is to turn a random member of the public.

While the journalist may have the writing skills, they often have more to unlearn (or at least let go of) than they have to learn...

Re: Lies, Damn Lies and Web 2.0

Adam — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:39:42 -0000

I think of all professions, teachers have the most responsibility to stay au fait with all this social media stuff. After all, who else is going to educate kids on how to use this stuff responsibly?

Re: Blogger Down?

Adam — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:00:25 -0000

I sincerely hope this isn't a return to the bad old days when Blogger was up and down like a yo-yo.

Re: Bloggily Blonde: The Self-Appointed A-List

Adam — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:52:50 -0000

Kristine: To be fair, many journalists were trained five years ago in the idea of "sticky content", whereby you get people into your sites and KEEP THEM THERE AT ALL COSTS.

Some are understandably rather narked at having what they were told to do then turned on its head. But that's the issue, isn't it? They're being told to do it, rather than discovering themselves by reading and participating in blogs.

Re: Bloggily Blonde: The Self-Appointed A-List

Adam — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:57:11 -0000

Tish & Rachel: I think you've both hit the nail on the head, in the sense that many of these newer bloggers are more interested in the triumvirate of publishing-traffic-Adsense then they are any feeling of community. So they're more interested in SEO tricks and mechanical approaches to getting better PageRank than they are the traditional method of serving your time, writing great stuff and getting links...

Will Google make it harder or easier for them to do that, I wonder?

Re: Go on, Leave a Comment

Adam — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:23:18 -0000

Well, thanks for your help testing the new functionality anyway... :-)

Re: My Tragic Addiction

Adam — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:47:43 -0000

Your wish is my command…

It's two-fold, really. First of all, blogging is now my job, and keeping up with what's happening in the blogging world is part of that. So that'll push me to higher levels than most bloggers.

But I'm also still a passionate blogger in my private life, contributing to two personal blogs and a range of specialist topic ones. And so, blogging is a significant part of both my personal and business life.

Re: Left Hand, Meet Right Hand…

Adam — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:13:32 -0000

You're right. It's a good thing that news moves so quickly around blogs. I just find it amazing that news can go from London to Chicago and back faster than it does from the 3rd floor to the 8th floor of our building…

Re: Work in Progress: Types of Blog Post

Adam — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:17:02 -0000

Kristine: You have a point. I suppose that I've over-emphasised it because journalists I deal with tend to skew so strongly in favour of nothing but original reporting. One of the things I need to do it open their eyes to the other possibilities.

Cyberscribe:: Memes are a good idea. I shudder at the very thought of original poetry from our journalists…

Re: Retraining Journalists vrs Other Frustrating Tasks

Adam — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:46:23 -0000

I'd go as far as to say that a robust skull, and comfortable desk coverings, are a necessity in this kind of job...

Re: The Telegraph's Shifting Video Sands

Adam — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:15:17 -0000

My one's just changed again, to a video about a triple murder. Let's see how long your one remains consistent.

Re: Research before you write - even about blogs

Adam — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 05:39:20 -0000

The more I think about this, the more it dawns on me that journalists are often trapped in a form of circular authority:

"Why is this important?"

"Because it's in the magazine."

"Why is it in the magazine?"

"Because it's important?"

The social media takes away the barrier of importance to publication, but instead asserts a social model of judgement of worth. If it matters, people will read, link and comment. If it's not, it will be left to shrivel away in the dark corners of the internets…

Re: Community Care Fisked

Adam — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:34:16 -0000

Although, to be fair, the blogger is more open about his biases than the Daily Mail has ever been.

Re: Foot and Mouth Yet Again

Adam — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:16:09 -0000

Hey, Caroline. You should have had an e-mail with my contact details by now. If it didn't arrive, let me know.

Re: Comments Closed: A First

Adam — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:55:10 -0000

Think discussions of criminal records and murder accusations…

Re: Welcome to OM&HB's New Home

Adam — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:14:29 -0000

Just testing that cmments are working OK.

Move along, nothing to see here…

Re: What I Learned From Social Media Club Tonight

Adam — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:52:48 -0000

I think we're struggling to find answers because there aren't any yet - what we really need is approaches to try, and suggestions of what's working already. We needed about an extra hour last night.

Maybe more...

Re: One Man and the Cult

Adam — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:44:29 -0000

It's worth it. At many points it's a hugely entertaining read for all the wrong reasons.

The London bombings of "6/7" are an entertaining error in a book that praises the value of editors, for example…

Re: One Man and the Cult

Adam — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:46:50 -0000

Which is certainly true of him in his live appearances, including that "debate" at the Frontline Club. The problem for me with that sort of argument is that my colleagues will spot that I'm playing the man, not the ball. Not engaging with the issues will lead them to suspect that there must be some truth to it.

And that's just going to make my life harder.

Re: Wordpress Woes

Adam — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:01:37 -0000

I have a suspicion that it was something to do with the templates, but I can't be sure.

Just not got the skill level. :)

Re: Danger: Journalist Bloggers At Work

Adam — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:02:34 -0000

They're whatever our catering team supplies. They may shop at M&S, but I doubt it…

Re: Danger: Journalist Bloggers At Work

Adam — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:56:49 -0000

It wasn't just biscuits - we had croissants and coffee for breakfast and a free lunch!

Nothing but the most average for our bloggers!

Re: Danger: Journalist Bloggers At Work

Adam — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:27:19 -0000

More grumpy, I suspect.

Re: Your Bloggy Reading for Monday Morning

Adam — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:29:35 -0000

Brian,

I agree that the default wording on the Movable Type templates I'm using is less than helpful in explaining the options for commenting. I'll fix it once (a) I've come up with a better form of words and (b) I figure out how to change it…

Thanks for pointing out the link error. It's now corrected.

Re: There is no British Blogosphere

Adam — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:31:50 -0000

It may be an unintended side effect, but it's certainly been one of the happier ones.

And it's proved that there's a hunger for local discussion that local papers have totally failed to cater to, as well. And that's quite interesting on a number of levels.

Re: Fighting Change, Every Step of the Way

Adam — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:33:01 -0000

Dear Karl,

I am now a cynic about online publishing. Please send me on a 5-week tour across the US.

Yours sincerely,

Adam

Re: A Quick Confession…

Adam — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:15:05 -0000

A mix of more history, less geographical dispersion, and unfamiliarity, probably...

Re: A Quick Confession…

Adam — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 07:44:42 -0000

Well, I could sack myself from my own blog, I suppose…

Next time I'm away, I may try to line up a guest blogger or two to cover my absence.

Re: Free = More Pageviews = Money?

Adam — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:35:43 -0000

Quite honestly, both. If there isn't enough short-term revenue to at least cushion the horrible bleeding out of offline revenue that most publishing businesses are seeing, there won't be a long term…

Don't get me wrong - I'm not arguing for the retention of pay walls. I'm just suggesting that traffic in itself is not actually very useful to a commercial publishing organisation unless in comes hand-in-hand with revenue. And that's not guaranteed.

I'm still not convinced that the current online variation of the old school publishing model of largely-ad supported journalism is actually sustainable in anything like its current form in the long term, and wonder if the Times is swapping one dead end for another.

Re: Not a Hardcore Blogger

Adam — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:44:02 -0000

I believe that choosing where to whine is an important service for your readers! :-)

Re: Blogging and Politics Event Upcoming

Adam — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:44:52 -0000

I'll do my very best to find you and say "hello", then.

Re: NUJ: Forget The Customers, and They'll Forget You

Adam — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:28:37 -0000

Adam, you're missing the whole point of everything that was in the Journalist and swallowing the blatant misrepresentations of our critics whole.

These opinions are my own, not second hand. To be honest, I threw that copy of Journalist into the recyling bin in disgust after reading the article. I had to fish it out, much to my wife's amusement, to do the research for this post. And if I have missed the point, why have I done so? Is it that the unhelpful, reactionary attitudes on display in the article alienated too many of those of us working on professional journalism in that "crap" Web 2.0 world? That's the NUJ's problem, not mine.

The primary focus of a lot of our work these days is on how the cuts in the industry (from local Trinity Mirror titles to AOL) is damaging journalism - which effects the audience.

Sure - but why are those cuts being made? Is it because the audience is moving away from old models of publishing? (And the first wave of internet companies from the 90s certainly could as old models). Why is the union doing reflexive class-strife, management-bashing rather than actively engaging in a debate on new journalistic roles in the Web 2.0 age? Well, in some cases it is. The local chapel here at RBI is very proactive in that area. What a shame the mag failed to represent some of their very good work.

You don't mention my quotes about Facebook that were also in the Journalist, or the article about cuts in AOL - why not?

Because I wasn't doing a line by line rebuttal of the whole thing. I don't use every quote I get in an interview either.

You know well that the NUJ group on Facebook is the largest trade union group on it as you're a member, but you still claim journalists don't understand it or use it.

I state clearly that some journalists don't get it, and that I'm working with many that do. It's clearly the latter folks that are in the Facebook group.

You repeat the allegation that the basis of my piece was a strawman

I've read the article that you quote. That's not replacing journalists - that's using user content in an area that you couldn't afford to pay journalists to do. It's complimentary to professional journalism, not a replacement for it. I'd say the NUJ would be better placed working out how journalists can use all this to improve what they do, rather than just railing against it.

Every single journalist we've spoken to wants to make the move to new media work - they want quality material online, yet far too many have told us how the ridiculous decisions of their management are making it impossible for them to do it right.

That may well be the case. In which case, you failed to represent that in the Journalist articles.

And that's why I'm waiting for the full report to decide if I remain an NUJ member.

it's about quality, not technology

There we agree. But I think technology can facilitate quality, as well as undermine it. And I can't find that point anywhere in the article.

In the end, you made it harder for those of us who are actively promoting professional journalism in a Web 2.0 age, and that's why I'm so embarrassed to be a member. I've actively promoted the union and it's positive attitude to reshaping the way journalists work.

And you've made me embarrassed to have done that.

Perhaps you need to stop being so reflexively defensive and realise that many of the critics of the coverage are just as passionate about quality online journalism as you claim to be, and that there are solid points at the heart of what they, and I, are saying.

Re: Six Years of Blogging

Adam — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:32:57 -0000

One can dream… :)

Re: Six Years of Blogging

Adam — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:34:48 -0000

Right place, wrong time…

The pic was taken on the day I started blogging. I actually missed the fireworks this year, because I'm still struggling to throw off this cold, and a couple of hours on a cold heath would probably have made things worse, alas.

Re: links for 2007-11-28

Adam — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:48:02 -0000

I thought that might draw you out of the woodwork. :)

Nice to see more and more platforms supporting OpenID, and giving me another good reason to experiment with them.

Re: What's the Collective Noun for a Group of Editors?

Adam — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:24:42 -0000

A colleague of mine also suggest "an opinion" - which works for me.

Re: What's the Collective Noun for a Group of Editors?

Adam — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:43:23 -0000

A Managed Decline, if you please.

Re: Sam Sethi Controversy 2007 edition: Blognation

Adam — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:55:36 -0000

That, in of itself, is interesting.

Thanks for letting us know, and I quite understand why you chose not to post on company matters. It try to avoid doing too much of that myself...

Re: NUJ Multimedia Working Report Out, Union Still Clueless on Blogging

Adam — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:40:44 -0000

Oh, for goodness' sake. It's called an open conversation, Donnacha, it's what's blogging's all about.

And I absolutely stand by the fact that I find it inordinately depressing that the people behind our (happy now?) website's redesign (and who are spending my subs) are so clueless about decade-old concepts, and I think I have every right to say as much on my blog.

Re: Le Web 3: The Missing Posts

Adam — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:24:40 -0000

And to you, sir.

We must catch up for a beverage or two in the new year.

Re: Spammers invade Technorati

Adam — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:19:15 -0000

Ah, excellent. Thanks for the speedy work.

Re: JournalismDaily: Bloggy Hack Tracking

Adam — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:08:32 -0000

Of course. That would be shallow and unworthy. :)

Re: Commenting

Adam — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:38:31 -0000

Testing revamped commenting...