Video and blog coverage of Party Conferences: Looking for help

From the desk of admin ·May 20, 2008 at 5:00 pm · Filed under All WW, Internet / Technical, Media, Political Blogging, Politics, Scotland, Wales

This is massively in advance (or not), but these things usually work like snails. Now that the Wardman Wire has a decent front-page video showcase, I’m looking at the possibility of publishing Party Conference Video (and text) Blogs this autumn. I’ve not been a conference habitué, so if anyone has any useful hints, tips or offers to participate I’d be interested to hear them.

This post has been prompted by some reflection during my time off daily blogging, and also by this post over at Grimmer Up North about Battling Bureaucracy (incidentally, I found that via Wikio).

The distinctive point I’m aiming for would be to provide some coverage of *all* the conferences in some form - including the smaller parties. I’m interested in all sorts of video - interviews with politicians, other interview, video blogs and so on.

I’d be aiming to take the simplest approach possible, which probably means video uploaded directly to Youtube or a similar service.

I suspect that there is a monstrous regiment of bureaucracy to work around, a monstrous regiment of technology to deal with and I can imagine whole counties being declared to be a “protected area” to faciliate control of people trying to be more than 0.00001% off-message. I’m expecting all sorts of wrinkles - such as the need to book 4 months in advance and that passes are not transferable from the named individual who has been banned because someone with the same name said boo to a goose in 1927.

If you are interested (possibly in a collaborative project), or have any comments or ideas - please drop a comment in the box or email me on mattwardman AT gmail DOT com.

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How And Why Blogging And The Internet Works

From the desk of thunderdragon ·May 20, 2008 at 4:00 pm · Filed under All WW, Video

This video is 15-odd minutes long, but very much worth watching. It is a fantastic evaluation of why and how blogging, and the entire internet, works and is rising in popularity. It also explains why lolcats
exist.

If you only watch one video online today, make it this one.

UPDATE: Since I can’t seem to make the video embed here, you need to go here to watch it.

The ThunderDragon

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Using the Tories for our own, slightly warped, enjoyment: Politics Decoded with Garbo

From the desk of garbo ·May 20, 2008 at 11:43 am · Filed under Politics Decoded

Time to sharpen the knifes?

With just a couple of days to go until the next disaster to hit Gordon Brown’s leadership, even the most ardent of Brownites has to start thinking how much more can we take of this? If the polls are right, the Tories aren’t just going to win a Labour safe seat on Thursday, they are going to romp it. If that is the case, then I think the Frank Fields of this world can put away their sharp tongues and they can start to sharpen their knives.

If the local elections were the turning point for new Labour, then the Crewe & Nantwich election could well be the tipping point: the point of no return.

Something in the air

You see, there is something in the air right now. A whiff if blood. And the electorate want to see that blood. There is an almost unpleasant sense of joy in watching New Labour unravel – even though we are the victims of a faltering government, every time Brown and his men mess up there is sense that we are a secretly pleased it seems.

The electorate want blood so much that they are egging the Tories on to win, and win big. Not so much because we all suddenly love the Tories – far from it. The Tories are still only popular in the south in any large numbers. Many people are still sceptical of David Cameron and what he stands for, including some Tories. There are still plenty of people who are yet to get over the Thatcher years even. But right now it is the Tories who can be the weapon for the people’s want and need to give Brown and New Labour a good kicking.

A joy in self harming

I would even go as far as to say that deep down in a very dark and misty cove of our inner selves we want the economy to slip a little; we want the government to make some mistakes that will affect real people; we are secretly pleased when the government announces another tax increase or poorly thought out piece of legislation that resonates with the electorate like a rather painful club round the head.

Don’t get me wrong – I do not think that people are enjoying have their pay packets diminish before their very eyes. Far from it; but it seems the only way to give Brown and new Labour a good kicking is for this to happen. And we are all getting a bit of joy out of watching this dour man’s lifelong dream fall apart before his very eyes – even it does mean we are the real losers in all this in the short term.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Miles of Smiles from Mr Gordon: Cartoon by Hoby

From the desk of admin ·May 20, 2008 at 8:30 am · Filed under All WW, Cartoon, Daily, Humour

Cartoon: Hoby Cartoons

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Prime Minister’s Online Questions

From the desk of thunderdragon ·May 19, 2008 at 9:01 pm · Filed under All WW, Political Blogging, Politics, Video

Gordon Brown has launched a new gimmick initiative - and an online one at that!

Ask The PM.

Politicians get a chance in prime ministers question time and other question times - I think it’s time the public had a chance.

We have until June 21st to submit questions. So we should all get on our webcams and submit questions to Gordo. When [and if] they will be answered, however, is not detailed. This apparently going to be a “regular event” - but how often? Once a week? Once a month? Once a quarter? Currently the details are so vague that there is nothing there to hold Brown to,

But, the thing is, which questions will he answer? The site says that he will respons to “the most popular questions submitted by the YouTube community.” But how is that to be measured? There doesn’t appear to be any voting mechanism on the “View” feature, and the videos there are shown by random. There’s also the question of whether a review/censorship procedure is in place as well…

However, this is quite a good idea. It’s different, even if a bit of a WebCameron-esque. Though WebCameron doesn’t have that questions facility any more [or most of the other interactive tools it used to]. Probably because people ask awkward questions, and online, you can’t avoid answering them - something which Gordo will soon realise. People get vitirolic online in a way they wouldn’t in person, and Gordo may well soon experience that.

Let’s make sure that we all ask the PM a question or five. And maybe we’ll get some answers. Though somehow I doubt it.

The ThunderDragon

Update from Matt 9:30pm. I just did a spot for Radio 5 on this (yes, I know - I’m supposed to be on hiatus), which will be in the Pods and Blogs programme this evening. I’ll post it here as part of the usual Britblog podcast.

The mix of questions so far seems to be a mixture of the serious (”should we have drugs education in schools - like sex education, the fun poking “you have 180 videos on here; why when Youtube is a social community do you not allow comments on any of them”, and the hostile “I still want to know why you did not keep your promise and hold a referendum as you had promised”. There is also at least one which reviews Mr Brown’s video and offers advice on dressing fashionably.

It will all - in my view - depend on how he replies, and how seriously he takes it. A distinct communications channel only works in so far as you make something about it distinctive. If we get questions or press releases read out back it will fail; if we get a difference in tone or content, then there is potential.

Interestingly, a lot of the questioners are really quite young.

In the meantime, get on your webcams. Here are a few examples.

Looking at these the phrases “rod for his back” and “new astroturf pitch” come irresistably to mind.
Personally, I hope it works, but I think certain staff in Downing Street are not going to be grateful for this initiative, unless they do a statistical sample of questions.

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Word-association bingo - Commentariat: Editorial Alternative

From the desk of admin ·May 19, 2008 at 9:00 am · Filed under All WW, Daily, Editorial Alternative, Humour, Politics, Quote of the Day

The most succinct word association for the Commentariat I have come across:

back-channel media.

A Freudian slip with more than a grain of truth.

Ufortunately the commentariat is defined by some as including political bloggers. Oops:

Examples of people who form the commentariat: talk show hosts and their guests, newspaper and magazine columnists, and political bloggers.

And one final quote:

Society is like a stew. If you don’t keep it stirred up you get a lot of scum on the top. - Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

Have a nice day. And keep stirring.

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Recycling toys and equipment for children: Kwon Sale in Nottingham

From the desk of admin ·May 18, 2008 at 4:22 pm · Filed under All WW, Ethics - Religion, Miscellaneous, Review

Yesterday I did my (in theory) biennial half day helping out at Nottinghan’s Kwon Sale - which is a sale of “nearly new things for children” that has been running at St John’s Theological College in Bramcote, Nottingham - raising funds for a hospital in Uganda and recycling hundreds of nearly new items, from toys to clothes to pushchairs.

The KWON sale charges commission of a third on any goods sold, and raises several thousand pounds each time. It has been running for at least 2 decades.

This time there were 50 helpers, 80 sellers and several hundred customers through the door during the two hours the sale was open.

Sellers, who may be people making a second income or parents with toys or clothers a child has outgrown, bring between a couple of carrier bags and a carful of goods. They set their own prices.

Helpers sort these across a number of rooms on the Friday night, and the sale is open for just 2 hours on Saturday morning. Everything unsold has been packed up and taken away by mid-afternoon - either by sellers or by a local charity.

The first sale was named after a student at the College called Kwon, who studied at St John’s College, Nottingham in (I think) the 1970s. The sale has been running ever since.

There is an interesting combination of the old and the new. Publicity is done by local leafletting, but seller registration is done by an 0700 number which normally goes to voicemail - but is diverted to a service which sends voicemails to an email account for the week before the sale.

St John’s provides the facilities, and a team anchored by a small core of committed individuals maintaining the vision and the key relationships, and a larger number of “fellow-travellers” like me provide the “unskilled labour”.

A superb example of practical recyling, which over the years has also raised tens of thousands for an essential cause.

I’ve asked Ron Newsham to write a more detailed account, which will arrive in something between 2 days and 2 months.

The next sale will be in November.

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