Emma

Donald Rumsfeld Article

2006-02-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

The article on Rumsfeld gives a really good idea of what he is like as a person and what he has done in his life.

But, you would think there would be more quotes to back up some of the descriptions and give the reader an even deeper insight into the mind and thoughts of Donald Rumsfeld. The only quote is about him not wanting to be photographed in his cords and the only time he is quoted at length is when the writer says what Rumsfeld wrote in his article in Foreign Affairs.

The article really is too descriptive and the fact that Sir John Keegan is a historian makes you wonder if most of what he has written is from research rather than from Rumsfeld himself.

Also, the article is continued from page 79 to135, this is a massive jump, do readers want to be jumping around the magazine like this?

Daniel Meadows Presentation

2005-12-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

mmmm...really not sure what to make of this one!!
well, it was a presentation on digital storytelling and a showing of a load of digital stories that werent that good or interesting.
What was interesting was that on the films Daniel seemed really confident but put him in front of an audience of 200 students and he is reading from a script. I think its probably a shame he came in after all the other excellent speakers who presented so well and also because his topic wasnt interesting to me.
Actually, the bus bit was good because I really like seeing before and after pictures and they were good. It was also interesting to see what people were doing now and what they had done then. But not in this context. I would like to write a feature for a magazine like this, with before and after, both visually and in the form of a feature.
But really apart from that, I didnt really feel I could relate to the presenatation.
I'd stick to traditional print media to tell a story.

Pete Clifford Presentation

2005-12-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

The presentation was very well attended, everyone wanting to see this Pete Clifton. His presentation was quite interesting. Very news related obviously, Pete being Head of BBC News Interactive, but still good to see whats going on there.
400-450 people working there, seems quite a lot but it does include national, regional and foreign centres.
It was interesting to know how many people actually access the site because it related quite well to the lecture in Reporters and the Reported which questioned the need for newspapers and the decline in their sales due to online news. The site has 18m unique users a month and over 2m users a day on a site that creates 20m page impressions. Easy to see why sales of print have declined.
400 stories a day! you wouldnt fit them all in a print newspaper!
Lots of complicated technical information followed about mobile phones, W.A.P, pressing the red button on your t.v, etc. This is where I prefer the good old standard print newspaper.
They use the public a lot, with their emails, phone photos, text messages, videos, but watch out for libel. (law lectures again!)
The site has been going for six years and it appears pretty impressive. They have clear aims for the future too, pretty much the aims that most journalists have, ie to be the first with news, to have a big impact, to share content etc.
Good news presentation and probably worrying for those wanting to get in to print newspapers.

Quentin Langley Presentation

2005-12-06T06:26:00.000-08:00

This lecture was pretty P.R ish and didnt really relate to magazine journalism in any way or online either really!

Kim Hollamby Presentation

2005-11-17T03:09:00.000-08:00

These online talks are getting better each week, but I guess this week was the most interesting because the speaker was Kim Hollamby, Head of electronic media at IPC media. It was interesting the comparisons between a magazine and a magazine's website.
The statistics of how many people are reading each type of magazine and how many look at the websites reflects trends in today's society where magazines are still very popular unlike the decline of reading newspapers in favour of checking the news on the websites.
The role websites play in promoting a magazine is really interesting, by finding and attracting new readers and also the role of the website helping the magazine by offering extra information.
Again lots of useful advice on how to write for the web, all the time comparing it to the actual magazine which was really helpful. The forum part was also interesting although I've never done this before it seems to be a way people can get immediate advice and discuss things.
The workshop afterwards in the magazine lab was really useful, again comparing the magazine with the website and looking at more statistics and deciding why websites were viewed at certain times of the day.
Although im not interested in writing for online, the comparisons between magazines and their websites helped me learn a lot more about magazine and how the magazines and their websites work together. A really interesting lecture!

Richard Burton Presentation

2005-11-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

Another week, another online presentation, again full of lots of info, and not all technical computer type talk.
This week the speaker was Richard Burton, the Telegraph's online editor, who gave a good talk with no power point help. He gave a good insight into the world of online and mostly how everything has to be done quick quick quick. Not forgetting accuracy at the same time.
It was interesting that the team at the Telegraph online only has 10-12 full time workers while the Guardian has 65 and the BBC even more.
Also, it's interesting how online is seen as a business with all the money involved and the advertising.
I was impressed with his emphasis on being the first to know, the first to get the info, he seemed so into it.
Also, it was good to have a bit of law info mixed in with the emphasis on speed and how it is really hard to keep up with all the info and watching out for libel.
After all the talk of online it was good to know how much Richard valued his print experience and much he learnt from that.
All in all an interesting talk but kind of tiring with all the talk of keep up to speed.

Amanda Powell Presentation

2005-10-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Have finally worked out how to do this blog thing that most people have been doing for donkey's years but hey, its all new to me, ill give it a go...
The presentation, being on online journalism, was bound to be all too confusing for me but Amanda actually gave some really good journalism advice as well so it wasn't all technical and over my head!
It was really interesting to find out what online is like who reads the news this way, how many people what time of day etc.
The similarites and differences bit was good too, there's actually loads of similarities in the bit about making a story clickable, well, magazines have to be accesible, original, have a good intro and attractive images too.
The emphasis on shorthand a bit scary but general advice very good, accuracy and precision etc.
Libel danger, tied in nicely with the old media law lectures, probably the most interesting subject outside practical journalism.
Skills...all quite obvious but good to bear in mind!
An online lecture that tied in nicely with magazine journalism in a way! v. good!!