July 2008

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Bloggers: the biggest whingers since journalists

18 July 2008 in Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | 9 comments

Crikey logo

I’m well pleased that my rant for Crikey about journalists elicited a witty response from Jonathan Este, the journos’ “union thug”. He’s kindly allowed me to republish it in full below. My comments afterwards.

He’d also like me to draw your attention to the MEAA’s own project, The Future of Journalism, done in conjunction with The Walkley Foundation.

Bloggers: the biggest whingers since journalists

Jonathan Este writes:

Your blogging correspondent, Stilgherrian, seemed like such a nice bloke at the Future of Media Summit in Sydney on Tuesday. On the way from the venue to the pub afterwards we shared a few yarns and war stories and I bought him a beer.

He could have been a real journalist.

But his piece in yesterday’s Crikey [local copy] betrayed his outsider status in his very first par:

What is the future of journalism? To judge by the discussion at this week’s Future of Media Summit… it’s endless bl–dy whingeing.

Whingeing, old son, is the past, the present and the future of journalism, as you’d know if you’d spent much time in the newsroom. It’s what we do. Journalists love whingeing and we’re pretty damn good at it.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you missed last night’s episode of Stilgherrian Live Alpha you’ll find it online at Ustream.

18 July 2008 by Stilgherrian | 4 comments

So this is human sexuality?

18 July 2008 in Human Nature by Stilgherrian | 19 comments

I’m fascinated by the rich variety of the human sexual experience — and by the widespread denial about same.

For all that Cardinal Pell, bless his little silk knickers, thinks that sex only happens between (one) man and (one) woman who are married, have the lights turned off, and are not enjoying the experience but are breeding to better the Catholic Church, actual experience proves the complete opposite. Humans have and enjoy sex in pretty much every combination that can be imagined.

I was therefore fascinated with a massive spam comment which I’ve just deleted, which purported to list “What people search for” on the porn sites it was promoting.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve decided that I’ll resume doing Stilgherrian Live Alpha and will record episode 6 live on the Internet tonight at 9.30pm Sydney time. See you then.

17 July 2008 by Stilgherrian | No comments

Links for 13 July 2008 through 17 July 2008

17 July 2008 in Daily Links by del.icio.us | 4 comments

Stilgherrian’s links for 13 July 2008 through 17 July 2008, gathered with moss like a rolling stone doesn’t:

Flat Earth News: The official website for Nick Davies' book, which various people have suggested I read.
Straw man | Wikipedia: "A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position." Tagged as a reminder to certain blog commenters.
Zappos.com: Who'd have thought that people would buy shoes online? Who'd have thought that a company would use Twitter and other social media to do great customer service (or so I'm told)?
Journalism: A Toxic Culture? (Or: Why Aren’t We Having More Fun?) | contentious.com: Amy Gahran helps explain why journalists are so defensive about their craft these days, and posits that they have "Priesthood Syndrome".
The plastic buttons we push | Amit Gupta likes you!: How do you make a living? Is it by pushing plastic buttons all day?
Is Social Media The Ultimate Buzz Kill? | Awake At The Wheel: Are we becoming so addicted to telling people about what we're experencing that we actually forget to experience it?
Principia Discordia Hardback | Synaptyclypse Generator: The central Discordian text, "Principia Discordia", is once more available in hardback. I am well pleased.
DIY carbon change | Unleashed: "Sometime in the last two weeks I stopped believing in government," says Mark Pesce. If governments are failing to respond to this vital issue, then we can ignore them and handle this ourselves.

Note to “old media” journalists: adapt, or stfu!

16 July 2008 in Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | 44 comments

[I promised Crikey that I'd write something about the Future of Media Summit 2008. This rant is what emerged. You can also read it over at Crikey, where there's a different stream of comments.]

What is the future of journalism? To judge by the discussion at this week’s Future of Media Summit held simultaneously in Sydney and Silicon Valley (and every other “new media” conference I’ve been to lately) it’s endless bloody whingeing. Whingeing about how journalism has standards and bloggers are all “just” writing whatever they think.

The panels in both cities covered the same, tired old ground. The new “participatory media” and “citizen journalism” would never be Real Journalism, because Real Journalism is an Art/Craft/Profession. Real Journalism involves research and fact-checking and sub-editing. There’s a Code of Ethics. But “these people”, as bloggers get labelled, these people just sit around in their pyjamas and write whatever comes into their heads.

Bollocks.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whew! The Future of Media Summit 2008 was exhausting yesterday! I’ll be writing something this morning, but I’m not sure what yet. Stand by. Meanwhile you can get a taste of the action by reading Mark Pesce’s thoughts on the Future of Live Television (Part 1, Part 2), and Erin Moss’ notes on the Sydney Future of Journalism session and plenty more linked from the Future of Media Blog. Plus of course there’s the Summize feed of everyone’s Twitter traffic.

16 July 2008 by Stilgherrian | No comments

Future of Media Summit 2008: live blogging etc

14 July 2008 in Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | No comments

OK, I haven’t even regurgitated all the information I devoured at PubCamp Sydney and the Politics & Technology Forum, and now I’ll be spending all day tomorrow at the Future of Media Summit 2008. Get ready for the overload!

I’m not quite sure exactly where I fit into this. However I do know that I’ll be one of several people providing a Twitter feed tagged #fom08, and Mark Pesce wanted to make sure I had a live videophone feed via Qik, which I do now.

The attendee list is a veritable Who’s Who of New Media Cleverness, plus me. So something interesting is bound to happen… stay tuned!

Oh, and for some bedtime reading, try the Future of Media Report 2008 [PDF].

If you’ve been wondering why some people now have avatars (personal images) next to their comments, it’s because they have an account at Gravatar.com. Create an account, associate image(s) with your email address(es), and the appropriate image will be used by every blog which uses the Gravatar standard.

13 July 2008 by Stilgherrian | 2 comments

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July 2008

Bloggers: the biggest whingers since journalists

Bloggers: the biggest whingers since journalists

So this is human sexuality?

Links for 13 July 2008 through 17 July 2008

Note to “old media” journalists: adapt, or stfu!

Future of Media Summit 2008: live blogging etc

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AusCERT 2012: What’s changed since 2011?

Talking Facebook pay-for-highlighting on ABC 702 Sydney

Weekly Wrap 101: Codeine and counter-surveillance

Security and the Cloud: Hype versus Reality

Why tweeting my movements isn’t a safety risk