Archive for the ‘blogs’ Category

A digg for Irish blog posts to get them into the mainstream press

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

So we have Kick.ie which is meant to be a DIGG-like site for Ireland though it isn’t hugely popular right now but a comment from Blog from the Bog notes:

The only news that gets reported are the stories that come to the papers, there are no journalists anymore that go out looking for news. The importance of blogging during the recent election was mooted by Damien Mulley and that idea could be developed further into all news reporting. Why shouldn’t bloggers get the scoops?

There is plenty of news out there to go around I should think, though it would take some looking and digging unless you happened upon it by chance. Not every story would be headlined on the evening news but I suspect there are more enthusiastic bloggers out there than reporters.

Firstly, I do think there are journalists who search for stories but I also think the modern cut and thrust of the news industry means most cannot afford to spend too much time on a story and deeply researching it. They are afterall paid to report on a daily or weekly basis and to fill x amount of space while trying to produce something which is also timely and not old news.

Enough of that for now, so why don’t bloggers get scoops? I think it has to do with the type of scoops. Some are deliberately leaked or fed in return for an ego boost, knowing you are the cause of headlines, even if you are a “source within company x”. If I did an FOI and got some great information and I blogged it, it might get a bit of attention but only when someone reads my blog in the mainstream press would the readership of the story go from 1200 to 12,000 o even 120,000. You got to wonder if a blog had 120k daily readers, would they be doing the scooping by being fed so much? I think they would. This is how it works in the States. Blogorrah gets a lot of scoops these days or takes a scoop from a lesser site and gets it huge attention. They currently only work in a certain niche but the model can work for other sites too.

Then there are they accidental finds and again getting the word out. Many people that make an accidental find will blog about it if they have a blog and if not they’ll tell someone who’ll tell someone and it ends up getting to the ears of a journalist or is more likely these days, it goes on a blog or discussion forum first. Anything on youTube is on a blog first, including all those Garda videos of late.

Then there are the investigative scoops, after a tipoff or suspicion. Research into company records, or local newspaper stories or FOI requests. Those who are employed to write might have time to do this but bloggers themselves might not have time. The recent article(s) in the Irish Times and their consumer panel were actually noted on my blog last year but it was only through a conversation with John Collins that he learned that ComReg pay people on their consumer panel to sit through presentations from telcos on how everything is great in Ireland. Yadda. Yadda.

For the FOI requests, wouldn’t it be good if there was a site that scanned in all FOI requests and made them public. Make FOI requests and either upload them yourelf to the service or post them to the service and they’ll scan them in. Tag them and stick them online to be found. Maybe use OCR software to recan them and convert the scans to text so the search engines can find them even more.

But getting to the point of this post. If someone has an interesting story, wouldn’t it be good if there was an “attention” button which people could press if they think that post should get looked at by the press? kind of like a DIGG button but specifically for newsworthy stories.

Greens do deal with the Devil

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

Update: Now Dan Boyle says no deal is done. Political correspondents seem to be losing their patience with the Green Party.

Via the IrishElection.com twitter:

Dan boyle just emerged from govt. buildings saying deal has been done. Sargent and Ahern to confirm programme for govt later today.

I actually voted for the Greens in the election and I think they could do a world of good compared to a FF/PDs/Independents coalition. Some of their ideas and policies are off-the-wall but they also will hopefully bring transparency and new thinking to the Government. Best of luck to all of them and I hope Dan Boyle is rewarded for his work.

Fluffy Links – Tuesday June 12th

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

So the old Hotel star rating system is not as trusted as it was before. People instead are using the net to search for reviews. Handy for LouderVoice.

Consider signing up for Paddy’s Valley.

Don’t forget the draw for 2 tickets to Beirut.

Hah. Creationist Museum hires male porn star to star in their videos. Forgot to mention his specialist website on his cv. It happens.

Laptops are bad for our body. It’s all in the ergonomics.

Dating girls, a pessimistic nerd chart.

30 Days of Night – Trailer:

Via Mick. The Financial Regulator Ad:

Worthy Link – Autism Conference in Dublin

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Check out the Red Door Autism Conference Dublin website. I’ve been told these guys do amazing work in the field of “Applied Behaviour Analysis”, a science which is proven to markedly improve the lives of people with autism and of course, their families. Here’s a recording from Newstalk about ABA.

New Number 1 Irish web host?

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Via the Spiral Hosting blog, seems some American crowd, now HQd in Dublin are the new webhosting champs in Ireland, beating Hosting365 to second place. What exactly qualifies you to be an Irish hoting provider? As easy as playing on the Irish squad?

Simon is looking for techie help

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Simon from Tuppenceworth is looking for some assistance to help him with his Twitter/blog hybrid. As far as I understand he’d like to take in all Twitter messages directed to his account (using that @ command) and export them to his blog. Trouble is he is not a techie, like myself and it seems while you can get a feed of the replies, it is password protected. Conor O’Neill did something like this for CorkProbs using some version of an application called Planet. Anyone got suggestions on how to integrate somethinglike this into an existing blog? Any plugins out there yet? Or widgets?

Paddy’s Valley – Date set. Sign up now.

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Paddy’s Valley has a blog. The date for the trip has also been agreed. December 2nd to December 9th. Fill in this form if you want to come along. Be aware that the form results displays email addresses without spam protection so add NOSPAM or something to your address.

We’re still getting the itinerary together but we hope to meet various VC and tech people and also have one evening where the Irish companies present to an audience of investors and influencers. Suggestions for the itinerary are more than welcome.

So what is this Paddy’s Valley thingymabob?

Well it’s a bunch of Irish people (mostly but others can come) who are going to go over to SiliconValley and try and build some long-term relationships and friendships with people over there which will be good for the Valley and good for the Paddys. You can be a company, a sole trader or just a nosey person who wants to meet up with people over there.

So subscribe to the blog and fill in that form. Coming soon the Paddy’s Valley Twitter account, and Facebook and Tumblr and and and and… If you have Dopplr, don’t forget to add the trip to our account.

Beirut (the band) ticket draw

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Right. I have two tickets for Beirut who are playing at the Tripod on Friday 22nd June. To make sure only diehard fans get these tickets, please answer the following question: What is the name of the band? Yeah, I know, told you it would test you.

But yeah, if you want to be in a draw for the tickets, leave a comment below and specify whether you’ll take one or two tickets. I assume two but if whoever wins wants only one, I’ll pick another person to get the last ticket.

Update: I’ll do the draw on Friday 15th June.

Draw over.

Fluffy Links – Monday June 11th

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Take the Co-working Ireland survey.

Increase Macbook power by 1000%.

Jason Calcanis riffs on Nick Denton and Valleywag. Seems he was sending them emails from fake personas giving them false rumours about what he was up to. Rest of the video talks about his new venture which really seems to be remaking the old style search directories.

EFF climbs down over “hidden information” in iTunes files. Clowns. They created a big hooha saying Apple was storing lots of personal data about you in the latest songs you downloaded from iTunes. How about saying you over-reacted guys? Chicken Little.

I’m surprised they’re not complaining about these scientists who are storing information in live neurons.

Man. This is some cool art/engineering project.

Handy way of getting rid of illegal posters? Put a “canceled” sticker over them? What if they make people see the “canceled” as a validation?

Via Una – Gallows

“Salt of the Earth” – The Rolling Stones w/ Axl Rose & Izzy Stradlin live in 1990

And staying with that theme – The French President drunk as a Pepe le Peu at G8

Sunday, June 10th, 2007