Web Creation and Design

The Idiot's Podcast

2008-04-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here it is!

I've created a podcast, interviewing the people of Isleworth in south-west London.

Idiot's guide to podcasting

2008-04-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

As a journalist you must be able to produce content in a heartbeat and with limited resources.

As podcasts go, there are many different ways to getting your content, editing it and most importantly putting it on-line.

Here is a quick 10 step guide for any idiot who wants to make a quick yet effective podcast, which can be expanded on if need be.

1) Record your content for podcast - if no dictaphones are available then any modern day mobile phone will produce high quality sound recording - precisely what I endeavoured to do.

2) Once you have all your different recordings, upload to a PC via expandable memory or USB.

3) Most mobile phone recordings are in the form of '.amr' files. These need to be converted into 'mp3' format using any free converter program downloadable from the net. I used 'amr2mp3' which did it in seconds.

4) Once you have all your recordings in mp3 format you need to edit them together. I used 'windows movie maker' or any editing program on a PC will do.

5) Cut out any blank spaces in the recordings and keep only material you need.

6) Add pictures if you want to expand on your podcast or keep it blank with only a title. Intro sounds can be edited in too - I used music to begin and end the podcast.

7) Collate the content together, making the podcast into one mp4 movie file - easily uploadable onto the net.

8) Use any content uploading site to get your material on the web for free.

9) I used 'YouTube' to upload the mp4 file as a video which will easily play the podcast.

10) Upload and embed the 'YouTube' video onto your blog and away you go.

No stops on the digital media train

2007-11-01T04:09:00.000-07:00

Journalism has always been an industry based upon speed and whose results are always measured upon time and quality. Journalists throughout time have strived to be the first news-bearer, be it 200 years ago where the first people to report the news by word of mouth in the streets could be classed as the so called ‘journalists’ or be it 50 years ago where the first reporter to bring back the story and have it published would be successful.

It is therefore an industry in which timing is as important as quality of a story itself as is seen in many news rooms across the world where huge, important stories may be left out of a newspaper and be favoured by small, un-newsworthy articles based on the fact that the story was written and processed in time for print.

In terms of technology, as this has improved infinitely throughout the last fifty years, it has only helped journalists become quicker and more efficient in their work, and has meant that news is now dieing quicker than ever.

A big story say 30 years ago may have been newsworthy for a long time but this newsworthiness is starting to die out quicker than ever and in some cases stories are becoming un-newsworthy in a matter of hours. New stories are reported and received by newsrooms much quicker these days and the so to speak ‘shelf life’ of stories are hence far shorter as in the past a story would stay in news for a long time until another story had been written or reported upon say the next day.

It is stupid to say that journalism will not improve or become quicker as such. Technology is ever changing and improving and as long as the world can do things quicker and more easily, this will only make the lives of journalists much quicker too. The technological train has been on the move for a long time and I don’t expect it to be making a stop anytime soon.

Blink, and you might miss that flash

2007-11-01T03:44:00.000-07:00

The specific area of photojournalism has been aided bounds and leaps with the new digital era.

For a journalist to get his/her photographs to the news room for print would have taken perhaps an hour or two in the past and say 30 years ago pre-digital photography era, there would have been an immense lag time in which the photos would need to be developed. However, in the present era, journalists/photographers have a wide range of media at their disposal shredding processing times to bits.

In particular, the digital camera has been more than a saviour for journalism as a whole.
Its history began in the 1960’s when the U.S. space program began enhancing images transmitted back to earth from unmanned probes. The 70’s saw the possibility of converting light into digital images, while the first electric photograph was taken in 1979 at the bottom of the ocean in a miniature submarine for National Geographic. In 1981 Sony launched its new Mavica non-film electronic camera and the technology flourished from then on with most households now owning a digital camera.

Click this link to find out more about the history of photo-journalism

Its introduction towards the late 80’s and early 90’s has changed the role and working practices of professional journalists as they are now able to supply pictures to the news room in a matter of seconds. A photograph can be taken and within the space of a minute, it can be uploaded onto a laptop and sent via email to the editor. Wi-fi internet access readily available at many public places nowadays has also cut times in half, meaning journalists do no have to go to libraries or news rooms to upload images; they could do it at a local Starbucks for all they like. This has revolutionised the way journalists work, with the same results being seen in different forms of media.

The mobile phone is now a tool with which journalists can not only write stories and send them to the news room, but they can also take high quality images on their mobile phones and upload them within seconds. This was the case in the London 7/7. bombings in 2005, as shown by this article. The mobile phone also allows anyone to in essence become a journalism - including students.

The same issue can be digested in terms of sharing media. Nowadays there is so much technology readily available to any Tom, Dick or Harry and this has seen the introduction of websites such as Flickr where users can upload their own photos and so the world can share and use these pictures without copyright law.

Similarly this has led to the rise of online journalism blogging with free websites such as Blogger where users can share their stories and pictures for free, with some even generating enough views to be made public. The blog's success is shared by City University teacher and technology analyst Bill Thompson in his article for the BBC.

It is plain to see that the camera, as with all forms of digital media are now in full force and the shere speed with which the industry is progressing is slightly scary. In the future, there really may not be any time to blink.

Press Complaints Commission's Code of Practice

2007-10-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE PUBLISHING IN THE U.K.

Editors’ Code of Practice

This is the newspaper and periodical industry’s Code of Practice. It is framed and revised by the Editors’ Code Committee made up of independent editors of national, regional and local newspapers and magazines. The Press Complaints Commission, which has a majority of lay members, is charged with enforcing the Code, using it to adjudicate complaints. It was ratified by the PCC on the 1 August 2007. Clauses marked* are covered by exceptions relating to the public interest.

The Code

All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards. The Code, which includes this preamble and the public interest exceptions below, sets the benchmark for those ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know. It is the cornerstone of the system of selfregulation to which the industry has made a binding commitment.

It is essential that an agreed code be honoured not only to the letter but in the full spirit. It should not be interpreted so narrowly as to compromise its commitment to respect the rights of the individual, nor so broadly that it constitutes an unnecessary interference with freedom of expression or prevents publication in the public interest.

It is the responsibility of editors and publishers to apply the Code to editorial material in both printed and online versions of publications. They should take care to ensure it is observed rigorously by all editorial staff and external contributors, including non-journalists.

Editors should co-operate swiftly with the PCC in the resolution of complaints. Any publication judged to have breached the Code must print the adjudication in full and with due prominence, including headline reference to the PCC.

1 Accuracy
i) The press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and -where appropriate - an apology published.
iii) The press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
iv) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has been a party, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or an agreed statement is published.

2 Opportunity to reply
i) A fair opportunity for reply to inaccuracies must be given when reasonably called for.

3 * Privacy
i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications. Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent.
ii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals in a private place without their consent. Note - Private places are public or private property where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

4 * Harassment
i) Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.
ii) They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on their property when asked to leave and must not follow them.
iii) Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take care not to use non-compliant material from other sources.

5 Intrusion into grief or shock
i) In cases involving personal grief or shock, inquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings, such as inquests.
* ii) When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used.

6 * Children
i) Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.
ii) A child under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child’s welfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.
iii) Pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the permission of the school authorities.
iv) Minors must not be paid for material involving
children’s welfare, nor parents or guardians for material about their children or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interest.
v) Editors must not use the fame, notoriety or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child’s
private life.

*7 Children in sex cases
i)1. The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences.
2. In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child -
i) The child must not be identified.
ii) The adult may be identified.
iii) The word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified.
iv) Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the accused and the child.

8 * Hospitals
i) Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue enquiries.
ii) The restrictions on intruding into privacy are
particularly relevant to enquiries about individuals in hospitals or similar institutions.

9 * Reporting of Crime
i) Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story.
ii) Particular regard should be paid to the potentially vulnerable position of children who witness, or are victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.

10 * Clandestine devices and subterfuge
i) The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails; or by the unauthorised removal of documents, or photographs; or by accessing digitally-held private information without consent.
ii) Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means.

11 Victims of sexual assault
i) The press must not identify victims of sexual assault or publish material likely to contribute to such identification unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.

12 Discrimination
i) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative
reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.
ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion,
sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.

13 Financial journalism
i) Even where the law does not prohibit it, journalists must not use for their own profit financial information they receive in advance of its general publication, nor should they pass such information to others.
ii) They must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that they or their close families have a significant financial interest without disclosing the interest to the editor or financial editor.
iii) They must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, shares or securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future.

14 Confidential sources
i) Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.

15 Witness payments in criminal trials
i) No payment or offer of payment to a witness - or any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness - should be made in any case once proceedings are active as defined by the Contempt of Court Act 1981. This prohibition lasts until the suspect has been freed unconditionally by police without charge or bail or the proceedings are otherwise discontinued; or has entered a guilty plea to the court; or, in the event of a not guilty plea, the court has announced its verdict.
* ii) Where proceedings are not yet active but are likely and foreseeable, editors must not make or offer payment to any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness, unless the information concerned ought demonstrably to be published in the public interest and there is an over-riding need to make or promise payment for this to be done; and all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure no financial dealings influence the evidence those witnesses give. In no circumstances should such payment be conditional on the outcome of a trial.
* iii) Any payment or offer of payment made to a person later cited to give evidence in proceedings must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence. The witness must be advised of this requirement.

16 * Payment to criminals
i) Payment or offers of payment for stories,
pictures or information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise crime in general, must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates – who may include family, friends and colleagues.
ii) Editors invoking the public interest to justify payment or offers would need to demonstrate that there was good reason to believe the public interest would be served. If, despite payment, no public interest emerged, then the material should not be published.

PCC Guidance Notes

Court Reporting (1994)

Reporting of international sporting events (1998)

Prince William and privacy (1999)

On the reporting of cases involving paedophiles (2000)

The Judiciary and harassment (2003)

Refugees and Asylum Seekers (2003)

Lottery Guidance Note (2004)

On the reporting of people accused of crime (2004)

Data Protection Act, Journalism and the PCC Code (2005)

Editorial co-operation (2005)

Financial Journalism: Best Practice Note (2005)

On the reporting of mental health issues (2006)

The extension of the PCC’s remit to include editorial audio-visual material on websites (2007)

The public interest

There may be exceptions to the clauses marked * where they can be demonstrated to be in the public interest.

1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to:

i) Detecting or exposing crime or serious impropriety.

ii) Protecting public health and safety.

iii) Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.

2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself.

3. Whenever the public interest is invoked, the PCC will require editors
to demonstrate fully how the public interest was served.

4. The PCC will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain, or will become so.

5. In cases involving children under 16, editors must
demonstrate an exceptional public interest to over-ride
the normally paramount interest of the child.

HTML Tutorial or HTML Trauma

2007-10-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

You would've been forgiven for thinking the following 'html tutorial,' posted on YouTube under the category of 'How to & DIY' would in essence help all the newbies like myself be able to use HTML effictively.

Well think again. Instead of a bitesized introduction to the most popular markup language, you get a complicated and unecessary lesson into how an American geek with an annoying southern accent, using phrases such as "an actual darn link" spends her free time - and they complain as to why their people are so obese.