23 November, 2006
I heart blogging
Can the BBC do local news?
Skill dilution (Postscript)
Dilute skill at your own risk
22 November, 2006
The miracle of life
*Google D for diagnosis
Following the news (reported in this Times Online article) that doctors have been advised to use Google to resolve difficult diagnostic cases, I will be writing my online journalism feature on this topic.
What do doctors in the UK think of this advice? Do they already use Google as a diagnostic tool? It is well-known that many patients use the internet for ‘self-diagnosis’; will this latest news and the increasing power of the internet have an effect on the doctor’s role? Do doctors use other databases or online ‘communities of interest’ to share information? What would patients think if they knew their doctor was using Google to diagnose them?
I will talk to doctors, in both GP surgeries and hospitals, patients and, hopefully, the GMC (General Medical Council) and BMA (British Medical Association) in order to address these topics.
18 November, 2006
Cash for clips?
17 November, 2006
New media?
16 November, 2006
The death of the print journalist? (Reprise)
The death of the print journalist?
Another week, another Online Journalism lecture, another round of “are print journalists doomed?” questions from the Newspaper Diploma students.
Perhaps they haven’t noticed, but every pillar of the journalism community they’ve asked so far has answered that question with an emphatic ‘no’. But that obviously hasn’t been enough to stop the worry keeping the poor lambs awake at night.Perhaps Pete Clifton’s comment that he has in fact employed more journalists to deal with the rise of UGC and to meet the demand of other forms of new media will finally convince them that they can have a future in journalism, if not in print itself then at least in some form of written news provision. We’ll find out at next week’s Q&A session.
12 November, 2006
*News is people - in all its forms
If the controller let go of the reins completely and always, wouldn’t that be tantamount to the death of the proverbial radio star, the occurrence of which Meadows was himself so quick to dismiss?
04 November, 2006
Have your say - but only if it's worth saying
So, Iain Dale’s archetypal little guy may have been given a voice, but the real issue is: does he actually have anything to say with it? “You must have a commodity – something to sell,” says Burton. This idea echoes Bob Atkins’s comments about blog credibility: “Who are you to say want you’re saying?” he asked. The point seems to be that what you are saying is only interesting if the podium from which you’re speaking is on a relevant stage. Even newspaper columnists do not get off lightly and can't, apparently, assume that a loyal readership perhaps straddling the length and breadth of the country is justification in itself for airing their views via the medium of the blog. In his Wordblog, Adam Grant-Adamson asks, "What is the purpose of newspaper blogs?", saying, "A blog by an opinion columnist always makes you wonder whether you are reading the bits that were not good enough to get into the paper."