Jon Bounds has a talent for the unusual. He’s just listed Birmingham It’s Not Shit – on e-bay. Stating price £1000.00. Previously he’d been asking for offers over £5000.00.
The site is one of the longest standing of it’s kind and gave Jon a remarkable platform over the years to innovate in using the web and represent another view of his native city. This will be interesting.
A couple of years ago I wrote what turned out to be an often visited post answering the question: “which flip camera should I buy“.
Things have moved on a good bit since then (mainly that new owners Cisco decided to discontinue the flip) so I just want to update it really.
My thinking on the best kit for social reporting is very simple:
So:
Buy the ZoomQ3HD – Hi Definition Nick you say? Yes – but don’t use it that way – change the video setting from high definition to standard definition. You get a good widescreen image. Prices have come down quite a bit over the last year or so – so you wont regret buying this one. It comes with great sound so also works as a fantastic audio only recorder. Do not buy the ZoomQ2HD – Why? Because it doesn’t come with a built in usb – and that means you’ll have lost the cabel just when you need it.
or
Alternatively: if you can find a standard definition Flip (ideally Mino but any) then buy it – it will probably be second hand but is small, widescreen (which tends to look the part) and very simple to use – keep it in your pocket or bag.
or
Use a smartphone – currently the iphone 4 onwards does a great job, and we’ve been tinkering with the Samsung Galaxy SIII – for audio use audioboo to capture.
or
Your ipad – that can be a fab social reporting tool. But take to get good sound – you’ll will probably need to hold your ipad or phone closer than feels comfortable for decent sound.
Good luck.
John Popham is working for us and Nominet Trust in Bristol for the next couple of weeks. He popped this up on his blog last night.
——-
Today was my first day as Internet Station Manager on Nominet Trust’s Our Digital Planet Exhibition. Our Digital Planet is a touring exhibition highlighting the benefits of the internet, and the Internet Station is an portacabin where people whose interest in the internet is stimulated can come to learn more about any aspect they are unsure of. The estimable Lloyd Davis has already done a stint in the role when the Exhibition was on Brighton seafront, and he will also be guiding it in Cardiff, while I will be back in Liverpool and Glasgow. In all this, we are working with the amazing Nick Booth, and his team at Podnosh Ltd.
In truth, it was a fairly slow day, a useful gentle introduction for me to the initiative, and I was fortunate to be working alongside Kieron Kirkland and Vicki Hearn from the Trust who were able to show me the ropes. A Monday in the middle of a shopping centre, was probably always going to be a quiet day. But, already some interesting issues are starting to emerge. This is true Digital Inclusion activity. Some of the people who approached us had very little knowledge of the internet at all. Nearly all were frightened, about giving away too much information about themselves, about losing money to scams, and about breaking something. They faced multiple barriers to getting online, but a common factor was fear engendered by media scare stories.
It was evident as well, that quite a few of the people who came along had literacy problems. It amazes me that many people who promote the digital inclusion agenda fail to take into account that a fairly high degree of literacy is needed to use the internet, and that, many who don’t go online avoid it for precisely that reason. But, there were a variety of reasons for being there, and not all were total beginners; including the young woman living in a hostel who came in to look at photos of her son on Facebook because there is only one, very slow, computer in her hostel. There was the man who wanted to know how to “unfriend” someone who had been sending him threatening messages on Facebook. And there was the man who wanted to know how to search for cheap coach fares to Blackpool, before going to challenge the ticket sellers at the Bus Station to beat the online price.
One of the interesting queries was from the young woman who came in under the mistaken impression that we were selling broadband packages. She explained that she had no internet connection at home because her previous supplier had been too expensive. “I’m not paying that for broadband,” she said; “that’s a holiday”. I helped her search for a cheaper supplier. Which shows up the great irony. How do you search for the best broadband package when you don’t have access to the internet to do so?
I like this (a lot)
http://youtu.be/u7Gc-n_wAVQ