Tag: Birmingham UK

Podnosh is based in Birmingham in the UK, so often we write about exciting things that are going on near us.

Angry Journalist #1748

Digital hero:

Angry Journalist #1748:

Journalist 1573, you are never too old to get another job. I got hired on to my present newspaper last May at the age of 74. I’ve got a heart transplant, suffer from gout, and am losing my hearing. I never shot video in my life, but now shoot it on almost every assignment.

At the end of 2007 we got word down from the ivory tower: We were the second most improved non-daily newspaper (We publish Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) in their international organization. Yeah, we have a web site, too, and post to that every day.

I have health, vision, and dental insurance; get paid holidays and time and a half for overtime; get paid sick leave, and make more money in one week than I made in a month at my previous newspaper.

Can’t you feel how angry this old fart is?

From AngryJournalist.com with thanks to Kiyoshi.  Can we have permalinking to each entry with comments please? Then we can console these miserable people.

Online Collaboration – Google Docs or Office Live?

Readwriteweb has this very useful comparison of the two online document services.  Google Docs is free – Office Live works with a bought copy of Office. The comparison which struck me says:

Collaboration

In Google Docs, collaborators have the ability to work on files together, in-real time. Ten people may edit and/or view a document or presentation at any given time. Fifty people can edit a spreadsheet at the same time.

Although Office Live Workspace allows for collaboration, it’s not real-time, online collaboration. Instead, if one user is editing a file, another will be informed the file is “checked out.” When they finish editing and save their changes the document is checked back in for other users to access.

In the real world how much does this matter or as Wild Apricot asks here which would be of most use to your organisation?  It depends how much you want to collaborate.  The idea of simultaneously writing documents is a new one for most people because they have not been able to do it.  Given the chance (and permission?) to really collaborate – most of us go to it with a passion.

The other thing that crosses my mind is that comparison like this encourage further comparison.  Why would you use Microsoft Office over Open Office – Vista over Ubuntu?  As the WordPress afficionado’s at Puffbox remind us:  “if anything, we’d be more worried about the longevity of paid-for tools.”

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Wanted: Social Reporters to cover the future of the Third Sector

Megan at the NCVO wants to recruit two people who:

Explore the trends shaping the future of civil society, managing projects which focus on a range of specific subsectors. You’ll communicate your findings through reports, short guides, events, and the Internet. You’ll also develop tools, including training sessions and capacity building workshops, to increase understanding of social change.

With superb research skills, and a keen interest in social change, you’re an excellent writer and communicator, and able to express complex information in an accessible way. You should also have excellent people skills, and have the confidence to manage others and speak in public.

I think it suggests how the basic skills required to do knowledge jobs may be merging, academic researchers and report writers who can also do pithy (presumably many media) stuff for the interweb. Better pay (starts at £32,000) than many journalism jobs.

For more information look here and also at David Wilcox’s evolving musing on social reporting.