The most talked about environmental talks are about to commence in Copenhagen. Much hope is pinned on this summit and I don’t think it is an exaggeration at all to say they have the power to save the world over the space of a week. Great Britain has had the aim to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 for some years now. Brenda Boardman’s 2007 Home Truths is a comprehensive paper on how this could be achieved proving that these figures are not just pure fiction. The fact that the world’s leader will be assembled in one place to talk about world emissions is a miracle in itself, but as highlighted by this Guardian article the summit could save the world, but equally it could also doom it.

Why is this post appearing on an Architecture blog? For far too long architects only gesture towards sustainability. A small windmill on your roof does nothing and despite their reputation, solar panels (photovoltaics) are not green. Sustainability can be designed into a building without sacrificing other architectural qualities, in fact it can enhance a project if embraced.

Making a good chat show is like catching lightning in a bottle, and spontaneity needs to be key. Although Angela Griffin’s new daytime chat show on Sky is showing a lot of early promise, Graham Norton is probably the best we’ve got at the moment. He doesn’t interview as such, instead he places himself in the middle of a conversation between several guests at once and gently steers it whenever he’d like. And then there’s Craig Ferguson, of CBS’s Late Late Show, who’s arguably the best celebrity interviewer on the planet right now – relaxed, funny, off-the-cuff, genuinely interested in people and willing to let the conversation go anywhere it likes. Watching Ferguson is like watching a master at work, and it’s a genuine shame that British broadcasters haven’t picked up on it yet.

Full Article: Cheryl Cole’s Night In: Just the Titles Enough to Put Me Off.

The movie, 2012, has generated so much hype that my dad asked me to show him the teaser trailer to the movie on ‘Tube Yube’ this past weekend. The movie’s big draw-card is that it is another ‘end of the world’-type movie, but it differs from the ‘been there, done that’ feel ofDay After Tomorrow in that it’s supposedly based on real predictions and the fact that the traditional Mayan calendar ends on 21 December 2012. Scary stuff.

So the movie is based on a good premise, but does it live up to the hype? Seeing as it’s not yet out in South Africa, I’ve had to go with what’s out there in the social net… there is a surprising amount of commentary about the movie, and.UK’s The Guardian goes so far as to say it feels that viral marketing is getting too clever for its own good. The movie trailer alone is sure to interest many who would usually give this type of movie a miss, by stating “search ‘2012’ for the truth” – a quick Google search brings up over 1 000 websites and 175 books based on the idea that everything will come to a halt in 2012. It’s not often that a movie IS based on a form of truth. Lots of past events, and many common fears, yes. Potentially catastrophic future events… not so much.

The Guardian article goes on to state that 2012’s hype was linked to a web campaign on the Institute for Human Continuity (IHC) site. This gives readers a chance to enter the ‘IHC lottery’, which ‘guarantees every citizen on the planet an equal chance of survival in 2012”.

We’re not supposed to believe everything we see on TV or on the net, but if a website looks legit, people will start quoting it and passing links on to others. Before you know it, there’s mass –if not global – worldwide panic. This is what actually happened. The IHC website sparked many people to contact NASA – good old security system of the skies – asking them to stop the destruction… so many queries were made, in fact, that NASA in turn set up a specific site to deal with these concerns, comparing the hype about 2012 to that of ‘Y2K’. This was all about the movie, before it had been released, with the NASA page last updated on 9 November, and the international release date of the movie between 11 and 13 November.

My verdict? A very effective campaign by Sony, in that it definitely sparked people’s interest in the movie… if not a bit out of control in terms of mass hysteria. See it in SA from 2 December and decide for yourself whether the movie justifies the hype.

For more on the movie, visit www.whowillsurvive2012.com.

La si potrebbe chiamare operazione trasparenza: dal mese prossimo, in Inghilterra, la Football Association renderà pubbliche le cifre versate ogni anno a procuratori e agenti sportivi dalle società di Premier League e dai calciatori. Una novità quasi epocale: “La trasparenza è un pilastro del nostro nuovo regime regolamentare - ha raccontato al Guardian un portavoce della FA – e questa regola, ora, ci darà anche l’idea del volume di affari delle agenzie di procura calcistiche”. La pubblicazione, secondo il nuovo regolamento, avverrà ogni anno dopo il 30 novembre e prenderà in considerazione l’ammontare degli onorari pagati da club e atleti dal 1° ottobre dell’anno precedente al 30 settembre di quello in corso.

Una novità che ha in realtà un precedente, sempre in Inghilterra: dal 2004 infatti la stessa misura viene applicata nella Football League dove, secondo il presidente Mawhinney, in cinque anni “si è verificata una diminuzione dell’ammontare delle cifre pagate dai club ai procuratori e un aumento dei club che non pagano gli agenti”, che così vengono remunerati (come accade, o dovrebbe accadere, in Italia) solo dai calciatori. “Il pagamento di quanto dovuto all’agente – si legge nel regolamento agenti calciatori 2008 – deve essere effettuato esclusivamente dal cliente che gli ha conferito il mandato. Tuttavia, dopo la conclusione del suo contratto con una società, il calciatore può esprimere il consenso scritto autorizzando la società a pagare direttamente l’agente per suo conto”.

Cifre che inevitabilmente scateneranno discussioni e polemiche. Del resto, come in Italia (Lotito, De Laurentiis e Zamparini sono a capo della crociata), in Inghilterra la figura del procuratore non è molto amata. Basti pensare che, è notizia di pochi giorni fa, secondo il Daily Mail l’Hull City avrebbe avviato una indagine interna per andare a fondo sul pagamento di 5,5 milioni di sterline finite nelle tasche degli agenti negli ultimi due anni.

Leyendo un articulo dijeron que “la mejor carne roja del mundo ” se encuentraba en Léon !  Una llamada, cargar el coche y venga …. Cuando llegas allà …es quasi la fin del mundo, pero no … hay la Bodega El Capricho La mejor carne de buey, !!  Cadaqués … el Capricho en coche 1 000kM,  cuantos locos conoces que lo hacen para carne roja !

Reading an article it sayed ” the best red meat in the world”  Could not believe it, phoned, packed the car and drove 1000 Km…. arriving there it looks like the end of the world… No, there is la “Bodega El Capricho “!! crossing all Spain for a nice T bone steak …. how many mad guys would do that !

todo en torno bodeguitas… parece un mundo raro !  entras y bajas hasta 5 o 10 metros debajo de terra ! visito a bodeagas similar en Ribera … Don José ha convertido su Bodega en restaurante por passion por la carne de calidad ..por eso el nombre de “bodega el Capricho” !

All around little “bodegas “(wine cellars)…looks like if you are on the moon…..you get in and could go “underground” up to 10 metres ! I visited traditional bodegas like that in Ribera & Don José ha converted his Bodega in a restaurant due to his passion for high quality meat ..that’s why the name of the restaurant  ”bodega el Capricho” !

Entrando en el resrtaurente …Ya bajas de 10 metros….

Getting in the resatuarant…. you get down 10 metres …

A picar un poco de jamon de buey de buey de 36 – 48 meses ….Entrantes de setas… Numanthia 2006…

Una carta muy precisa que te axplica los tipos de chuletones.. muy Raro !

A la Carte explaining you what are the various type of steack… Unique !

El Chuleton de vaca de trabajo …..1,5 Kg 6 semanas de frigo…. – The Steak ( working cow) 6 weeks ageing …

Don José cortando i el el plato – Don José cutting ..and then in the plate….

Por la tarde volvi a catar mis vinos con José Gordon. No solo hemos catado pero Don José me permitio de visitar todo el restaurante y su laboratorio en el cual la carne se prepara …  La cosa exceptional es que Don José tiene en su  restaurante unos clientes muy bien educados en lo que tiene que ser un chuleton …resulta…. el local esta lleno  !!!  La éducacion es siempre fundamental , pero que placer después, para el dueno como para los clientes ! Catando mis vinos en el Capricho con Don José.(foto)

Espero volver en Enero a comer-me un Buey EXTRA con un grupo de locos perdiddos como jo !! Gracias a todos los de “El Capricho”… el Catalan del Bierzo, Vanessa, etc…..

In the evening I came back to taste my wines with Don José. We taste the wine but i also had the chane to visit the restaurant and the “atelier” wehere he ages the meat ! The great thing with that place is that customers are well educated in what is a proper steack … so the restaurant is just full of passionate people, just right people ! Education is always a long road but what a reward for both the owner and the customers. Tasting my wines in “El Capricho” with Don José.(photo)

I have planned to come back in january to experience a beef aged 90 days… Thanks to everyone at “El capricho” for that great moment !

Much more info on: Art in meat, the best grilled entrecote.

Mas info en: La mejor carne de buey, arte en carne, el mejor entrecot a la parrilla.

IVO

]]> http://modernityblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/broadsheet-racism/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:02:51 +0000 modernityblog http://modernityblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/broadsheet-racism/ http://dfcmitglied472.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/auf-anderen-platzen-artikel-uber-michael-ballack-auf-independent-co-uk/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:36:29 +0000 Jan http://dfcmitglied472.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/auf-anderen-platzen-artikel-uber-michael-ballack-auf-independent-co-uk/

Das hat jetzt zwar nur am Rande mit Fortuna Köln zu tun und liegt auch schon ein paar Tage zurück. Aber dennoch finde ich diesen Artikel durchaus lesens- und empfehlenswert. In einem sehr ausführlichen Interview mit der britischen Tageszeitung “The Independent” äußert sich der Kapitän der deutschen Nationalmannschaft hauptsächlich über den Freitod Robert Enkes, spricht aber auch über andere Dinge. Ich für meinen Teil lese sehr gerne solche Berichte, die einem mal einen anderen Blickwinkel erlauben. In dem Zusammenhang seien insbesondere die Texte ans Herz gelegt, die Raphael Honigstein für den Guardian über die Bundesliga schreibt. Jedes Mal eine Freude.

Priyamvada Gopal, 23 November 2009

The Sikhs who join in the hatred of Muslims are deluded if they expect to avoid racial exclusion

The following can hardly be called news, but it is something I personally wished for the Zelda-series to feature since forever. That is, a Link that can fly in the sky. Now, we´re far from being able to confirm anything, and as I said, it´s much more speculation than factual news, but it is a glimmer of hope. Here is what Eiji Aonuma, producer at Nintendo of Japan, told the British magazine The Guardian:

“I have an eight-year-old son myself at home, and quite recently he started playing The Phantom Hourglass for DS, because when the software first hit the market he was too young. When he started playing with the boat, I told him: ‘In the next Zelda, you are going to be able to ride on the train.’ He answered: ‘OK, Dad, first boat, and then train? Surely next time, Link is going to fly in the sky … ‘”Aonuma pauses, grinning. “I just don’t know. If many people make many speculations … some of them might be correct. Right now, I have to refrain from commenting on anything.”

There we have it, Aonuma mentioning a flying Link and making all of it even more mystic by adding a pause, followed by a grin. How likely is it, though, to have a flying Link in Legend of Zelda Wii? Something supporting that is the fact that Zelda Wii seems to take a serious look at WiiSports Resort. Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma both talked about how gamers should think of WiiSports Resort if they´d like to get an impression of how sword fighting and bow-shooting is going to be like. There´s one discipline in said title that has you flying. Coincidence? Most likely, but it is not as if Nintendo doesn´t have any experience with air-gameplay. And to be more specific, WiiSports Resort is the game that made flying through the air to feel the most believable of all games I´ve ever played.

Aonuma also confirms that there´d be sword fighting in the next Zelda-games, which wasn´t that clear after the artwork was released, showing Link without a sword. There have been people thinking that there´d be a problem due to MotionPlus, which needs to be recalibrated all the time, which is why Link would only have s word at certain times. With Aonuma´s words backing up sword fighting, it´s likely that Link can use the sword at all times the player wants to. Giving it some more thought, the “Point at screen and press the A-button” that has to be done in WiiSports Resort, could be solved by the “master sword girl“, the girl on the artwork that looks like a humanized master sword. Instead of having your sword instantly ready in all past Zelda-games, in this new Wii-Zelda you´d simply have to point to the girl, which then transforms into the sword. It´s basically a form of unsheathing the sword manually, instead of it being done automatically. That way you´d have your sword all the time, but the possible problems due to MotionPlus would be solved.

What question remains is: How would Link fly?

There are many different approaches, but one can try to evaluate each´s probability. There´s the most direct option, a Link that can fly by himself. Maybe growing angel-like wings by using an item. I find this to be less likely, as that would be a very powerful ability and as much as I´d like it, it doesn´t fit past Zelda-games. Link was never “cool”, so giving him shiny angel-wings…rather not. Then there´s the possibility of him having some kind of mechanical device. A glider would fit into the medieval theme of the Zelda-series. A balloon could also work, but doesn´t sound like fun. Again, on the “cool” side of ideas he could have some kind of rocket boots that are run by steam. If anything, a glider sounds most likely. What is most likely at all, though, is some kind of animal that lets Link ride on itself. First thing that comes to mind is Epona, with wings. Basically, Epona turns into a Pegasus. What makes me doubt that option are the controls of Epona in former Zelda-titles. Nintendo wants to give the player as much control as possible, which in return made some people complain about Epona being to stiff, to unnatural. On ground that is no problem. But now try to imagine flying around at the sky with Epona, and then landing on the ground. In my mind, once you touch the ground there will be clipping errors, a framerate hickup and what not else, due to the horse controls being to stiff. And I wouldn´t want to have an automatic landing sequence, either. Which brings us to another animal that many Zelda-fans wouldn´t hate to see: A dragon. Ever since I read the Ocarina of Time-manga I long for Link to have a cute dragon by his side that, once grown up, lets him ride on itself. Imagine a smaller version of Volvagia. In terms of gameplay that could be perfect. The way Volvagia moves with its snake-like body negates all possible stiff movements, and thanks to the fact that Volvagia doesn´t have such an emphasis on its legs, once you approach the ground in order to land, it would simply slow down until your deep enough to get off its back. What I´m trying to say: Yeah, a dragon, please, Nintendo!

After all is said, there is no guarantee for anything of the above to happen. Some fans might remember an old interview Aonuma had with German GamePro prior to Twilight Princess´ release. The way he talked about the character´s options of movement made it seem as if he´d get to fly in that game. We all know that didn´t turn out to be exactly that way, except you consider being shot around by cannons “flying“. Nonetheless, with so few information and so much demand of discussion, a little speculation about a flying Link can´t be wrong. I´d like to see that happen. What about you?

As the almost total news blackout on the content of the leaked documents from the University of East Anglia continues, the Gruaniad’s George Monbiot continues the crusade for the AGW lie.

With all the zeal of a missionary bringing Christianity to the unenlightened masses, Monbiot’s tone is both that of the self-appointed expert, and that of the Catholic Church preaching against the heretic Martin Luther.

Climate sceptics have lied, obscured and cheated for years. That’s why we climate rationalists must uphold the highest standards of science

This how the article starts, note how in the first two sentences Monbiot seeks to establish the premise that anyone who does not believe in AGW is “irrational”

Monbiot feels so alone, because only he and a select few with his point view understand the problem, while the “irrational” masses remain unconvinced. Aardvark images that members of the Flat Earth Society also feel fairly isolated.

Other people’s denial We know better, we cant predict the weather accurately, what happened to the barbecue summer of 2009? Washed away along with their predictions, they cant predict the weather accurately six months in advance. How can they be right in 40 years time?

Pot, Kettle, Black.

The rest of the article can be found here.

Climategate is going to run and run and as the farce in Copenhagen approaches so more information on Climategate will be forthcoming.

Stewart Lee.

Well, not with in the truest sense, of course – but had the best night out at Peterborough’s Key Theatre last night. Intelligent, passionate, considered and very, very funny comedy. AND, he can sing very nicely too.

I don’t know if there are any tickets left for his  Milder Comedian tour, but it’s really worth checking out if he’s near you. Although, as Tony Law his warm-up guy pointed out, it does mean all the liberals in town will be in one place when Stew’s in town – leaving everybody else to judge each other and no one to buy The Independent or The Guardian… a small price to pay for a night of fabulous comedy.

Hopefully the Peterborough audience’s idiosyncracies (who knew cardboard would be so funny?) won’t put him off coming back soon…

“I’m really looking forward to the Yanks getting stuffed,” a clever young man told me at a party last year.

“Who’s going to do the heavy lifting if that happens?” I asked. “I’ve never met a Chinese I didn’t like,” my new friend replied.

It was a chillingly naive answer, which Chinese bloggers can answer better than I can – if they’re allowed to.

We usually get to hear about American crimes, in the end, and China is trying to open up, spasmodically – one step forward, one step back?

What troubles me about the US today in ways I never expected to witness in my lifetime is not Obama’s failure to solve all its urgent problems in a year, or even four.

It is the scale of the irrational, emotional and, dare I add, ignorant, reaction his presidency has unleashed on the American right, some of it understandable in a fast-changing and confusing world, much of it ugly and increasingly violent in tone.

Michael White beschreibt im Guardian in einem exzellenten Artikel die Sorgen, die er sich angesichts des politisches Diskurses in den USA macht, insbesondere beim Blick auf die Anhängerschaft von Sarah Palin und Co. Absolut lesenswert.

The Guardian’s Comment is Free section is certainly no bastion for solid, conscientious journalism. In fact, I’ve come across less non sequiturs and discombobulated arguments in the writings of pre-pubescent Korean children. However, it was still something of a shock to come across Agnès Poirier – vainglorious Myspace photo included – profile on the Guardian’s website.

The first two articles I read contained:

1. The most frivolous defense of Foie Gras I have ever encountered.
2. A violin sonata on the arrest of Roman Polanski.

You’d be tempted to think she was some sort of postmodern and oh-so-sophisticated French correspondent. Wait…

Here is her – oh isn’t it all just a big joke? - argument regarding the potential banning of the pâté:

Another pleasure to go down the drain after smoking, drinking and parental spanking. If we ban foie gras, I suggest we also ban human force-feeding, you know, obesity, and make it a crime for all who encourage it and all who indulge in it. Cadbury should be forced to close down, so should Häagen Dazs and many others, and let’s lock up everyone with a BMI above 25. Yes, you, filthy foie gras eater.

And here she is on the arrest of a self-confessed statutory rapist:

There is a feeling in France that the US justice department is acting out some kind of prudish revenge against a great talent who never abided by American rules even when he was the most celebrated director in Hollywood.

Sometimes I really think it’s all a big scripted joke.

“Now is not the time for health cuts” -  Rachael Jolley, FPH Head of Policy, on Andy Burnham’s proposed public health campaign cuts in the Guardian online.

The dilemma facing journalists today, especially those who are not yet fully fledged, is where are we going?

The conversation about paid content is hotting up. Good journalism costs, that’s a no-brainer, but when it’s free at the point of consumption who really pays?

The aggregators can clean up on advertising revenues as they have the statistics and unique user data to impress the money men, while traditional print can only call on circulation figures and subscriber information.

Okay, so now the traditional media is reaching out to its audiences (some too little, too late) and can track traffic through their online presence, but it’s still not enough to impress the advertisers and online advertising is fiercely competitive and therefore cheaper.

I don’t of course, come to these insightful words by myself. This is the accumulation of a series of lectures, culminating in a really interesting and very fast-paced talk by Rob Andrew  from PaidContent.

PaidContent, which is now 4 sites (PaidContent, PaidContentUK, moconews and contentSutra), was set up by Rafat Ali . A man who could smell the Zeitgeist and knew how to act on the first whiffs of a digital content revolution.

It’s blindingly obvious that the print and broadcast media are going to have to get their act together and come up with a business model, or series of models, that will sustain the kind of journalism that underpins the principles of open and accountable democracy, free speech and freedom of expression.

That’s easier said than done.

Rupert Murdoch’s  solution is to tuck his content behind a pay wall. But will it be special enough to entice readers over the wall, parting with cash as they scramble over the barricades to find…what? How much can he offer that won’t be free elsewhere?

The specialists have always had an advantage. They have the information that their readers/markets need and are happy to pay for (or to charge it to the company account), but the ordinary punter? I doubt that The Sun will do it, nor will most of the broadsheets.

There was an interesting question from the floor: If papers are relying on brand loyalty but there readership is now paying for content online, how do they expect to attract the next generation of loyal readers?

A good point. I grew up with The Guardian’s ink smeared across my face, long before I picked it up to read it, but pick it up I did and still do. It’s engrained in the complicated make-up of my very being. I’m allowed to criticise but non-Guardian readers are not.

My kids have seen me read it and even picked it up and had a look themselves. If I was getting my Guardian fix on an e-reader or online that’s hardly likely to happen. I could go on about parents being seen to read anything by their children and links to the increasingly illiteracy of the up-coming generation, but this is the wrong soap box.

So what are the alternatives? Pay walls won’t save the day, advertising revenues are crashing through the floor in the current recession and it’s a buyers’ market for them. Subscriptions are money in the bank, but will people subscribe if they think their paper’s going to go under, highlighted by this summer’s shock revelation that The Observer be wound up?

Local papers are struggling for even more complex reasons. In small communities the loss of the little corner newsagent might just tip the balance in sales, while the short sighted cost cutting exercises of slashing editorial staff to balance the books means that the content quality goes down and they lose readers, so need to lose more jobs and round it goes to oblivion.

The Guardian is relatively safe – backed by the Scott Trust to safeguard liberal journalism, although they’ll still need to bring home the revenue bacon.

Before the rot sets in there must be some kind of wake up call to the media to sort this out. Not knee jerk wall building or staff cutting, but an understanding of what makes people engage with the media in the first place. That would be good, ie accurate, informed, specialist journalism that offers multiple views or, at the very least, a rigorous analysis of a particular standpoint.

Specialists don’t need to be experts. Local papers used to be the hubs for all things local – births, deaths, missing budgies, court reports, council meetings, scandal, outcry and outraged letters that took the temperature of the community and fed it back to itself. They are fading fast. Attempts to address this by beat blogging or hyper local sites will necessarily leave gaps. Citizen journalism might give an immediate way into a story, but surely it’s the journalists who can go that bit further, ask the difficult questions, follow through.

Lightspeed’s analysis of the paywall question  doesn’t bode well for Mr Murdoch – 91% won’t pay for content. The much-heralded arrival of the Kindle and other e-readers doesn’t seem to be changing the way that people read their news.  KPMG found that only 4% of people had read an ebook in the past month  and me, I’m off to the park with my paper and a coffee.

The Guardian, a UK daily newspaper, ran an opinion editorial of mine decrying the Obama Administration’s decision not to sign the international landmine ban.

Click here to read it.

To read a previous article of mine in The Guardian, calling on Obama to sign the cluster munitions ban, click here.

She’d drunk Coke in a hotel room in Rome. She’d drunk Coke in a bar overlooking a palace in Granada. She’d drunk Coke in a chalet bar up a mountain in Switzerland. She’d drunk Coke on several aeroplanes. She’d drunk Coke in a hotel bar in Nice on the Promenade des Anglais, across the road from a group of drug addicts on the stony beach. She’d drunk Coke in the air conditioning of a restaurant in a rich suburb of Colombo, through the front windows of which she had seen children living in a derelict tower with rags hanging from the holes where its windows should be. She’d drunk Coke in a filthily expensive bar in Cape Town. She’d been down a dirt track in Ethiopia in the middle of nowhere where there was nothing but scorch, nothing but flies, nothing to eat, nothing to farm, nothing but an old tyreless truck and some standing shacks, and the thin and always smiling people who lived there had welcomed her in, given her everything they had, which was almost nothing, then they’d swept her into their ramshackle bar like she was a whole festival and they’d presented her to the Coke machine, in front of which several of them had argued and nodded and clubbed together and shouted for more people until they eventually found enough money and let coin after coin drop into the slot until the can thudded into the dust-covered mouth of the machine. I am posting this from the airport, she wrote on the postcard home. Just to let you know I just drank my last ever Coke.

Ali Smith, The Accidental (2005)

The vast majority of Icelanders couldn’t be happier. After all, economic crisis notwithstanding, this country’s food production is, by most standards, exceptional. In purely gastronomic terms, the abandonment of the McDonald’s franchise should be a vast improvement. Iceland was one of the last western countries to open a McDonald’s – the first one opened in 1993. Prior to that, most Icelanders were fairly proud of the fact that this symbol of American multinational domination had yet to plant its golden emblem on Icelandic soil. So when McDonald’s finally did open, it felt a little bit like we’d lost our innocence.

The Guardian (27/10/2009)

If Rupert Murdoch imposes paywalls on his newspaper websites, will the public pay, or just click elsewhere?

“Quality journalism is not cheap. The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.”

Rupert Murdoch aims to put paywalls on all his newspaper websites

So said media mogul Rupert Murdoch back in August. This week’s online journalism lecture featured ex-Cardiff alumnus Rob Andrew who spoke to us about business models and paying for online content. Bearing in mind Murdoch’s recent plans for all the newspapers under his command (The Times, The Sun, and The News Of The World to name a few) to introduce paywalls, this lecture couldn’t have come at a better time.

Having previously freelanced for The Guardian and Wired magazine, Rob Andrew is currently responsible for the UK part of paidcontent.org- a website that was started by entrepreneur Rafat Ali back in 2002. As well as its UK counterpart, paidcontent.org also features moconews.org- a website that deals with mobile content, and contentsutra.org- the Indian equivalent. Paidcontent.org has three fundamental aims- to provide breaking news, to act as an aggregator of current and topical issues and also to provide a layer of analysis and expertise. The structure of the website takes on a blog framework, and the writers increasingly use social media tools, such as RSS feeds and Twitter, to get the information they need for their posts. Andrew explained how Ali has been seen by many in the media industry as the “poster boy for career independence from global media companies.” Ali appears to be seeing the future of the journalism industry clearly and realistically; he has said from the onset that all media will become digital media, and the fact that the website was set up over seven years ago highlights how this issue of paying for online content is not a new idea.

Although the idea of paying for online content is not entirely new, the fact that it has not been an integral part of online news consumption means that it is going to be very difficult to persuade people to pay. Paidcontent.org teamed up with Harris Poll earlier this year and conducted their own research to see how much, and for which types of content, people would be prepared to pay.  The survey found, contrary to Murdoch’s plans, that only five percent of people would be prepared to pay for online content, whereas a massive 74 percent would look elsewhere. Over all ages almost three quarters of people polled would find a free alternative if their favourite news site starting charging. Surprisingly though, the results found that people in the 16-24 age bracket were 13 times more likely to pay for content than those in the 35-44 and 55-66 age groups.

The same survey also found that out of the five percent of people who would be prepared to pay for content, three quarters of them would want to pay less than £10 a year. Which isn’t exactly going to make up the increasingly huge drop in newspaper sales over the last year…

Yet despite the bleak support for paid content, Andrew made one point very clear; if news organisations are going to start charging their consumers for reading news on the internet, they are going to have to make huge improvements to their online content. Competition will be fierce, and if news organisations are going to attract, and keep, customers, their online material will have to be unique and interesting. If not, people will find an alternative. He used the example of B2B magazine Farmers Weekly. As this publication provides unique information on a niche subject, more people are likely to pay for its content, as it is not information that readers can find readily available elsewhere.

The FT is already successfully charging its readers online

Andrew also put the issues of paying for online content into the context of media advertising. He explained that there are two main reasons why companies are much more willing to invest their money in online resources. The first is that advert visibility can be counted on the web, unlike its print counterpart where advert views can only be estimated. This therefore allows companies to make informed decisions when choosing which websites to sponsor. Secondly a KPMG research survey found that 60 percent of people polled would rather have to watch an advert before accessing news than pay for it. Although this level of advertising does make up a large volume of revenue for the news organisations, the selling of online adverts does not make up for the loss of revenue from dropping newspaper sales.

There are, however, a few news websites that are already charging for content through subscription. Currently The Financial Times’s website FT.com has 1.6 million unique unpaid readers a month. It also has 128,000 paid-up subscribers who pay £90 a year to read the full content of the website. Although The FT has successfully demonstrated that people will pay to view their content, it is also important to note that this publication typically has a wealthy readership, and therefore would be more likely to purchase a subscription than forego reading it at all.

Will newspaper sales increase if online news has paywalls?

A point was raised towards the end of the lecture concerning Murdoch’s possible motives for creating paywalls on his news websites. As well as his frustration towards free aggregators such as Google, there is also the possibility that in the whole scheme of things, perhaps Murdoch is secretly hoping that by forcing people to pay for online content, people will eventually revert back to their old habits of nipping to the corner shop to pick up a newspaper. Only time will tell if paid content will become the norm, and whether it will force the five percent figure to increase as access to news sites are denied to those who want their news without cost…

Full results of the paidcontent.org and Harris Poll survey can be found at paidcontent.org.

The print industry is in a rapid decline, online news is more popular than ever and  Rupert Murdoch is proposing making people pay for his online paper’s from next year.

Are we just waiting around for the end of print – or will Murdoch’s plan actually push people who are unwilling to pay for online news back to their newspaper?

Online news is growing rapidly but in a lecture with journalist Rob Andrew, editor of Paid Content.co.uk, it became clear that at the moment people are unwilling to pay for it. A yearly subscription to The Guardian can cost around £350 but in a recent PCUK/Harris Poll, it was found that only 5% of people asked were willing to pay to read news online.

Newspapers rely on advertising but unlike with online adverts – there is no guaranteed return – and more and more advertising companies are moving away from print for this reason.

Rob, worringly, but accurately, describes newspapers as being in a perilous state and compares this to the music industry.

Music is now accessible free online and the only way to make money from it is through live performances – as the experience of watching live music can’t be replicated online.  The industry tried to introduce copy protection to stop music being shared online but abandoned this after sites like Spotify and We7 have made music instantly available for free.

Newspapers are looking for a short-term answer to this crisis to appease shareholders but what they should be doing is finding a long-term solution.

Specialist papers like the Financial Times and European Wall Street Journal currently charge a subscription. The FT has 128,000 subscribers paying approximately £90 a year. I find it highly unlikely people will pay for The Sun, News of the World or even The Times – but Mighty Murdoch is dead set on introducing these charges and if they are no longer available in print form the only option may be to buy online.

Surely if one paper charges online, people will just go to a free newspaper’s site instead? It would be impossible to implement a pay wall system unless all the papers agreed to do this. People do not want to pay for online news and most public opinion polls go directly against Murdoch’s plans.

The Guardian has a different ownership model to papers in the Murdoch News International empire and this allows it to put more into being innovative and exploring and developing it’s online version.

The future of print is very uncertain – if Murdoch does introduce charges will other paper’s follow? or will this backfire completely and will people just go somewhere else for their news?

The UN is admitting failure in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  A new report even claims that UN forces have aggravated the conflict in North and South Kivu provinces with the UN trained Congolese Army and the rebel group the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Richard Dowden of The Guardian writes, “There have been signs that elements of the UN force are going local and also taking to trading minerals and abusing local people.”

But not everyone agrees with the findings.  Reuters South Africa reported Information Minister Lambert Mende as saying such accusations are “really what we can call an exaggeration. If the situation is now worse, what is that based on? How many people were dying before this operation? How many are dying today? he asked, arguing there could have been many more victims of fighting if the offensive had not taken place.”

The FDLR, an ethnic Hutu militia that relocated to the Congo after the 1994 genocide from the neighboring country of Rwanda, continue to wreak havoc in the region.  They have been accused of such crimes as murder, rape, pillaging, and taking advantage of the natural resources of the Congo including smuggling gold.  According to Sky News “Congolese records show only a few kilos of gold are exported legally every year, but the country’s own senate estimates that in reality 40 tonnes a year – worth £743m – gets out.”

It is a troubling problem that continues to fund and fuel the trouble in Central Africa from an international network of buyers from dozens of countries, including the United States and Europe, according to the UN.

The New York Times predicts the new UN report will force the US government to do more, including  “urging Congress to pass legislation that would bar American companies from buying Congo’s “conflict minerals,” which include gold, tin and coltan, a metallic ore used in many cellphones and laptop computers.”

Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma recently sat down with British news publication The Guardian and provided them with some interesting information regarding the next Zelda title for the Nintendo Wii.

“I have an eight-year-old son myself at home, and quite recently he started playing Phantom Hourglass for DS, because when the software first hit the market he was too young. When he started playing with the boat, I told him: ‘In the next Zelda, you are going to be able to ride on the train.’ He answered: ‘OK, Dad, first boat, and then train? Surely next time, Link is going to fly in the sky … ‘”

At this point Aonuma paused, grining saying: “I just don’t know. If many people make many speculations … some of them might be correct. Right now, I have to refrain from commenting on anything.”

Source

Faith and Climate Change, a project co-ordinated by Friends of the Earth Birmingham and part funded by Be Birmingham’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund, has received national recognition for its innovative approach to dealing with climate change.

The Birmingham based project has won the Guardian’s Green Community Heroes awards, in the Best Urban Community Project category. Be Birmingham’s Environmental Partnership who have supported the project since its beginning nominated it for this prestigious award.

The Faith and Climate Change project was established in 2006 after the successful multi-faith and climate change conference, which saw over 100 attendees from nine different faiths draw up a joint declaration on their commitment to tackling climate change.

To date, the project supports 19 different places of worship and a diverse range of faith communities in Birmingham and the West Midlands by taking practical action to cut carbon emissions.

The project has a vast and varied network of members and stakeholders including representatives from the Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish faith, as well as organisations such as the Environment Agency, Groundwork West Midlands.

Participants have benefited from this project in a variety of ways, from receiving advice on how to improve the energy efficiency of their place of worship, to how to live a more sustainable life at home. Some have taken ownership of the project, becoming Faith Ambassadors, willing to champion environmental sustainability and in particular CO₂ reduction projects within their faith communities.

As well as achieving measurable carbon reductions in Birmingham’s faith communities, the project has been a valuable way of improving relationships between communities in the city.

A particularly popular event has been the recent multi-faith organic Iftar. Women of all faiths break the fast of Ramadan together by tasting local and seasonal dishes- a perfect way to share the Islamic culture with other faiths, focusing on eating food that has come from sustainable sources.

Maud Grainger, manager of the Faith and Climate Change project said: “For three years the Organic Iftar has been reaching women of all faiths. Women bring dishes from their cultures and share the importance of their food, discuss the challenges of local/seasonal food and how it links back to their faith. Women have applied the message of sustainability to their lives, others have taken it with them as they move away but most importantly, friendships have been made across faiths, neighbourhoods and cultures.  These friendships will continue to build bridges for years to come.”

Keith Budden, manager of the Birmingham Environmental Partnership said: “Tackling climate change is a global and local issue providing people of different backgrounds and faiths a unique opportunity to work together for a common goal. Faith and Climate Change is a shining example of Birmingham’s innovation and leadership in this area.”

This achievement is excellent news for Birmingham, boosting its already strong reputation as a leader on climate change in the run up to the climate change summit in Copenhagen this December.

For more information on Faith and Climate Change, go to www.faithandclimatechange.org

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