Woried about typoz
I'm a fast but accurate proofreader.
A friend just sent me a link to this Tom Tomorrow cartoon about the death of reporting. You see, we're not really living in the Information Age at all. We're in the Opinion Age, building wobbly castles on a shaky base of not-quite-fact. (That's partly why it's also known as the Age of Stupid, but more on that later.)
Staffing is one of the biggest headaches for many community newspapers. While even the most understaffed regionals usually have somebody in the building during normal office hours and somebody to take messages over the phone, community newspapers don’t have that luxury. The usual scenario is to have just one or two part-time members of staff.
Freelance journalists often talk about the feast or famine work cycle. (When I say “talk”, I mean “complain”, of course.) I’d like to find a better metaphor, though, one that conveys the reality of the experience. The word “feast” conveys leisurely eating, but the feast periods in my freelancing life are all about the opposite: frantic production as opposed to relaxed consumption.
Who cares about journalism? Judging by the turnout at last night’s meeting, the answer is: “More people than you might think.” The Long Room at Oxford Town Hall was packed with local journalists, councillors and members of the public.
What’s happening to local news? This Thursday’s meeting at Oxford Town Hall will be an attempt to answer that question. Both print and broadcast media in Oxfordshire are undergoing cutbacks that seriously undermine our access to the news, so the NUJ Oxford & District Branch have organised a public meeting to discuss the crisis.
Maybe it was the interview on Radio Oxford that did the trick, maybe it was some kind of Gladwellian tipping point. Either way, last night’s Oxford Geek Night was the busiest I’ve seen. The upstairs room at the Jericho Tavern was crammed with people; according to the organisers, we reached the limit allowed by the Jericho’s fire regulations.
Tonight is the tenth Oxford Geek Night. (All the cool kids are calling it OGNX, or so I hear.)
Chief geek-herder J-P Stacey has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it slot on Radio Oxford today at 12:30pm.
A “greater Greater Leys” could be built as early as 2013 if city council plans go ahead. Oxford City Council plans to develop the land beyond Grenoble Road, creating a new housing estate that would surround Greater Leys.
The land in question is part of the Oxford Green Belt, which means that it has official protection from being developed and can only be built on in exceptional circumstances.