Archive for October, 2009
Respect the
Monday, October 12th, 2009Barnardos Short Film to air on TV tomorrow
Monday, October 12th, 2009Haunting music by James McMorrow. The song deserves to be number 1.
The short film is based on the real stories of those Barnardos work with. Names changed and actors used obviously. Read the stories on Barnardos.ie
More on the Web Awards 09 later but
Sunday, October 11th, 2009Thanks for the pressies:
Manila Rhythm at Bahay Kubo in D4
Saturday, October 10th, 2009Manila Rhythm – I’ll be there
Manila Rhythm – Bohemian Rhapsody
Fluffy Links – Friday October 9th 2009
Friday, October 9th, 2009‘Encounters at the End of the World’, taken from the title of the Werner Herzog Documentary is the blog of an Irish documentary filmmaker based in Kabul.
Want to go on a Mushroom Hunt on Saturday? Spaces available for readers of this site. First come, first come. Contact: bill < at > mushroomstuff.com. Worth 80 quid.
This is from the people that organise an amazing foodie weekend in Asturias. Nyom nyom. Pics.
Dena’s got a new bag. Er blog.
Via Annette is a company that helps people take all that knowledge about their industry and make something productive business-wise out of it.
Cheap flights to LA. Woo.
You’re fired. Special site for the Irish Apprentice. Fire your friends.
Pics of the Deathmob flashmob.
Science Raps Challenge 2009
Science Raps Challenge is a new competition organised by the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at Univeristy College Cork and Teagasc Moorepark for Science Week Ireland 2009. All competition details can be found on http://microbemagic.ucc.ie
Growing your online business
Thursday, October 8th, 2009The Internet Growth Alliance which I have the smallest of small parts in has come out and launched their Internet Growth Acceleration Programme which is all about teaching companies how to scale and expand and providing them with advice from people who’ve been there and done that. It’s modeled and inspired by the Stanford Leadership for Growth programme.
IGAP is exactly what so many web companies in Ireland need in order to move from being a minnow to fish to big fish and the mentors on the programme are real deal Irish and International people who have walked the walk. The Internet Growth Alliance is comprised of some of the best and brightest web people in Ireland, many of them selfmade multi-millionaires who have a wealth of information to share.
I’ve seen some negativity with some Irish companies complaining that they have to pay to be part of this, ignoring the fact that Enterprise Ireland takes the biggest hit on this and the people involved are doing this because they want to help. Thank goodness not every Irish web startup runs their life with this kind of entitlement syndrome going on.
Falling in Love with the Web Again – 09 Style
Thursday, October 8th, 2009The 09 Realex Payments Irish Web Awards are on Saturday. Tantrums, tiaras and more. Oh no, that’s the Blog Awards. 20+ categories. 350+ people. Cupcakes. Great food. No tuxes. Thank yous. Mulley’s laptop bluescreening and Rick O’Shea having to improvise. Playful moods. Childish tones. Wear legwarmers. Kicking out very very late. Bloggers, Twitterers er ers, sponsors having a laugh with the nominees. People in full Irish soccer kit. A large chunk of the Irish Web dev community. Himself might call in too.
Fluffy Links – Thursday October 8th 2009
Thursday, October 8th, 2009New blog, least for me. Michellaneous
Playhouse just became a giant Twitter client.
Well done. Silicon Republic are profiling startups. Sign up yours.
Ah humour. Ad on Recruit Ireland for Clown Comhairle.
Irish Hotels using Twitter. Try harder.
Via James Kennedy – Write to Your TD.
Aggregator for university research announcements.
Daytum. For tracking and logging all the data you generate.
Oh Apple. Blocking a health care app.
Interesting. Even with social networks, closeness is where power lies.
One point is crucial: We still live our lives in the real world. When we need someone to fix our roof, repair our car or educate our children, we find these things near our homes. We elect officials to govern us by geography. We pay taxes based on geography.
Brian Eno – And Then So Clear
EU Funds spying on blogs, social networks, forums and others.
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009Wikileaks have a very interesting document on EU Framework 7 funded spy project that scans blogs, social networks, websites and discussion forums for stuff they don’t like:
This file, marked “confidential”, describes development of an EU-funded intelligence gathering system (“INDECT work package 4”) designed to comb webblogs, chat sites, newsreports, and social-networking sites to in order to build up automatic dossiers on individuals, organizations and their relationships.
Name of report:
Report on methodology for collection, cleaning and unified representation of large textual data from various sources: news reports, weblogs, chat.
Extract:
D4.1 aims to focus on analysis of security related data from websites, blogs, chats and other social medium. The project aims to analyse data related to hooliganism, terrorism and other types of crime. The AGH (Prof. Wieslaw Lubaszewski’s) team has initiated the task of data collection. This section describes the ongoing effort and the methodology employed. It does not include the actual data as this is currently being collected. The current effort is directed towards collecting data on football hooliganism and sale of human organs. In parallel to this, the Ostrava team (Mr Adam Nemcek) has also started work on data collection on similar topics.
This is their video showing their system in action. Machine guns and jackboots all the way:
It seems that there are Irish reps for security research projects like these so it’s not like the Government doesn’t know what’s happening. According to the EU too there’s meant to be an ethics committee watching these things:
As a general rule, the Commission also ensures that the most sensitive projects systematically include an ethics committee, to enable researchers to develop technologies that respect individual freedoms.
But sure, we have nothing to hide if we’re innocent…
it found me
Monday, October 5th, 2009Usual story. Focus group, college kid asked how he consumes news and all the rest. Then he says: If the news is that important, it will find me.
It’s a phrase that’s used again and again to frighten some people and inspire others. It’s used in every JESUSCHRISTDOSOMETHING style presentation on new media. Still, there’s a growing number of people (young and old) that don’t buy papers, don’t watch the Angelus and the news after it. They find out through other sources about news, entertainment, content, recommendations, truth, lies etc. News before came from news filters like the Irish Times and Radio 1, now they come from text messages (remember Roy Keane and Saipan?), Facebook, Twitter (Michael Jackson dies, the Luas crash), Boards.ie (Leaving Cert English Paper 2) and the list goes on.
On Saturday morning I found out the Lisbon result through Echofon which is a Twitter client on my iPhone. As results came in from different count centres, the news came via people I’m subscribed to on Twitter. I don’t subscribe to news outlets on Twitter. People at count centres. People connected to people at count centres. I then watched Enda Kenny, Gerry Adams and all the rest give speeches at the gates of Dublin Castle not via TV or Radio but via the iPhone of Alexia Golez who used the QIK video recording and streaming application to broadcast out to the world.
This is not the future of news but it is a future. Alexia was also there when Seán Haughey experienced that silent protest. With newspapers and radio stations (bye bye INN) slashing costs and staff, then the general people on the street can be there when news happens and deliver it to their network without a news infrastructure. Unwashed ruffians that they are. If your network is relied on for even more news and trusted recommendations, what happens to PR, to broadcast news, to advertising and marketing?
This was definitely my first news event without ever going to a radio or reading a news website. Very much not the last.