I’ve got an interview on Wednesday for the position of “UGC and Communities Editor” for the papers that make up BPM Media, and I’m pretty nervous. It’s something that I’ve spoken to a few people about – but inspired by the example of Jo Geary, I wanted to throw up what I think the position online and see what people thought.
The job will involve improving community interaction between the BPM papers (Birmingham Post & Mail, Sunday Mercury, Coventry Telegraph). For my interview I’ve got to talk about how the titles can become better neighbours with existing online communities, how new communities can be built up around these titles, and how to get more people feeling they are happy to contribute to the output here at BPM towers.
Needless to say this is somewhere I want to be. In the last ten years we’ve gone from “content is king” to “conversation is the kingdom”, and so to be trying to develop a community for these conversations to take place would be a fantastic opportunity for me – and hopefully for the papers here too.
These are just a few ideas I’ve been tossing around so go easy, but I’d be very interested in seeing what people out there think of it.
Working here on the Birmingham Post I’ve seen over time how its relationship with other websites and online communities has worked – and it’s not always been pretty. Read the rest of this entry »
Well here it is, the start of the Conservative Party Conference – one of the biggest political events to happen in Birmingham for decades. It looks as if we might have the next Government here in town, so it’s a chance to see what they might to when they get in power.
I’m planning to go to the following events to cover, both live and in print for The Birmingham Post. Of course, best laid plans and all that, but this is how things are looking this sunny Sunday morning.
11.00 – Welcome to the conference (Main Hall)
Introduction from party chairman Caroline Spelman to open the conference.
11.10-12.30 – Birmingham: Past, present and future (Main Hall)
A cast of luminaries including David Willetts, Andrew Mitchell, Mike Whitby and Post editor Marc Reeves discuss Birmingham’s heritage and what the future holds for the city.
14.00-15.00 – Celebrating election success (Main Hall)
With Caroline Spelman, Eric Pickles, and WIlliam Hague
EDIT: I’ve been told this has been cancelled and there’s a session on the economy insted. Either way I’ll be going.
15.00-15.15 – The Mayor of London (Main Hall)
With BoJo, naturally
18.00 – Economic Meeting: Credit crunch or failed policy? (Britannia Hotel, Malvern Room)
Hosted by Politeia, with Philip Hammond, Irwin Steltzer, Lord Salisbury
19.30 – Fringe tory reception (Slug and Lettuce)
Catching up with Praguetory.
If anyone’s around and wants to get in touch, do direct message me on Twitter. I’ll be using the tag #cons08 for conference-related twitterings.
And don’t forget The Birmingham Post is live-blogging the whole event using Coveritlive, starting from midday today.
The Wire – Defamatory messageboard comments should be treated as slander and not libel, Justice Eady ruled recently, significantly changing the way online comments are dealt with by the courts.
Thanks to the lovely people at Dipity, which I used to knock up a map of knife and gun killings in the West Midlands recently. (here)
Originally, Dipity’s inbuilt Google map thing used a custom icon as a marker – a cheery little fellow with a smile and a flag.
I mentioned on a feedback site that this made it rather hard to use for a professional-type service, particularly about something as sombre as murder.
Within a few hours, the Dipity team had got back to me, agreed, and changed the icon to its current generic form. With this barrier removed, the timeline/map could go straight up on www.birminghampost.net, where it’s happily residing now.
You can’t imagine this happening with the latest MS release.
Last night I got involved in a brief twitter conversation with Andy Mabbett regarding this piece that appeared in the Birmingham Post (although I suppose it ought to be pointed out that Emma, the reporter named, actually works for the Press Association).
The story in question was last weekend’s air crash near Coventry Airport, and Andy took issue that a reporter called round at the house of the man under whose name the smaller aircraft was registered.
I’m putting together a map of Birmingham’s pubs and bars on Google Maps (for full version click here), mainly for my own amusement and to give me a handy place to decide where to go drinking. I’d love it if anyone else out there wants to put up their local, their favourites, or anywhere that’s worth steering clear of.
I’ve tried my hand at pub blogging before (see here and here), and somehow never managed to stick with it long enough. This is probably down to a combination of laziness, lack of time and a lingering connection to healthy living.
Nevertheless, I’m looking to get back involved, particularly as I’ve moved to a lovely new area of the city (Kings Heath since you ask).
If you want to point out anywhere, here’s how to do it…
1. Make sure you’re logged in with your Google account.
3. Enter the name, street name or postcode of the pub/bar you want to add.
4. Make sure you’ve clicked on the one you want, and then click on “save to my maps”, selecting Birmingham Pubs Map from the drop-down box.
5. Change the name or details, add pictures, comments etc as you want, then click OK.
I’m just interested to see where people might recommend with this, as well as make a list of all the places I’ve been to and reviewed. Feel free to put in pictures, links or who you are on the details as well…
Thanks in advance to anyone who points me somewhere good!
