All hands to the pump - Digital Media Meal scheduled for June

I've been snowed under of late and have let things slide on the Digital Media Meal front somewhat as a result. Apologies to all concerned, but new life has been breathed into the effort with the arrival of an heroic figure.

Step forward Ian Hepburn, whose been kind enough to step in with an offer of help. The Daily Record's man in cyberspace will be co-ordinating arrangements, which he's provisionally slated for June 4.

Come one, come all ...

Printer Friendly Read/Add Comment (109)

Digital Media Meal Reborn

If a client updated their blog as infrequently as mine I'd have their guts for garters, but let's not get hung up on who should have posted what when okay? It's been a tumultous past few months for journalism and some of us had other things to do ...

Recent events have seen me resign my post as Technology Editor at the Sunday Herald. Given that I've been involved with the newspaper in a variety of roles since its launch in December 1999 the decision was not easy, but I'm convinced it was the right one to make.

I've reached the conclusion that if I'm going to achieve what I want to with my journalism, independence is the only practicable route. So I've actualised my theories about what's wrong with the press and public relations industry by founding Revolver PR, got stuck back into my book, and am using my new found freedom of movement to start pushing forward with a number of journalistic projects that have been on the backburner for far too long.

In this spirit, the long-awaited Digital Media Meal is back on. Supported by such luminaries as Stewart Kirkpatrick, Craig McGill, Ian Hepburn, Shaun Milne, Sarah Hartley and Paul Bradshaw, I'm proposing that the first inagrual meet takes place in Glasgow on Thursday, April 30th.

Are you up for it? If enough people opt-in by commenting I'll book a venue and confirm the date forthwith. Alternatively, if this date is problematic then suggest an alternative and I'll try to work out a compromise that suits all.

Printer Friendly Read/Add Comment (73)

Plugging On Regardless: The Digital Media Meal

With everything that's been going down in the newspaper business lately, it's kind of hard to drum up enthusiasm for pushing back the boundaries of digital journalism. The industry has plenty of talented people who understand the need to keep the craft evolving and have the ideas to help make it happen, but in an environment where senior managers seem to be more concerned with spouting buzzwords & standing still than actually doing something, sometimes it feels like there's little point in trying to do anything at all.

But journalism is dying on its feet, and we have to do something to keep the old flame burning.

To this end, I'm proposing we all do something constructive this summer and get together in Glasgow for the Digital Media Meal - an evening of food, drink and discussion. A platform for encouragement and debate, it would be a chance to chew over everything from what to do with multimedia journalism to XML standards for news bulletins and press releases. Who knows? It might even be fun...

Leave a comment below to indicate interest and if enough of you are up for it, I'll propose a date and venue & we'll take it from there

Printer Friendly Read/Add Comment (179)

Revealed: the streets most at risk from a £170m identity theft crime wave

Sunday, June 22nd 2008 at 6.49am (The Sunday Herald)

Fraud experts have pinpointed the Scottish streets being targeted by organised crime in a £170million identity theft crime spree.

Using cutting-edge computer modeling technology, researchers at the credit reference agency Experian have analysed the details of 10,000 identity crimes to identify the 10 areas in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh where residents are most at risk of falling victim to Scotland's fastest-growing crime. Read more »

Scottish business must learn to love the shock of the new way of the world

Saturday, May 10th 2008 at 11.41pm (The Sunday Herald)

"What is innovation? It's not just about new ideas, it's not just about inventing, it's about succesfully exploiting the new inventions that we make. Read more »

Digital Scotland Debate: Next event on the starting blocks

The Sunday Herald's events team finally succeeded in nailing me to a chair for long enough this week to get the ball rolling on the next stage of our campaign to create a national technology strategy for Scotland.

The first event revealed broad agreement that any such strategy should be broken down into three distinct areas: Innovation, Infrastructure & Education. In light of this the next debate - scheduled for April 24 at Glasgow's Lighthouse - will focus on the category of innovation.

It's a broad title, and one that could encompass anything: Encouraging innovation amongst entrepreneurs, fostering technical invention, marketing Caledonia as a top rank location for business & investment or simply coming up with innovative ways to implement, nurture and sustain such strategies.

To avoid turning our campaign into yet another pointless talking shop, the plan for this round of events is to invite both an expert panel and audience members to submit proposals for inclusion in our putative strategy document. On the day itself, we'll debate as many of these as time allows.

Using transcripts of the debate, I will then attempt to lace together a draft strategy paper. This will be presented online for a period of consultation and wiki-style peer review which, though fraught with possible complications, should produce something approaching a representative document.

The jury's out on what to do after that and I'm open to suggestions, but when all three events have been completed we should have a trio of documents drawn from the best minds in the business and, hopefully, some form of popular technology mandate for putting them in front of the Scottish Government.

That's the plan so far, but I'm calling upon the entire geek diaspora to pitch in and tell me where I'm going wrong or what could be done better. Although ambitious, I believe this is a campaign that could ultimately actually achieve something, but only if we work together.

Printer Friendly Read/Add Comment (78)

Campaign for a national technology strategy underway

The Shaping Scotland's Digital Future campaign got off to an excellent start this week with a lively debate at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall. Video highlights of the debate are available via the Sunday Herald. Presented with the perspectives of the heavyweight panel, a 120-strong audience appeared to broadly accept our call for the creation of a far-reaching national digital strategy for Scotland. The tone was informal but distinctly businesslike, and it quickly became clear that my concerns over Caledonia's lack of future planning are shared by many in the great geek diaspora. I'll be publishing transcripts and proposals for further events shortly, but the discussions ultimately identified three critical areas to be addressed by our proposed digital blueprint: Education, Innovation and Infrastructure. I'll publish my proposals for separate symposiums on each of these in the new year, but please do let me know if you've got any ideas or suggestions as to how we should move matters forward. Printer Friendly Read/Add Comment (82)

Plan Now, Prosper Later

Some of Scotland's most senior business figures have warned that the country must plan for the future or risk economic obliteration in the face of intensifying foreign competition.

"In terms of technology infrastructure Scotland is beginning to slip behind some of its competitors and the government must take a long term approach to combat this slide. We must have a national framework to guide development of a globally competitive ICT industry by nurturing local enterprises for expansion and growth abroad," said Polly Purvis, chief executive of the technology industry body ScotlandIS.

"This is not something we can leave to chance. If we find ourselves without the technical capacity we need in the future then we won't be able to compete and the consequences could be dire."

On the eve of a major debate aimed at tackling the issue, Scotland's major technology players have joined up to call for the establishment of a national digital strategy capable of delivering a 21st Century infrastructure upon which they believe the country's economic future depends.

Purvis, Microsoft Scotland director Raymond O'Hare, BT Scotland's Brendan Dick, economist Neil MacCallum, Graham Technology's Steven Thurlow, Cisco chief Gordon Thomson and digital media mogul Steve Leach have identified the country's lack of long-term planning as a critical strategic flaw.

Currently, ScotlandIS estimates there are 70,000 Scottish ICT jobs contributing £4bn a year to the economy.

"Across the globe, small countries are realising that technology represents a major opportunity, and they're prepared to invest in far-sighted strategies to create business, government and public cultures geared up to grab that chance. Scotland must either follow suit or prepare to suffer the consequences," said Leach, CEO of digital marketing specialists Bigmouthmedia.

MacCallum, head of policy and strategy at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: "Globalisation is not going to go away. We need to improve competitiveness and efficiency on a national scale, and that will not be achievable unless the very best systems are not in place and ready to go."

Printer Friendly Read/Add Comment (70)

Future of BBC’s iPlayer in doubt

Saturday, December 1st 2007 at 8.09pm (The Sunday Herald)

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Traditional rivalries are one thing, but when you find yourself trekking into an indeterminate future in which you will face competitors unknown in scope and scale, sometimes it's better to forget old differences, circle your wagons and stand back to back against the howling of the storm.

Britain's terrestrial broadcasters have got the message. Read more »

Losing the plot

Sunday, November 25th 2007 at 2.25am (The Sunday Herald)

IT COULD have been prevented for £65, but this was a disaster waiting to happen. However shocking and catastrophic the Inland Revenue's security breach may seem to the families left wide open to the threat of identity theft, last week's debacle came as no surprise to the UK's top technology experts.

With the estimated cost of the data disaster standing at more than £200 million and millions of British households now squarely in the sights of international organised crime gangs, the incident has exposed a fundamental flaw in the public sector's approach to IT that many experts have long recognised.

"The most shocking aspect to the loss of 25 million records is that for £65 the data on the two CDs could easily have been stored on an inexpensive and easy-to-use encrypted USB drive. Read more »