links for 2009-06-09

I thought one of the most interesting things about the Sky News iPhone app was that it had the facility for users to shoot a photo, add some text, and then file a report to Sky. Looks like Apple just cut them out of the loop on the updated iPhone.

"Councils like Hammersmith and Fulham are publishing our own newspapers precisely because of the long-term under-investment in local journalism from companies like Trinity Mirror Southern. Readers like H&F News [published by the council] because it is local, relevant and produced by people who know the area inside out. Despite the best efforts of some very good journalists, Trinity cannot begin to serve the local community here in any way that is meaningful precisely because their reporters are pulled in so many different directions."

This attempt to get publicity for SlideShare seems a bit more legitimate than their 'April fools' stats mangling stunt - though since when did Quebec join the 'Axis of Evil' - "The contest is not open to residents of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Sudan, Puerto Rico or the province of Quebec"

"Twitter is largely an echo chamber. You follow (and are followed by) your friends and people who like what you write. The BNP discussions were largely people who were never going to vote BNP telling other people who were never going to vote BNP not to vote BNP. The chances of any of that witty repartee reaching and converting people who were going to vote BNP was close to zero. So perhaps we're to blame a bit too. Instead of doing our bit to exchange insults about the BNP on Twitter, we should have been out there knocking on doors and explaining our point of view to people who don't share it."

I liked this best from the comments: "I've got nothing against other tribes, but I like my own tribe best. That is the Anglo Saxon/Welsh/Scots/Irish tribe". Yes, indeed, we all remember how the Celts and Anglo-Saxons got on so spiffingly.