September 2008 Archives

This is a very brief lesson for any PR agencies or officials out there. 

When you are sending invitations and doing press releases on the launch of a new website, it's always a good idea to actually list the address of the site.  Any good developer will have a 'place holder' on the site if it is not yet ready to demonstrate, and where a site is ready to go, it often helps for people to see the function of the site.  This enhances a sense of participation in the site and encourages ongoing interest - at least long enough to actually turn up to the launch. 

Well I'd predicted it some months back and I'm now rather unsurprised that former leader of the Australian Republic Movement, Malcolm Turnbull is now the Leader of the Opposition in Australia.  I have said privately that I regard Turnbull as the most significant threat to Labor from the Liberal camp, and in spite of his arrogance and somewhat larrikin nature, I stand by that statement.  In the next 2 years Turnbul has a lot of time to establish himself not merely as a Leader, but as someone connected to the people.

Watch out Kevin Rudd.  Your honeymoon is definitely over now. 

Last night I saw Scottish pop band Hue and Cry launch their Open Soul album at Bush Hall, and it was a completely fantastic event.  The Kane brothers and their band are incredibly energetic and their album, which I purchased last night and listened to this morning, is a fantastic mix of funky and celebration.  21 years since their first album and 16 years since their last pop album, Hue and Cry have achieved an incredible feat with this album in hitting the mark on so many songs.  Along with pretty much everyone else who has heard the album, my favourite track is Stumble Through the Dance, which was extra special for me last night, sung live.  I'm a big fan of Pat Kane - both musically and intellectually - but this song is a triumph of rhythm and heart. 

I had a ball last night and I am sure the other people who attended the sold-out gig and were dancing and singing along with the band had a similarly fabulous night.  Thanks guys.  Great stuff!

I have a lot to blog about today, so I'm splitting these posts in to separate entries but will keep them short and sweet. 

First of all, it was lovely to spend last Friday night with Rhonda, mother of my dear school friend, Melissa.  Rhonda and her travelling pal, Ellen, joined me for dinner at Sarastro before wandering the surprisingly warm London streets around Covent Garden and The Strand before ending up at Trafalgar Square and then heading home.  A lovely night and I really appreciated their company and stories of their travels.  Hope the time in Greece is equally wonderful!  Ya sass!  Kali mera! 

Then on Sunday night at long last I finally met up with the Other Joanne Jacobs (The US Edition).  Jo is a semi-retired journalist with the San Jose Mercury who has published a book on education initiatives for disenfranchised students.  She now does some consulting and guest editing and speaks at various functions.  She's a great lady and it was fantastic to meet her.  We spent a lovely evening with her husband, John, and their travelling companions, Jo and Darwin (John).  Thanks Joanne, and I hope you have a fantastic holiday too!

I was as excited as any other geek today, when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on.  And of course I was highly amused by the fear-mongering about the particle accelerator designed to investigate the Big Bang being the cause of the End of the World.  (I loved this site.)  But the weirdest thing was the PR associated with the switching on of the particle accelerator itself.  Over on the LHCLatest twitter stream, you get a constant set of posts on the decidedly poor set of reports coming from CERN when the particle accelerator was actually switched on.  You also get a bunch of weird comments on the fact that once it had been switched on, no-one actualy knew what was going to happen next.  And you get hawker oriented posts requesting donations for the news service.  It was like amateur hour in PR. 

The work being done on the LHC is fantastic, and I'll be following the publication of results with interest.  But the reporting needs a bit of help.  I'm calling on all half-decent journos and PR agents to give these guys a helping hand.  

Oh and it's nice that the world didn't end. 

Today the European Commission announced that the UK along with Germany and Spain are headed for recession.  Technically of course, a recession is merely 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth to the GDP.  But in mor psychological terms, a recession in the UK means that policy makers are seeking ways to cut back on national costs.  One of those perceived costs is th employment of immigrants in the UK, supposedly at the expense of employing locals to those roles.  The latest data on migration to the UK is now 2 years old, but even in that data it's clear that the vast majority of migration to the UK is from EU countries which don't need any visa to work here, and 'new Commonwealth' nations of the west Asian belt.  Eastern Europeans outranked 'old Commonwealth' nations (like Australia, Canada and New Zealand) by over 100,000.  Nevertheless, Australians will now find it harder than ever to move to the UK and even those who are based here (like myself) will find it hard to extend our current visas.

To some extent, I'm immune to all this, as I have been working here and have earned enough to be classed as a valuable asset in the UK.  But it worries me that in a time of recession, my status as an immigrant puts me in an uncertain position.  It is an odd feeling, being an alien in a land which otherwise feels so comfortable it might as well be home.  In truth, my place here is fairly safe.  But it's strange to think that a place that has otherwise been so welcoming could potentially turn against me if the economy requires it. 

It's been far too long since I've done a blog post and my only excuse is that I have been away and have been frantically trying to contribute to other blogs, and I have been twittering everything anyway.

But essentially.... I have been to Corfu where I spent a fabulous four days with the lovely Deb Polson.  I have some great pics, but not enough of Corfu Old Town.  I also had a great time learning some basic phrases in Greek, and feel confident about getting around Greece with my rudimentary skills!  Deb has been doing wonderful things with her latest projects in mobile learning, and will be presenting in London at the forthcoming Handheld Learning Conference. 

I've also been trying to get on top of a client project at work.  I'm not allowed to release many details as yet, but I will as soon as I can.  The good news is that it's nearly done, and I can get on to some other pet projects. 

I'm also preparing for two new conferences at which I am to present; the Social Media for Business Conference in Buckinghamshire in October and a Media Literacy conference in Scotland in November.  I'm also trying to get a group of social media advocates in London to form a loose collective of experts advising on the London 2012 Olympics.  While London probably won't be able to compete with Beijing on organisation, it certainly does have an opportunity to provide a rich narrative event and it's the social media mafia who could get that happening in this town.  But it requires some innovation incubation on behalf of the social media businesses out there.  And I'm more than willing to get that happening.

I'm also trying to assist some businesses in their social media planning, and to give my time to some public interest groups to get their social media strategy in place.  I hope that by supporting those enterprises, I can raise the participation and literacy of users so that more good deeds can be recognised.  It's a personal struggle in a digitally amoebic landscape.

Finally, I've been excited by opportunities at the School of Everything and delighted to hear that the Young Networks Foundation (for which I am still Creative Director) in Australia is back up and running as part of a Brisbane City Council project.  And last but not least I have been invited by QUT to become an Adjunct Associate Professor, working with the Creative Industries Faculty.  I'm delighted to be part of the team!