You failed
…children’s education for a decade have been driven by an ideology that one-off exams under pressure are a better judge of pupils qualities, rather than continuous assessment. And then when it came to a year when you couldn’t hold exams, they were given months to prepare, and produced an absolute fiasco. As education secretary and as a government, this was your one-off exam. I don’t think people think you’ve prepared very well for it, or achieved…
Closing Mustardland – the end of the Archers messageboard
…en the role of being a mass broadcaster, and having a digitally enabled one-to-one relationship with the audience. Hosting communities on the BBC website created a false expectation that users were part of an official feedback loop. So, Nigel explained, then they felt that their comments weren’t being listened to by the programme makers — “but then we’d never really made that promise.” This was very much the case when I used to help host the Point…
Bug Brain Check-Out?
…pages in that feed, and we got into protracted correspondence about it. We 100% weren’t, indeed we had a mechanism to totally exclude pages (I remember playing whack-a-mole with goatse mirror sites) but no ability to make a site be “it can appear but lower in the ranking”. I remember on one occasion spending a lengthy amount of time doing comparative searches on the BBC website and Google itself to demonstrate the results could be replicated, and…
How we built Ampp3d in eight weeks
…signed off. I wrote a content strategy document, which was about a side-and-a-half of A4, scribbled a couple of IA sketches, and briefed the designer “I’d like something that works a bit like Quartz but looks like the Mirror mobile site”. Chris Lam then did a fantastic job of turning that loose brief into the design you see today, with a main focus on the mobile layout. In truth we’ve designed for mobile and tablet, and for desktop just basically…
Remembering how search engines reacted to the Columbia Shuttle disaster
…about search engine reaction to the news. I think 9/11 was the first real test of how search engines handled massive breaking news in the world wide web era. They didn’t do very well – I remember Google being criticised for having links to a World Trade Center webcam high up in the results even as the twin towers were collapsing. So I did a review of how all the different search engines handled the Columbia news. Yep. That’s another “long time in…
Friday Reading Will Always Eat Big Dinners S10E13
…er that I could challenge her, but I think that I’ve challenged that second-grade teacher ever since. Part of my everyday being is telling people that we’re still here.” 400 years after the ‘First Thanksgiving,’ the tribe that fed the pilgrims continues to fight for its land amid another epidemic I do find it odd that we are seeing a higher number of daily Covid deaths in the UK than at any time since May, and so the government have decided now is…
A one-line review of (nearly) every gig I’ve been to in September 2023
…m with its spoken word interludes and mock fights in full plus loads of Too-Rye-Ay was well worth the trip to Brighton and back. +++ IT ALL GOES A BIT WRONG HERE +++ London EMOM, Tileyard, 22 Sep – This event was sadly cancelled due to a problem with the venue. Ealing Extranormal Volume 19, 23 Sep – I had tickets for this but didn’t feel up to the trip across London in the end. Oxford EMOM, The Jericho Tavern, 26 Sep – I did an m-orchestra set her…
Friday Reading S13E10
…aked months of Conti ransomware gang internal chat logs, which show the day-to-day reality of its operations. “USA Today Owner Gannett Co. Gave Advertisers Inaccurate Information for Nine Months” – Ooooooooooooooft “Gannett owns USA Today as well as news outlets in 46 US states … advertisers thought they were buying an ad on one Gannett site—very often the flagship USA Today—but actually purchased space on another, such as one of its many local ou…
“From Search to Social” – BuzzFeed, Facebook, Metro & UsVsTh3m at #SMWLDN
…is blog languishes in the basement of the internet, since they are my stock-in-trade. Luke said that BuzzFeed UK were hiring a science editor precisely to generate more content with that ‘awe’ factor. Karla reiterated this, by saying that what makes people share is to show others something they are proud of, or something that “makes them look good.” Richard added that he was always concerned about whether people would be “glad” to see Metro conten…
Friday Reading S12E06
…ng at the Guardian. It’s a great team. The key bits of the job: Monitor day-to-day trends across the internet, identifying editorial opportunities that fit theguardian.com’s remit and passing them on to relevant editors. Monitor fast moving search terms and editorial output on significant topics throughout the day to be able to offer the best direction to editorial staff. Assist the Head of audience development in maximising audience while safegua…