Archive for October, 2006
ZDNet receives social makeover
October 31st, 2006
For those of you familiar with technology news website ZDNet.co.uk, you’ll have noticed the massive redesign that has gone live this morning.
The site has received an extreme Web 2.0 makeover, and is crammed full with social media functionality. ZDNet has truly embraced the transformation in media and journalism that has taken place over the last year in particular, and is now offering readers a far more interactive and democratic news service.
Matt Loney, site director of ZDNet, told Liberate Media exclusively: “The redesign of ZDNet is a significant and fundamental leap in thinking for large editorially driven sites.
“With this redesign we wanted to move away from what I call ‘print think’ - the practice of simply posting article after article on the Web. Journalism has always been about creating conversations, but in print, and many online versions of print publications, these have always been confined to the limit of the article, and been controlled by the author. We wanted to break away from those artificial limits, so we think of the site as a place where we can tell readers what is going on and what they need to know, but also as a place to stimulate conversation.
“We’ve put a lot of thought into search with our redesign, because in addition to encouraging user generated content, we want to give readers a way to discover eachother based on the content they and their peers are creating as much a on who knows whom. That requires a whole new approach to search, and we think we’re way ahead of the field here. One small illustration of our new search is the tag clouds in our ‘News and Reviews’ sections showing what companies, people and terms are being written about and discussed at any instant.
“Of course this is only the beginning. Now that we’ve built the platform we’ll continue to tweak and improve it, so watch this space.”
The new platform requires free registration in order for users to benefit from the range of personalised and community services on offer. From the short taster that I’ve had this morning, I can see that this is going to be a great networking opportunity for business people in the IT and communications space, to rival services such as LinkedIn and Soflow.
All news stories offer blog functionality, and it’s easy to see at a glance which stories are generating the most buzz. From a PR perspective this provides great new opportunities for clients.
A nice feature is a panel in the left hand nav which shows how ‘active’ a user you are. This should help to encourage readers to participate in blog discussions and the community as a whole.
The profile section in particular appears very well designed and useful, enabling users to generate their own mini-blog from comments that they’re posting elsewhere on the site.
Go and register and have a play yourself!
As a former ZDNet journalist, I’m disappointed this didn’t happen while I was there…
Worldwide Internet Governance forum begins today
October 30th, 2006
The first Global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) kicks off today and will run for the next five days in Athens, as reported by the BBC.
The IGF was established by the United Nations at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. As a multi-stakeholder group, the IGF includes 1,500 delegates from governments, organisations (public and private) and individuals, who will debate current and emerging issues on a global scale.
The four main agenda points are: security, diversity, openness and access.
It is hoped the forum will move forward with the varied discussion areas of Internet Governance and stimulate separate debates. Although it has no decision making powers, I think this is an excellent idea to get a real global perspective on how the web is evolving.
If you would like to keep up to date with the discussion, the BBC is running a reporter’s log from the forum here. Furthermore, if you would like to get involved, you can access the IGF’s discussion space here.
Interoperability for social software?
October 26th, 2006
Mike Butcher, co-editor of Techcrunch.com, has today made an interesting post about the future for open source social software, which would create interoperability between MySpace, Second Life and blogs etc.
As the phenomenon of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) and virtual worlds increases, the open source debate is bound to escalate, as it did with instant messaging. Linden Labs has already said that it plans to open up Second Life, while maintaining control of the brand.
Interoperability would create the ability for users to move their avatars and personas across different virtual worlds. I can’t comment on the technical requirements for this to be possible, but it certainly seems in line with the trend that is taking place now.
In many ways, quite a scary proposition when you think about where this leaves our real life personas, but also inevitable.
Telegraph’s NUJ members vote to strike
October 25th, 2006
News was coming through yesterday afternoon that editorial staff at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph have voted to go on strike, including this from the Press Gazette.
The action follows months of speculation on strike action, which originated from a series of changes including relocation to new offices in Victoria, different shift patterns and more than 130 redundancies including 54 journalists, such as foreign editor Alan Philps and former deputy editor Neil Darbyshire.
The NUJ has confirmed 76% of members who voted were in favour of strike action. A date for a strike has not yet been set.
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear commented: ”Our members at the Telegraph have had no choice but to take the ultimate step and vote to strike.
“Management have only themselves to blame. They should have seen this coming months ago and done something to reassure staff rather than high-handedly pushing on with painful and unpopular changes.”
Technorati tags: telegraph, strike action, nuj
October 24th, 2006
This week’s Springwise newsletter, which is great for finding out about new business ideas, carries news of the first travel organisation to offer tours of virtual worlds such as Second Life, The Sims Online and Everquest.
Synthravels has been set-up by two Italian entrepreneurs, Mario Gerosa and Matteo Esposito, who are hoping to cash in on the popularity of online virtual worlds. As the worlds increase in complexity, the entry threshold for newbies rises, particularly for those who are new to online gaming.
To benefit from a tour, customers must register with Synthravels, pick a destination and preferred day and hour for the trip. Within a few days, he or she receives an itinerary by email. To prepare, a visitor has to download any software needed for the virtual world and create an avatar. Synthravels guides are experienced gamers and programmers, and claim to be able to train new users in the tricks of the trade.
The timing of Synthravel’s launch is perfect, and it will certainly be a company to watch over coming months. I’m not entirely sure of the revenue model as the tours appear to be free, but with brands such as Toyota, American Apparel and the BBC investing in Second Life alone, there is plenty of money to be made in this area.
I hope they’ve patented the idea, as it’s a perfect bandwaggon for others to leap on!