How useful is social media? Monday, December 29, 2008

I have set myself a challenge.

I bought this plant at a jumble sale years ago and thanks to my mum’s green fingers it is still alive! Actually the original plant died years ago but its grandchildren are still around! It doesn’t really do anything, just produces these random flying saucer like leaves.
So here is where the challenge begins.
As part of our Regs and Ethics course we are doing a presentation on Social Media, so I am only going to use social media (Twitter, Facebook and this blog) to find out what this plant is.
If you know anyone who might be able to help, please direct them here!

Thanks x

Mobilising the Masses: A How-to Guide Monday, December 22, 2008

Cantankerous Frank ¦ Mark Roberts

Over the last month, President-elect Obama has made all the right noises with regards the environment. If you are to believe his manifesto, he has some impressive environmental objectives for the next 4 years. And he has recently announced that Nobel laureate, Steve Chu, will take up the post of Energy Secretary in order to make these dreams a reality.

Call me cynical if you will, but I just can’t shake the feeling that these are only words. We have been here so many times before. Climate directives are all very well in theory but it is time now to put your money where your mouth is and if we are going to see any sort of lasting behavioural change, the impetus has to come from a grass-roots level.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ed Miliband called for popular mobilisation in order to call the government into account over its environmental pledges. But how?  Surely Al Gore tried this last year with An Inconvenient Truth and Live Earth?

Cantankerous Frank ¦ Mark Roberts

As far as I can see Live Earth was always destined to fail. Unlike the Live Aid campaign, which primarily wanted to raise money, its environmental counterpart needed viewers to go one step further and change their behaviour in order to succeed. This cannot be achieved from atop a stage.

Over the past term I have been learning all about “interest areas”. In News terms, the local angle should always come first - one dead Briton equals any number of foreigners. The same rings true for the environment. If the masses are to be mobilised you have to hit them where it hurts most – their backyard.

Live Earth should have been a local affair based on the Macmillian Coffee Mornings rather than the Make Poverty History campaign. Small, local events where residents engage with the issue would have enabled local issues to be aired and funds to be raised for local environmental projects. Instead of some far off politician spouting doom and gloom from a far corner of the world, the issue would have been brought to life by a community run campaign. Also, it would have saved on all that fuel used to fly celebrities half way across the world in order to campaign against carbon emissions!

When it comes to the environment it is very easy to focus on the doom and gloom. The Earth is in such a dire state, surely will call the masses to arms. But such reporting can only go so far and in the long run may actually dissuade people from joining the campaign. Why should we get involved when it seems like a lost cause?

Whilst it is important to keep the pressure on, it wouldn’t do any harm to remind everybody that there are small things to be done at home. As they say, “every little helps.”

So here are my top energy saving tips.

1. LIGHTS! If you are not in the room, switch it off
2. TV. That little red light uses up more power than you think. Turn your TV right off once you have finished watching it
3. CHARGERS. If the charger gets warm when it is plugged in then it is using energy even if it isn’t attached the other end. Remember – take the plug out when you are done.
4. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. My pet peeve is waste. I hate it when recyclables are put in the normal rubbish rather than being recycled. Landfill is running out fast. On average we produce enough rubbish to fill the Albert Hall every 2 hours in the UK alone. So do your bit and don’t throw out more than need be. And remember, you don’t need to take the packaging home, you are within your rights to leave any excess at the supermarket!
5. KETTLE. Only boil what you need
6. WALK. Short journeys use more petrol, so if you can walk, do. It’ll help you reach your 10 000 step target. Or if not, take the bus.
7. TAKE YOUR OWN DRINK. Plastic bottles make no environmental sense and the same goes for the plastic lids on your coffee cup. So reuse a bottle you have already got or take a flask.
8. PLASTIC BAGS. Get a bag for life. They are stronger, hold more and make much more sense environmentally. One plastic bag takes up to 1000 years to biodegrade, they may seem temporary but they have a permanent effect on the environment.
9. ENERGY SAVING BULBS etc... Think about energy saving or effiicient appliances next time you are shopping

This post started as an environmental review, a chance to take stock of the directives and pledges made in 2008. Over the next week I will endeavour to finish my environmental review, for now I hope you will forgive me for the truly random nature of this most recent post.

Do we really need subtitles? Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A very quick and hasty rant.

Did anyone see Law and Disorder last Sunday? Louis Theroux was shadowing  a private security firm in Jo’burg in order to show how they dealt with the ongoing problem of crime and violence in the city. I was really looking forward to it but the programme left me bitterly disappointed.

Not only did he fail to truly investigate the issues raised, the use of subtitles throughout the programme left me angry with programme producers.

Ok, I understand that sometimes English needs to be subtitled. For example, if you are filming undercover and the sound is bad or when somebody has a particulary thick accent. But neither could be applied to Sunday’s programmes, and yet subtitles were used time and time again, which eventually detracted from the whole programme.

It seemed to me that the subtitles were used on purely racial grounds. Black South Africans were almost always subtitled regardless of how comprehensible they were. On the other hand, one white South African, who I did have great trouble understanding, was not.

To make matters worse the programme didn’t really seem to offer any substance. I have recently come back from South Africa and I decided to watch the programme in order to see how a British reporter would tackle the issues surrounding crime in the country. Unfortunately for a piece of investigative reporting, I don’t think that he did any sort of investigation. At one point in the programme Louis interviewed a known gang member who had just been released from prison. Coming from a trainee journalist’s standpoint, this was the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into the issue – not only was he able to talk to someone with first hand experience, they were willing to talk openly on camera. Unfortunately the opportunity was missed, although Louis did manage to extract some fairly graphic descriptions of the crimes the guy had committed.

Actually this summed up the programme for me. In the end it seemed to be less of an investigative piece and more one designed to shock the viewer. A “Look how bad Africa is” programme, which just maintains the West’s common misconception about the continent.

I have actually sent a comment to the BBC about the programme. I’ll update you if and when I get a reply.

I would also appreciate any feedback from anyone else who watched the programme.

CPS: No charges against Daniel James’ parents. Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Today the euthanasia question raised its ugly head once again after Sky 1 showed the last journey of Craig Ewert. Sky made the documentary in 2006, when the 56 year old travelled to Switzerland to die at the Dignitas centre.

The timing of the documentary couldn’t be more pertinent, coming just a day after the CPS announced no charges would be brought against the parents of Daniel James. Whilst suicide is no longer illegal in the UK, the 1961 Suicide Act created a new offence of “complicity in suicide.”

A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or attempt by another to commit suicide shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years”.

So far 101 UK citizens have used the Dignitas charity to end their lives.  A further 725 are on the group’s list. However, none of their relatives have ever been prosecuted under the 1961 act. This therefore raises the question as to whether the act has had its day. Should legislation be changed to legalise euthanasia?

Gordon Brown denied that any change would be made to the assisted suicide law. Speaking in the House during this afternoon’s PMQs, the Prime Minister said that it was a matter of conscience, but that he had always opposed legislation for assisted deaths.

“I believe that it’s necessary to ensure that there is a never a case in the country where a sick or elderly person feels under pressure to agree to an assisted death or somehow feels it’s the expected thing to do.

Gordon Brown, PMQs 10-12-2008

For me, whilst I studied the issue in depth for Ethics at A-level, it has always been a hypothetical question. As with similar issues, you can’t really know how you feel until you are in the situation yourself. But it does worry me slightly. I know that there would be safeguard written in to any legislation if any were made, but if Harold Shipman were able to do what he did undetected for years whilst euthanasia is illegal, how can we stop it happening again if it were decriminalised? How can we make absolutely 100% sure that noone is ever coerced into ending their life prematurely?

Social Media – how should it be regulated? Saturday, December 6, 2008

A shameless plug for our Regulation and Ethics blog.

We have been set the task of creating a 15 minute presentation highlighting the regulatory and ethical issues surrounding social media. Alongside our presentation preparation we are habing to blog about our research – highlighting what we find interesting and commenting on the posts of our peers.

You can find our Social Media Monkey blog here…

Feel free to have a look around