4 July 2007

Freed
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

What a day. Welcome home Alan.

We remember

100 days
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

100 days in captivity.

Training the citizen journalist

Dan Gillmor
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Dan Gillmor gave an excellent presentation today. Web 2.0 and all that jazz? Yes.

But not just the usual, some useful insight into the need for better training of both journalist and audience -- something along the lines of how to "read" the news.

Did he mention "The Wisdom of Crowds"? Funnily enough, no, not once.

The wisdom of crowds

Apparently at conferences you have to mention the wisdom of crowds
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

I attended a conference on Engagement, Social Media and the Internal Communication Revolution. A mixed bag of goodies. One thing stood out in everyone's presentation over those two days, 6-7 June, that's for sure -- the book of the moment is "The Wisdom of Crowds".

*makes some sort of mental note

Alan Johnston

Free Alan
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

10 weeks in captivity.

Sunday morning blueberry breakfast

Sunday morning blueberry breakfast
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Loving my courtyard garden, especially on weekend mornings :-)

sunburst

obligatory yellow things 1
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Sometimes, things just feel right.

Yay!

triangles
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

I've been neglecting my blog -- you see, I meant to blog this one last Tuesday, but I've been a bit busy. There was a reason (or two).

spring is sprung

blossom
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

At least, it was on the 1 March. By the evening of 2 March, it felt like winter had set in again. Oh well.

I did!

A new message
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Well, it was Shrove Tuesday, after all.

It's today...

Blueberry pancakes
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

...only I forgot. *wonders if she can fit in a few before midnight...*

Just because...

Blue hearts
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

...it's today.

Awards ceremony #2

BAFTA 2007
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

A rather glam night out on Sunday 11 February...

Awards ceremony #1

Please do not adjust your set
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

(Just catching up on a bit of blogging -- so many awards, so little time.)

Meaningless conversations?

Go on...
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

It is a phenomenon long known in the media industry -- from the early days of radio phone-ins to the golden rules of enhanced interactivity and contemporary 2.0 social software -- ask the punters to comment, tell them how and they will.

I tested this thesis the other day by posting this snap on Flickr. It held fast.

Here's a couple of links to some other meaningful/meaningless* conversations -- Comment is free and
Have your say.


*delete as appropriate (Because I suppose the question I'm asking is, are these sorts interactions really meaningful or meaningless?)

When worlds collide

tempting
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

I think it's best if I say more about that later.

Phew

Thank goodness for that
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Sponge is the new art

Colour your World Service
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

So this is what I did with my yellow sponge for My TVC's colour your world art project.

Initially I thought I might do something a little different with it, because of My TVC's Flickr name -- TVC is the acronym of BBC Television Centre. But...

TVC is the other side of town for me.
I wasn't convinced I could get a decent angle with the sponge and the BBC logo on the side of that iconic building.
And, then I realised that My TVC had posted: "I’m hoping to get a good spread across the globe, so international interest is appreciated.

Bingo. I had a better plan. BBC World Service offers a global audience international news and information from the BBC, wherever you are in the world.

So, a bit of a parody of an iconic Bush House image it was: "This is London".

I like this one as this guy just walked into the shot and clicked at the brass plaque, at the same time as I was all set up and taking a picture. It kind of made sense of why I chose this shot -- images of Bush House, and the brass plaques, are taken by many many visitors who make their personal pilgrimage, year round. And those prized snaps make their way back around the world to be shown to friends and relations.

I would hazard a guess, however, that this might just be the first to be taken with a yellow sponge.

Yay!

We're all children when it snows
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Snow.

Yellow challenge

It's my yellow sponge
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

A Canadian FlickrFriend of mine -- My TVC 15 -- has roped in a few of us from around the world for an art project.

He's sent us red, blue and yellow sponges, plus matching pin. Mine had arrived in the post when I got home tonight... and a yellow sponge it is for me!

The challenge is to pin it somewhere -- not at home, but at work, or in a public place, ideally next to something of a similar colour or similar ilk -- take a pic and post it into the colour your world group pool.

Given his Flickr name, I have the gem of an idea, but whether it works we'll have to see. I'll post the results.

*tick tock*

Changing times
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

I have to photoblog this because:

1) I have to start getting into the habit of blogging stuff. Flickr is easy to remember to do and really it's easy to blog from Flickr; my workblog is already in the mix (just blogged on the other side of the firewall); somehow, I've got to find my voice on a thousand words but it might take me a bit of time (...visual metaphor intended).

2) It's pink.

The big question -- will it match or clash?

Mime fest

You have received a new message
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

I went to the most brilliant mime show last night at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. Part of the London International Mime Fest Met up with some old friends for a last minute thing. And was blown away -- not quite like this guy with the balloon. But balloons were a big thing in the performance by a French troupe, the Compagnie Philippe Genty. Very clever. And highly recommended (...runs until Sunday 21st).

ping pong

*pings* (again)
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Last night I went out to ping pong for Sarah's leaving do -- not the official work one, the other one, with a group of friends. A couple of cocktails and dim sum; Sarah's a China specialist, so it made sense! And we had a lovely time.

One of the great things about where I work is meeting some great people. Sarah's certainly one of them. We go back a long way now. And whilst I'll miss her around the office, fortunately our friendship isn't about to stop here. It's a friendship which has punched through the "firewall" and that's something I really value.

The temptation of AnnabelB

Da da da da...
Originally uploaded by AnnabelB.

Ooo... trying to blog a post from Flickr. *clicks the button*

Edit back on Blogger: Yay! That's brill. Now I'm really rather happy. It might even mean I keep this blogging thing going for a while...

Bon voyage

I've been following the experiences and day to day life of Frances -- or Snow_girl on Flickr -- at the Halley Research Station on Antarctica. She's one of the British Antarctic Survey people who work down there.

But I'm going to miss watching what goes on through her pictures and sharing some comments on her photostream -- and I'll have to see if another Flickr-ite emerges amongst the new team -- because Frances is now on the RSS Ernest Shackleton, on her way home.

Bon voyage Snow_girl!

A picture paints a thousand words

Just been having a quick hunt around for the source of this phrase.

The first time a form of the phrase appears in print is in James Kirke Paulding's New Mirror for Travellers, 1828: "A look, which said as plainly as a thousand words."

This was followed by "One look is worth a thousand words", written by Frederick R. Barnard in Printer's Ink, December 1921.

Printer's Ink used another form of the phrase in March 1927, suggesting a Chinese origin: "Chinese proverb. One picture is worth ten thousand words."

But I rather like the more visual version of the phrase -- "a picture paints a thousand words" -- so that's the title of my blog.

I have a photoblog at work by the same name -- I'm not always good at updating it, although I try to remember amidst the hubbub -- it's partly because I set myself the task of using a photo on each entry and sometimes it's difficult to match a photo with a blogging entry that relates to work.

I'm not going to set myself the same boundaries here, although I think we'll both discover that pictures are a big part of what I like and do.

And on the subject of work, just to be clear, whatever you will find here will be my observations and views, not those of my employer.

I'm not going to set myself a theme or set of themes either, not at this point anyway. I'd just like to see what evolves.

Some readers may stumble across this and realise that I have another passion.

In a way, my Flickr photostream has been my blog so far. Let's see what happens now.