Niche Blog: Textbook Travels reflection report

The purpose of Textbook Travels was to provide a service to students with a passion for travel by informing them on ideal destinations and how to reach, experience and enjoy them on a student budget.

Textbook Travels endeavoured to provide insights on destinations far and wide while retaining an emphasis on British travel to ensure students are informed of what is on their front doorstep. Textbook Travels acknowledged its roots and audience by publishing pieces such as a guide to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Festival and Reading Week Rambles (in Britain).

Having visited a considerable number of countries in past years, I was able to draw on my own experiences in many of my blog posts.

I managed to provide fresh and up-to-date content on the blog by using a number of contributors who wrote guest blogs. These contributors were sourced through my Facebook friends. I kept an eye on where my friends were travelling, found out their travel agenda and proposed feature ideas for them. I have had pieces on Australia, Ecuador and Thailand to date with many more in the pipeline.

Textbook Travels aimed to deliver its content in a sophisticated manner through several pieces of intellectual long-form journalism. This was achieved through writing articles such as What Caused Australia’s Floods, which drew heavily on topics I studied during my undergraduate degree in Physical Geography. This was not the way I had originally intended to add the intellectual element to the blog but high viewing figures and large numbers of comments would suggest it has been successful.

Tools

In order to effectively support the Textbook Travels community I used several methods.

Firstly, I kept up to date with travel news and agendas by reading a selection of print and online publications such as Wanderlust and Lonely Planet, which enabled me to get an idea of what was trending in the ‘travelsphere’ at any specific point in time. I also engaged in travel forums including MyWanderlust and Adventure Travel Magazine Forum to see what people wanted to know about travel.

I used Netvibes to organise the content I wished to follow. This included setting up several RSS feeds for blogs that focused on student travel, and other travel related niches. The blogs included:

• Graduate Traveller
• Intoxicated Abroad
• Goneforawander

I used Flickr to source photos when I needed a shot that wasn’t in my own personal collection or could not be provided by my contributing team. The images I obtained from Flickr were always of a high quality and fell under the Creative Commons Licence.

I used Safari Internet browser to conduct research on the destinations I covered.

Finally, I utilised a range of social media websites in order to publicize my blog. This is explained in more detail under the ‘Social Media Strategy’ crosshead that follows.

Hits

I set out to publish 2-3 blog posts per week and between October 28-February 18 I had 25 blog posts published, which means I fell short of my initial target. I expect this can be attributed to the fact that during the Christmas holidays I neglected the blog to concentrate on revising for exams.

I reached my initial target of 1,000 hits by the start of the second semester. Since the inception of Textbook Travels, it has received 12 hits on average per day. However, the range varies on a daily basis from 0-71, correlating directly with the amount of activity and publicity Textbook Travels receives.

My most popular post, with 95 hits, has been The Great American Road Trip.  This was my longest and most detailed article, featuring a variety of different road trip routes in America. I anticipate its success can be attributed to the relevance it has with the Textbook Travels audience. The self-explanatory headline increased its search engine optimization and probably yielded more readers than other posts that had slightly less obvious headlines. I also feel its success is a result of the amount of times I plugged the story over Facebook and Twitter.

The site has picked up 32 comments since it began and I have always made it my duty to respond to people’s comments.

Social Media Strategy

From the outset I knew my initial fan base was likely to come from my Facebook and Twitter networks. I started out by posting links to articles through Facebook and Twitter and after studying my site statistics for an extended period of time, I realised that the latter was bringing in a a considerably smaller number of readers – despite using hashtags and other Twitter skills.

I expect this is because my followers on Twitter don’t know me as closely as my friends on Facebook and as a result they have less of an interest in what I’m writing about. Also, my Tweets only go out to my 214 followers whereas my Facebook status’ are viewed by nearly 1,000 friends.

In addition to posting links through my own personal social networking accounts, I also set up a Twitter account for Textbook Travels (@TextbookTravels). It has had limited success to date, with only 30 followers, but I am confident going forward that @TextbookTravels could enhance the blog’s readership, providing I invest more time tweeting from that account.

The Facebook page I created for Textbook Travels has received 35 ‘likes’ but it never really progressed and as a result has been left somewhat neglected since December.

Future

It has been a brilliant experience and I feel it has enhanced my travel writing skills, passion for travel and online presence. Going forward, I aim to keep Textbook Travels running strongly, with regular blog posts and hopefully an increasing number of hits.

Online Journalism Blog

The online journalism module I took last semester provided me with the vital fundamentals needed to succeed in the blogosphere.

Guest speakers, such as the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones and The Times’ Joanna Geary, came in to share their words of wisdom with Cardiff Journalism School’s aspiring journalists.

Links

https://samshead.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/how-to-make-your-content-stand-out-on-google/

http://textbooktravels.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/reading-week-rambles/

http://textbooktravels.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/guest-post-adrenaline-fuelled-plunge-into-the-ecuadorian-andes/

Will good journalism be the first casualty of the digital revolution?

Charles Reiss, former political editor of the Evening Standard, recently said: “The way journalists do things has changed enormously. What we do has changed very little. What we are has never changed. Recorders and computers are just the ‘pipes’ through which we do our job.” But are these new pipes contaminated and consequently infecting today’s journalism?

The International Federation of journalists believes good journalism needs to be: objective, truthful, accurate, impartial and fair. This applies to all published journalism, regardless of whether it is delivered in a Sunday newspaper or through an iPad app.

The digital revolution has seen several new technologies develop that allow journalists to tell their story through a growing number of mediums. One key tool lies at the core of these platforms; the Internet.

The worldwide web went mainstream in 1993 and innovation has occurred at a soaring pace. Ever since the Internet came into our domain, pessimists have predicted the end of many revered practices, including journalism. The prediction that online news and blogs would spell the death of the trade is a myth that is almost as old as the web itself.

It is possible the web is not as omnipotent as we consider it to be. Wired magazine recently claimed that iPhone apps would kill off the web and it’s possible to see why as these popular apps become increasingly sophisticated and Apple’s ‘app’ idea gets picked up by several other mobile phone manufacturers.

Pete Clifton, head of multi-media editorial development at the BBC, said 1.3 million people have downloaded the BBC’s iPhone and iPad applications while Peter Barron, Google’s director of communications for northern and central Europe claimed, “ We haven’t seen anything yet. There are currently 1.8 billion people online across the world. There are 5.6 billion mobile phones and counting – the web-enabled mobile phone is changing everything. By 2015, the primary way of accessing the web will be by mobile phones.”

Of course new technologies come and replace others. The CD-Rom wiped out the need for printed reference books while Wikipedia caused the market for disc-based encyclopaedias to disintegrate. However, the need for referenced information lives on, and is in higher demand than ever before. Wikipedia is currently the sixth most popular website on the Internet and far more people look things up than they did when the printed encyclopaedias were at their peak.

The aforementioned example clearly illustrates that the platform a service is delivered on is irrelevant, and on the contrary can lead to that service being enhanced through the infinite possibilities digital can offer.

Despite this, there are critics who will tell you that the digital revolution has spelt the death of the journalism industry and an ever-increasing number of journalists are being made redundant.

Malcolm Tucker, the fictional director of a sitcom based on Government communications, ‘In The Thick of It’, said: “I know these are hard times for print journalists, I read that on the Internet. One day you’re writing for the papers and the next day you’re sleeping under them.”

I believe we have entered a multi-platform era where print is just one alleyway journalists can go down to publish their work. The web is another, iPad apps are a third and there will be many more to come out of the Internet’s mystery pipeline. I believe it is possible they can all co-exist in harmony and enable journalism as a whole to flourish.

Sceptics on journalism’s future have typically focused on three arguments to support their case. The first is that online revenues are insufficient to allow good journalism to survive. A recent study by accountancy firm KPMG found that only 2% of readers are willing to pay for news online, with many consumers saying they would be unwilling to pay for sites they use regularly.

Harold Evans believes the future business model lies with digital printing where consumers can download and print their daily newspaper off a high-tech digital printer installed in their own home. He believes this new method will allow newspapers to cut costs by 30% and terms the idea ‘print-on-demand’.

The second argument critics use it that long-form journalism does not have a place on the web. This has led to several publications developing hot-off-the-press iPad apps, in the hope that Apple’s most recent toy can offer the consumer a more immersive experience. An increasing number of publications, such as BBC Focus, are starting to develop these lucrative apps and paving the road for the future of journalism.

Finally, the Internet has in a sense allowed everyone to become a journalist through social networking sites (such as Twitter) and blogging. This has led to an information overload and a concern that consumers are having to sieve through a lot of poor journalism, produced by unqualified journalists, to access good, quality news and features. But I would argue consumers know the traditional news corporations with strong reputations, and will therefore continue to come back to view their material. Similarly, readers become familiar with blogs they enjoy viewing and will therefore return to what they know.

As journalism continues to expand over an ever-increasing range of platforms, it is important to step back, look at the broader picture and refer back to the key values and ethics of journalism – the ‘canons of journalism’. The fundamentals of the craft are still as important as ever and they are what ultimately determine journalism standards.

When journalists cut corners and neglect the fundamentals, ailing journalism is produced. Unfortunately, renowned journalists working for highly regarded news corporations fall into this trap all too often, as seen in recent years through a number of events that occurred at the BBC.

Perhaps the most devastating piece of journalism the BBC produced was in 2003, when a journalist on the Radio 4’s Today programme made poor use of a source by misquoting him and later revealing his identity. The source, David Kelly, was one of Iraq’s most respected experts on Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons. He found himself at the centre of an intense row between the BBC and the government over a ‘sexed up’ dossier. It is widely believed he took his own life. This tragedy could have been avoided if said journalist, (Andrew Gilligan) had kept to the practiced code of journalistic conduct.

Ian Hargreaves said: “It was not only the work of the individual journalist at the centre of the controversy but also the workings of the BBC and the complex and controversial governmental communications machine his journalism was seeking to expose.”

The Hutton report cleared the government of wrongdoing but heavily criticised the BBC and ultimately led to the resignation of two of the BBC’s most senior staff, the chairman and director general, including several other journalists.

On the topic of the trial, Andrew Marr said: “Many of the reporters slouched at the back of the courtroom watching the BBC’s Andrew Gilligan trying, vainly, to explain himself to QCs and Lord Hutton, wondered how their own practices would stand up to that kind of examination.”

Five years later, prank phone calls made to actor Andrew Sachs, by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross prompted a major row that led to Brand quitting his BBC Radio 2 show. Station controller Lesley Douglas also resigned, Radio 2’s head of compliance quit, and Ross was suspended for three months without pay, after the BBC received over 55,000 complaints.

These are two key scandals that have taken place at the BBC in the last decade and have undermined the key things journalists need to stand for: integrity and truthful reporting.

As the digital revolution continues to unfold, altering the way we do things and forcing journalists to adapt, I believe that one thing prevails unchanged. Good journalism will always be in demand, because good journalism remains timeless.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuition fee apartheid

Katie Dalton, NUS Wales president, showing her support at Cardiff University protests.

It is 2012 and two British students sit next to each other in one of Oxford University’s finest auditoriums on their first day as undergraduates. While they both have excellent A-Levels, are studying exactly the same course and their parents earn roughly the same amount, one is paying a staggering £6,000 a year more for their degree than the other. This difference is all due to where they live in the UK; one is from Southampton, the other, Carmarthen.

Institutions across the UK will be able to raise their fees to a maximum of £9,000 a year for the 2012-2013 academic year. However, only those students from England will pay the full £9,000 a year, causing tensions between English students and their counterparts from other UK nations, who pay lower fees.

Sally Power, an expert in education policy from Cardiff University, said: “The relationship between England and Wales is most problematic as 50% of Welsh domiciled students go to English Universities and 50% of students at universities in Wales are from England. Scotland is far more self-contained, as is Northern Ireland.”

The impacts of raising the fees are currently unknown but education experts have their theories.

Sally Power believes: “Clearly there is going to be an impact on the extent to which university is now seen as a feasible option to certain sections of society in England.”

Apartheid

The very mention of ‘apartheid’ will throw people back to the racial segregation that occurred in South Africa for nearly 50 years and only ended in 1994. In spite of this, under new education policy, Britain could see a new type of segregation with its very own tuition fee apartheid.

Gareth Thomas, English Labour MP, claimed: “English students and their families are being let down by the deliberate choices of the Government. As other administrations in the UK, as well as every other country apart from Romania are showing, fees for Universities do not need to treble.”

Politicians in Wales argue they are entitled to set their own fees and that each nation in the UK is responsible for catering to the needs of their particular students.

Matthew Flye, a Welsh Assembly education spokesperson, said: “Our significant announcement [that Welsh students will not face an increase in fees] will not create apartheid, it is simply devolution in action.”

It may well be devolution in action but is it really fair that English students have to pay £9,000 to study in Edinburgh or Cardiff while Welsh and Scottish students can study in England without facing the punishing new levy?

Mario Creatura, higher education worker and education blogger said: “It is one of the drawbacks of England’s relative independence within the EU, that as it is only a constituent part of the UK, England technically is not an individual ‘EU nation’. Even so, students are understandably irked.

“The English Government are not discriminating against English students; they just aren’t able to afford to support English students as much as the other UK nations – the conscious decision to make one specific nation’s citizens pay extra just isn’t there.”

Protests

Students and lecturers congregated in large numbers across the UK to protest. The main demonstrations took place around the Houses of Parliament in central London, with as many as 50,000 people turning up to rally on November 10.

Students from all over the UK, who study in Wales, also took part in protests at Cardiff and Swansea universities.

 

Katie voicing her opinions and at a protest in Cardiff.

Katie Dalton, NUS Wales president, said: “The Welsh Assembly Government has taken responsibility for supporting Welsh domiciled students, whereas the Government in London has taken the ideological decision to slash state funding and saddle future students with debts of £40,000. When an English student paying £9,000 sits next to a Welsh student paying £3,300, they should direct their anger at the Westminster Government for introducing this grossly unfair policy.”

Ray Lewis-Ayling, Cardiff University student and active member for Action Against Cuts – Cardiff, on the possibility of a tuition fee apartheid.

The Future

If tuition fees can treble at the drop of a hat, what is to stay they won’t continue going up in future? Public funding may be stripped from higher education altogether, leaving universities with no choice but to charge extortionate fees.

The Labour party’s spokesman Lord Triesman accused the Government of attempting to drive through the “privatization” of universities. He told the BBC: “The concept of universities will switch from being a public good, as they have always been through modern history, to essentially a private sector, market-driven by personal private investment.”

These are worrying times for the higher education sector in the UK. As public funding is cut to universities, different nations are experimenting with various strategies to make up for the lost funds. However, no one really knows what the consequences will be. The Labour party, and several experts, predicts a bleak future for higher education as they believe this is the first step towards privatization and UK universities will be left to find their own market value.

Sally Power on the future of higher education fees.
http://audioboo.fm/boos/238021-sally-powers-on-the-future-of-higher-education-fees.mp3?source=embed

Hyperlocal journalism gets personal

Hyperlocal bloggers are providing their local communities with invaluable information and services that TV, radio and newspapers cannot.

This is due to the niche geographical area that hyperlocal bloggers focus on. It allows them to report on news and events that are of great interest to a local community, yet not necessarily deemed newsworthy by larger news corporations.

In Cardiff, Ed Walker, the WalesOnline communities editor, and Hannah Waldram, the Guradian Caridiff beat blogger, are perfect examples of how this focused view on local districts can prove crucial to residents.

Hyperlocal journalism allows journalists to form strong relationships with people in the community they report on, which can only benefit the overall standard of the journalism the bloggers produce.

The other thing about hyperlocal is that it can be done by anyone and accessed for free. These personal blogs are a blessing to residents, particularly during times when the weather is as bad as it has been this week. School closures and travel services are often the most visited pages on hyperlocal blogs.

Take a look at some of the best hyperlocal blogs for the UK, and perhaps find one that covers your own area:

• Guardian Cardiff
• The Lichfield Blog
• The Isle of Man Blog

How geolocation devices can bring a community together

There are a few tools for bringing a community closer together and practising hyperlocal journalism. Gowalla shares your location with others using your phone, as does Foursquare.

Radio Frequency Identification Tags can be read anywhere and potentially used to track people, which many would argue is ethically wrong and it could be dangerous if used by stalkers.

Gowalla allows you to check in to places on your phone and complete trips designed by other people. See my Isle of Man pub-crawl here:

• The Isle of Man’s #1 Pub Crawl

Digital Journalism at the heart of the Expenses Scandal

Data in its purist form is anything that can be analysed.

Data journalism is on the up as journalists are becoming ever more competent at analysing data to show a hidden pattern or trend that others would fail to spot.

The Freedom of Information Act gives journalists, and the general public, access to a wealth of data that many of us would have previously assumed to be classified. The act was introduced in an attempt to create a culture of openness and accountability. As a result, when an information request is made today, the public body is obliged to respond within 20 working days. If you’re at a big news corporation then you may not necessarily have to go looking for data. Data will find you.

In May 2009, The Telegraph Media Group accepted a disc full that detailed all the expenses claimed by MP’s. They broke the story in The Daily Telegraphy and The Sunday Telegraphy, but leaked the information over a prolonged period to keep interest in their publications high and to ultimately sell more papers.

Another example of data journalism are the University League Tables, which are again, a very lucrative piece of journalism to the papers that publish them.

With an increasing number of tools becoming available, data journalists are successfully producing more and more striking visuals that have a greater  impact upon the reader than a page of text and numbers. These tools can be found on websites all over the web, but range massively in complexity and effectiveness.

One of my personal favourites that anyone can use is Wordle, which can produce fantastic word clouds in a couple of clicks. Here is an example of a word cloud produced on Wordle for a speech made by David Cameron shortly after he became Prime Minister.

Journalists move in with the audience

Joanna Geary, web editor of The Times, and Nick Brett, Deputy Managing Director of BBC Magazines both spoke this week about how crucial it is for journalists to engage with their audiences in this day and age.

BBC Magazines interact with their readers through an ‘Insiders Panel’, which allows readers to get a sneak peak at content and give feedback on what they are producing.

The Times have a similar approach. They contact the readers who contribute the most comments to their website and ask for their thoughts on the journalism they are churning out. They are also noting the demographics of their audience, and paying particular attention to the various industries their readers work in. This is a direct attempt to gage an idea of what attracts the average Times reader to their publications.

With increasing numbers of news sources out there, it is crucial for journalists to understand the essence of why readers buy their publication, and use this knowledge to their advantage.

Geary said something had to be done in journalism to ensure journalists can make a living in years to come. She argued  The Times was simply leading the way and testing the water to see what works, which is more than can be said for other papers.

However, prior to the introduction of the paywall, many people who bought the print version of The Times now cease to do so. Myself being one of those. My allegiance lay firmly with The Times. I would buy the paper and use the website. Take away one of the platforms and in my opinion you jeopardise losing readers from the other.

Typewriters to Twitter

Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology Correspondent, told Cardiff Journalism School how technological advances have led to new forms of journalism.

The internet opened up a world of opportunity to journalists. Social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are now crucial journalistic tools that Rory uses on a daily basis. A self-confessed ‘Twitterholic’, Rory said: “Twitter is a brilliant news tool that has replaced RSS feeds. It is essentially people bouncing back news from one another.”

Blogs are good for breaking specialist news that wouldn’t otherwise make the main news bulletins. The problem for the BBC is that blogs are more opinion-based than other news forms.  However, after HBOS share prices dropped 25% following a blog from BBC journalist Robert Peston, all BBC blogs are now vetted by the editors.

Rory went on to say: “What do you get with a blog that can be great or not so great? “Bloody comments.””

Nick Robinson, who won this year’s blogger of the year award, has openly said he does not read comments on his blog. Rory is told by his wife not to read them but admits he always has the urge, knowing full well that some of them can be abusive.

Rory wrapped up by giving the wannabe journalists some top tips.

“We have a new relationship with technology and a new relationship with audience. However, an eye for a story, a desire to communicate and a thirst for accuracy are all still in high demand.”

However, as former guestspeakers at CJS have emphasised the need to be competent across all media platforms, Rory reminded us that, “Employers are still interested in having someone who has a core skill.”

The young boy who once typed away on his mother’s typewriter to the BBC journalist who blogs away on his iPad left me feeling excited at the prospect of entering this ever changing industry.

Bring that beat back

As every man and his dog is now blogging, journalists are moving back towards more traditional forms of journalism, says Adam Tinworth, Head of Editorial Development at Reed Business Information and enthusiastic blogger over the past 9 years.

RBI, a B2B publisher, are using social media and blogs across a number of their magazines as an alternative means of drawing in business. RBI sell services and data through a successful paywall system, which differs from that of The Times as it provides customers with something they need to know instead of something that is simply of interest.

Whilst regional and local newspapers are starting to provide hyperlocal blogs, RBI are introducing hyperniche blogs such as Flight Blogger, a blog specifically about commercial aviation.

Just as hyperlocal reporting is building the relationships that exist between journalists and their geographic community, hyperniche blogging is all about building relationships within a community of people that all share the same interest.

Hyperlocal reporters to get to know the community they work in by forcing them to get out and about and work on the beat. Hannah Waldran, The Guardian’s hyperlocal blogger for Cardiff, is constantly on the move, and this is how it should be according to Adam.

Adam and Hannah patrol the streets on the beat with a few key tools/gadgets in their rucksacks. In my rucksack you’ll find:

• Laptop – MacBook. Allows me to get my work online and accessed by my readers.
• Camera – Sony Cybershot T90
• Audio Recorder – H2 Zoom
• Video Recorder –
• Pen and notepad –
• Mobile Phone – iPhone 3G.

(Spare batteries and memory cards should always be included where possible).

Specialist blogs, written by experts in their own field are attracting more traffic than the more general blogs out there. This is the way forward says Adam. Find your niche and work it.

How to make your content stand-out online

 

“Plan for the machine, write for the human”

The opening sentence for this week’s talk on how to make your content easier to find via a search engine. A process also referred to as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

To write effectively online, the publisher needs to write clearly and accurately, whilst putting into practice the basic SEO rules.

Evidence suggests that search engines look at the first 200 words on a website, with some arguing it’s more like 500. Nonetheless, the things people search for mostly are places, names and brands so it is important to get these into your content whenever possible.

Headlines need to be pun-free and under 10 words because search engines will cut them at about 60 characters. This may prove to problematic for the tabloids and magazines whose usual style is quite pun-heavy.

The Science Part

Nielsen found that short, sharp text coupled with objective language and a well-designed site, allowed readers to absorb material with the greatest ease. The cognitive load (how much we force people to think) is significantly reduced if we follow the aforementioned rules.

The Basics

Text should be active, concise, clear and legible with short intros (up to 20 words) and paragraphs (up to 35 words). A heavy emphasis was placed on spelling and grammar.

George Orwell famously said:

“Never use a long word when a short one will do.

“If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

“Never use a passive when you can use an active.”

Page Elements

Subheadings (such as the ones in this article) are useful for breaking up text; bullet lists are clear and easy to read; indented quotes are often looked for by the reader; hyperlinks must be effectively used and highlighted words are good as long as they are not overused.

The Intro

Needs to be short and concise, yet packed with enough detail and power to hook the audience.

Links

A link should always mean something and be incorporated into the sentence. Citation styles should never be used.

The Blurb

Also known as the ‘Meta Description‘, it is a short paragraph that will be shown in the search engine results. Large organisations spend a lot of money paying people to write effective blurbs for them, showing just how important it can be, as most of us don’t always click on the top hit. It should be written as a short paragraph, and resemble a standfirst.

 

I personally think the creativity is being sucked out of headlines by filling them with keywords in order to get higher up on the google ladder. However, business is business and it’s a competitive market out there.

Cardiff Journalism School’s 40th Anniversary Conference: Tomorrow’s Journalists Today: The Challenge of Convergence

Cardiff Journalism School (CJS) has put some world renowned journalists through its reputable postgraduate courses. Now they’re back to talk to the next generation who will hopefully be following in their footsteps. Having recently embarked on the magazine journalism postgraduate diploma, I was fortunate enough to be sat in the 100-strong audience and hear from some of the best journo’s in the business.

The morning began with talks on ‘Convergence in a Digital Age’, with guest-speakers including:

• Pete Clifton (BBC) – Head of Editorial Development and Multi-Media Journalism.
• Peter Barron (Google) – Director of Communications for North and Central Europe
• Nick Brett (BBC Magazines) – Deputy Manager Director and Group Editorial Director

Pete Clifton outlined how effectively the BBC is making the move towards a multi-media news corporation. Nowadays, it’s not enough to be able to have an eye for a story and write well. You also need to be competent across an entire range of platforms, thus a modern day journalist should be capable of  producing podcasts, videos and blogs. Even the most well-established, senior journalists at the BBC are now being taught how to work across a range of mediums.

Another key point Pete was keen to point out, is that everyone sits together. There used to be a cupboard or a plant pot to seperate those working on radio with those from TV or those from online.

The BBC  News team are moving to what they consider the to be the ideal future newsroom – W1. A multimedia newsroom big enough to house 80 double-decker buses, and the biggest of its kind in Europe.

Pete was asked

Where do traditional journalistic values feature in the BBC’s new approach to journalism?

to which he replied,

Original journalism still lies at the heart of what the BBC does.

He said the BBC will cover fewer things than the masses of online blogs, but what the BBC do decide to cover, will be of top quality – and this is what distinguishes the BBC from ‘everybody else’.

Peter Barron was next to take to the stage, representing the global superpower that is Google. He confessed he had previously been giving the same lecture at City University (Cardiff’s arch-rivals) only the day before.

He began by throwing some jaw-dropping statistics at us including:

• 1.8 billion people online across the world
• 5.6 billion mobile phones across the world and counting – many of which are web enabled and therefore changing the way we access the internet.
• By 2015, the primary way of access the web will be from mobile phones.

He went on to explain that in this day and age:

Everyone can access the world’s information. Everyone can be a news gatherer. Everyone can be a publisher. A lot of what is produced will be crap, but even if only 0.01% is good, then this is of great concern to professional journalists.

The burning question for the audience came up next. How will journalists be funded in years to come if a) anyone can produce journalism and b) if the number of people producing high-quality journalism for free is high? Why would a consumer of media go and pay for a newspaper or magazine, when they can access news of the same standard online? The future of funding is currently up in the air, but people such as Rupert Murdoch (behind The Times paywall) are doing the right thing by experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t.

Peter finished by giving us a brief insight into Google TV. Where web meets TV. He believes this is the future and it’s what people want. It will allow people to watch TV and be tweeting and interacting from the comfort of their very own sofa.

Nick Brett rounded up the morning talks with a positive approach to the future of magazines – something I was only too pleased to hear.

I had heard the future for magazines looked bleak from numerous people. However, Nick was adamant the future is bright but it is also different, emphasising that conventional magazines will have a place on the shelves for many years to come, but they will also have a place in the world of digital media.

He spoke very positively of tablets, declaring his love for his own iPad and telling us how his wife no longer has to tell him to turn the light off when she wants to go to bed, as he now reads all his books on this clever little gadget.