Show And Tell

Warsaw Pack and anarcho-capitalism

2005-05-24T10:38:00.000+01:00

I've been introduced to the musical activism of Warsaw Pack by a friend this last couple of weeks. I've got hold of their two albums - Gross Domestic Product and Stocks and Bombs. They rock. Hip-hop, jazz, groove, funk, rock - mixed and blended. And lyrics that cut through the blingtastic, egocentric, soulless celebrity shit that you wade knee-deep in all along Oxford Street.

Go visit the website and listen to 'Attention to Deficit'.

Their record label, G7 Welcoming Committee, is one that "politically radical bands and speakers could unflinchingly support and call home". The label operates as a collective, along anarcho-capitalist participatory economics' lines.

"As a rogue independent media outlet, our goal is to spread the word, as it were, on radical politics through music, words, and other weapons of mass sonic destruction, while maintaining the right to rock out to good tunes at the same time."

For more reading on ParaEcon, check out the excellent Z Mag site.

Brent East Campaigning - A review

2005-05-09T10:00:00.000+01:00

Over 6 weeks & 53 postings the Brent East Campaign has been blogged. My keyboard is wornout and revision for my exams in backlog. This has been a prolonged high - which explains my recent apearance. I thought I'd review my efforts and share my experiences of the last six of weeks.

Brent East Campaigning: The campaign
In the tense 10 minutes that the candidates stood with the returning officer and inspected the doubtful ballot papers I was sharing my impressions of the campaign with Paul Keilthy from Archant Media Group. I was impressed with the technical quality of the campaign run by Lib Dems and Labour; each party had created and distributed localised materials, and each had been able to rapidly turn around 'news' of events (e.g. names visiting) into publicity materials. Paul thanked me for publicising the campaign materials (the original stated goal of Brent East Campaigning blog) as the parties don't distribute their campaign materials directly to the press. That's twice I've been taked for doing somebodys job for them this last week.

The Lib Dems appear to have had greater resources at their disposal that Labour. Team:Yasmin may have been able to pull in the 'names' of old Labour but Team:Sarah was superior in people power. The Lib Dems were able to distribute a far greater quantity of campaign materials due to the number of voulenteers at their disposal. I've yet to discover if the LDYS were mobilised to support the Brent East Campaign in the same way that the Young Fabians were.

From a technology perspective, Team:Sarah already had an established web presense which provided a source of information on her candidacy. Team:Yasmin were severly lacking in this area. Not having a website must have been detrimental to her campaign. Anyone using a search engine to uncover information about Yasmin would have been presented with a series of news articles - some more favorable than others - as well as a link to this site, whereas the search results for the Blue Team and the Orange Team yeilded links to official information sites.

I have been monitoring the 'refering links' statistics (see Note 1) for my website. The blog has been viewed by people refered to it after using the names of candidates in search engines (see Note 2). Another popular search term is Brent East. Searching for Brent East in Google gives the results of my blog, the websites of the Lib Dems and the Conservatives but not Labour. Even Rainbow George manages to make the first page of links (see Note 3).

Brent East Campaigning: Misrepresentation
My Brent East Campaigning blog did not cover the whole constituency. A more accurate title would have been 'Mapesbury, Queen's Park and Kilburn Campaigning' as these are the areas I have gathered most of my information from. Perhaps I should have done a little ward walking. In hindsight that would have been valuable as my favorite 'finds' of materials have been picked off the street. Additionally, the two main contenders in the recent campaign, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, produced campaign materials that targeting specific communities in the constituency. I would have liked to have been able to post materials from other areas in Brent East. The opportunity to compare and contrast materials from other areas of the constituency would have been interesting: were the candidates/parties emphasing different aspects of their manifesto in different area?

Brent East Campaigning: Participation
My active contribution to this blog over the last 6 weeks totalled 53 postings. I don't even know how many hours total was spent meeting candidates, scanning campaign materials and researching details. This blog has been viewed by 816 unique visitors (measured by IP address) and I've recevied 5 emails from readers contributing information and one comment on a posting. I would have liked to have seen greater contributions from Brent East residents, but I feel that given that the blog was only running for 8 weeks total without link propagation (other than Richard Kimbers Election resources page) the level of readership and contribution was high.

Brent East Campaigning: Pretty Pictures
Here are some images grabbed from StatCounter.com
This graphic shows the daily 'hits' to the blog since my first post up to the day of the election.

This graphic shows period from 9th April to 9th May.

This graphic shows the period 3rd May to 9th of May in detail...

Note 1: A refering link is the link that directed a viewer to a website. This information was collected by StatCounter.com as part of their basic counter service.
Note 2: Google has been the search engine responsible for around 95% of my refering links.
Note 3: I would link to it but that 'breaks' my listing in Google, so just visit google.com and search for Brent East...

Fear and Loathing on the Brent East Campaign Trail

2005-04-08T10:07:00.000+01:00

I've started to blog the Brent East constituency election campaign. I'll be sharing all the paper propaganda distributed by candidates over the coming four weeks. Wide open for all the see. Informed choice facilitated.

I've met two of the candidates already, well three, as I've met Sarah Teather too. More to share on that score soon.

So it's December already...

2004-12-08T11:16:00.000Z

What's the point of blogging if I don't blog? How occasionally can I blog and still be a blogger? I've been busy. Very busy. My two full time jobs have been demanding of late - Comwifinet needed a liberal application of the hands in order to site two further antenna in Queen's Park. Coverage extends and the network continues to grow - albeit slowly.

At each encounter with 'the system', Comwifinet are being delayed. What should have been a simple process: buy off-the-shelf company, rename it, open bank accounts, start trading; has become deeply bogged down. Companies House have been slow to process forms, causing information that doesn't match with our forms to be returned to banks when they perform their due-diligence (i.e. money laundering) searches.

But hey! At least we've progressed into getting application forms for banks completed and returned! LloydsTSB, NatWest & Barclays ALL FAILED in their 'New Business Enquiry' processing. Either no information was sent or calls were never returned. Maybe it's because I mentioned that we were a non-profit organisation... Anyway, I am glad that the account opening process in underway and that the organisation will soon have financial services from The Cooperative Bank. The Coop have an ethical investment policy, something that appeals to the Board of Comwifinet.

My BA is progressing satisfactorily. I have just completed my first four assignments, totaling around 11,000 words. With pre-edit material and notes / plans I figure I've typed around 20,000 words in the last four weeks solely on these assignments. Add in those notes taken in lectures and seminars and I get to around 35,000. I cannot even begin to estimate the further keystrokes of emails over the same time period. If there was ever to be a reason for not blogging here it is: I got sick and tired of typing!

BA Politics, Economics and Public Policy has been really rewarding in terms of the breadth and depth of understanding it builds within me. The proscribed reading is engaging; the further reading is adding the fine furnishings of knowledge in my mind. The painful part has been trying to consolidate and compact my understanding into a coherent and concise response to an essay question.

Technology and politics, technology and politics. My Political Theory paper posed the question 'Is it plausible to think a representative democracy could be made more participatory?' As part of my response I discussed internetworked tools that could be utilised to encourage direct participation in the democratic process. Blogging by MPs was of course discussed. I should have also mentioned the steps being taken by some fellow students in the use of technology to increase accountability and transparency in the Student Union. Take a peek over at the Goldsmiths Student wiki, our collaborative whiteboard work space.

My keyboard has been given a short rest - well, long enough to make and smoke a joint. The RSI tension in my fingers has given time to subside and the curvature of my spine is relaxed. Bloggage continues. So, updates to come for Sarah Teather is My MP.She's been a busy girl don't you know. You did see her on Question Time last week, didn't you? Wireless Projects need new information adding. And there were a few things I'd like to 'show and tell' here too.

'Normality will resume just as soon as we've figured out what normal is.' Mr Adams, you astuteness is noteworthy.

And relax....

2004-10-22T17:30:00.000+01:00

And breath in...

So. I last had something to 'show and tell' over a month ago (and that wasn't particularly big or clever...)

Been busy. Enrolled on BA Politics Economic and Public Policy at Goldsmiths University. Getting my teeth stuck in. Substantial stuff. Satisfying.

And then there is comwifinet and the development of the queen's park wireless club.

This is a 'i'm not dead, just busy' post.

Updates to sarah teather is my mp continue as normal, with news just in on SPAM prevention from Sarah herself.

Look, it wouldn't be big OR clever...

2004-09-20T09:33:00.000+01:00

...so don't do it. right?

Only the criminal would download that JPG I posted over on 'sarah teather is my mp', add some new text (with font Times New Roman, I think), print it on a sheet of heavy cream paper with a colour laser printer and use it to gain entry to the House of Commons...

"A Lincolnshire MP has denied writing and signing a letter which allowed pro-hunting protestors to get on to the floor of the House of Commons. - BBC"

Launched!

2004-09-14T11:28:00.000+01:00

The Queen's Park Wireless Club launched on Sunday at the Queen's Park Day.

And now comwifinet is live too...

Updates to Sarah Teather Is My MP coming this week - she's been busy; I've gotta catch up.

Something to show and tell.

2004-08-27T09:37:00.000+01:00

Blogging has been light this last week or so. I've been very occupied with my current projects.

Holiday next week, returning on the 9th. Project launch on 12th. Hope to get near a keyboard afterwards.

If you can't beat them...

2004-08-17T10:05:00.000+01:00

Join them.

Commuter plans own train service saying

"I'm just an ordinary man in the street with a desire to see things work better. There's no consideration for the traveller at the moment. We might as well be meat. Even if all this comes to nothing more than waking First Great Western up to the fact that there's a demand for earlier trains, then I will have achieved something."

The new operator plans to call it's self 'Trotter Trains'. Excuse me while I check the date....No...Not April.... Or perhaps 'Trotter' is a further reference to being trated like cattle.

Where did they get the idea for this from?

2004-08-15T15:00:00.000+01:00

The House to Home exhibition organised by the Hansard Society at Westminster Hall yeilded some interesting - although hardly suprising given voter turnout figures - feedback from its 45,000 visitors. More than 80% of respondents felt excluded by Westminster politics.

I had a poke around the online version of the exhibition.

From the site you can create your own banner and send it someone as an e-card.

Here's one from me.

And here my memory started to stir... Havn't I seen this sign-generator idea before? Well, it's been taken down now...but I bet you one chocolate biscuit that's where the idea came from!

Who's got your attention?

2004-08-15T14:00:00.000+01:00

Technocratic has crunched the weblogs once again and come up with a metric of authority or trust in online sources. So, just who are we - the online community - trusting for our news?

The results are a wake-up call to the established media houses.
This should worry quite a few people.

Click here for source image

Community edited news recycling sites rank among the traditional sources such as CNN and the BBC. Blogs Boing Boing and Instapundit rank above Fox News and SF Gate.

In 'Transparency Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere', JD Lasica explores the change in the voice of authority in news and comment over at the Online Journalism Review.

I had to get this checked. Twice.

2004-08-12T11:31:00.000+01:00

Are mine eyes deceiving me?

Go to the home page of Labour Party in Sheperds Bush. It may be a crap URL - but it is the one linked to from the London Labour site

"If you are interested in our neighbours in Hounslow, Ann Keen or Alan Keen have
a look at www.hounslowlabour.org"

Click the link.....(it should be SFW but it's NSFW)

I had to mail Tim. I wasn't sure..did I have dodgy DNS settings?

Apparently not.

As Tim writes

"...despite this being brought to their attention and reported once or twice, they have yet to chase down and update external links from many other Labour websites. (Not that this is easy to do. With so many of them hiding their content behind frames, a simple Googling of the URL is unlikely to detect every link. Can I perhaps suggest you take a peek at your old referral logs?)"

1000th unique page loads

2004-08-12T08:18:00.000+01:00

At 01:26 this morning, sarah teather is my mp received its 1000th unique page load.

from the statcounter logs...

Users of the Parliament network can't type. They keep on ending up at the blog after searching for a miss-spelling of 'sarah teather is my mp'

Users who arrive at the site from search engine results have only used Google to search

Those working late on the Brent Council Network had fun with the "Google 'sarah teather' find the blog game" on Tuesday

WTF! He hoaxed it!

2004-08-07T18:09:00.000+01:00

"It is unfortunate that it had to be the type of video that was offensive and shocking, but it was necessary to see how quickly this kind of thing would spread," - Reuters

How quickly this kind of thing would spread??? On teh interweb?

Well, I guess this spares us from discussing videotape anomalies for the comming weeks.

The last survivors

2004-08-05T09:28:00.000+01:00

Lest we forget

Humiliated, Angry, Ashamed, Brown.

2004-08-04T09:44:00.000+01:00

It can be difficult to tell the difference in a battlefield situation between a camera and a shoulder mounted missile launcher.

But what were various US security officals thinking this young man was doing at the Seattle District Lake Washington Ship Canel?

Moi?

2004-08-03T17:48:00.000+01:00

Moi?

Well, JC thinks so.

I'll see if I can redeem myself over the next few days. Updates to follow... .. .

Putting the 'F' back in Freedom

2004-08-03T13:21:00.000+01:00

This season, I shall mostly be looking forward to 'Team America: World Police'.

The Independent writes audiences should be prepared to “imagine the Thunderbirds fighting the war on Terror. Or, if you prefer, a Jerry Bruckheimer action-fest recast as a musical.” First peeks on the internet show Osama bin Laden adorned by naked nymphs, Mount Rushmore hiding the secret headquarters of “Team America” and Michael Moore covered in mustard with half eaten hot dogs in his hands. “...The most serious issues facing the White House and the world will be treated to a heavy dose of utter irreverence and gleeful comedy.”

Mine arrived today....

2004-08-03T12:25:00.000+01:00

TURN ON, TUNE IN, DROP OUT.

Good. I feel safe now.

DEFCON Mango

2004-08-03T09:41:00.000+01:00

"Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday."

p.s. use bugmenot.com

SCREAM (quietly) if you want to go faster!

2004-08-03T09:36:00.000+01:00

"The case is a historic victory for the little guy against the giant corporation and for the environment in general."

WiaB from Labour

2004-08-02T11:27:00.000+01:00

Developed by Big New World for the Labour Party, Web-in-a-Box (WiaB) is a website-building tool for the Labour Party family. "You don't need any specialist programming knowledge to edit the site - just basic word processing skills."

So, is it a bit like using Blogspot/MT then?

Here's an example of what it produces...So a LOT like blogspot then....

But it's NOT! It's the same old, tired, static, centralised, plug-and-produce website that stifles any sort of discussion or relationship with an MP. The 'news' feed (from the central Labour party) has nothing new since the 24th July...The lastest 'post' is regarding the Big Conversation...yawn....

Now...if WiaB was Blog-in-a-Box we'd be getting somewhere!

HOWTO: blog for your MP

2004-07-29T23:22:00.000+01:00

Blog for your MP

Make your blog part of the solution, not part of the problem. This bit is important. Your already poking enough fun by running a blog on their behalf, riding google rankings and racking up page views when their site should be getting the traffic. And if you have some real deep-seated hatred for your MP, perhaps you ought to reconsider your motives for doing this. Part of the solution. Present information. Give comment. Invite comment. Encourage others to write, edit and post stories. Engage with your fellow constituent in the same manner you would like your MP to. If you worry its becoming an obcession, take a break, but catch up later.

Promote your blog. Draw attention to it. And no, I don't mean achieving number 1 on Google. Get off-line. And I guess this kinda comes down to how much you give a shit about it. You've got to tell everyone you know locally about your blog. Put up posters about your blog. Hand out stickers on your High Street about your blog. (Or at least something with a TWFY link on, get 'em think like.)

Participate. I had the recent pleasure of hearing my MP at the Mapesbury Residents Association Annual General Meeting. We met, and thought each other had met each other before. Which of course we haven't. But it was her suggestion, and it worked, as I pissed off and let her and her colleague go home. Anyway. Get out there and meet them. Don't become some kinda NIMBY pest, but do engage them on the issues you feel strongly about.

--------------------------------------------

That is, of course, just a suggestion.

Which has got me thinking about my own involvement in the movement to get our elected representatives online and accessable. Is 'sarah teather is my mp' part of the problem or part of the solution? You tell me. There is a comments button. That's the point.

Am I promoting the blog? Yes. Slowly. One person at a time. I figure if I struggle to get my SO to read it then I'm not going to get very far! But yes, slowly, one person at a time. Having distributed 'Will Blair Resign' stickers outside of Parliament with Tim, demonstrated against Bush visiting the UK and marched against a war I didn't want carried out in My Name - Sure, I can get down my local tube station and sticker bomb commuters. That's the easy part.

Can you?

Participate. I know it can be a chore and a bore to stop watching Big Brother and go the your local Residents Association meeting, or to an open forum event or whatever meeting with the public event officialdom has for engaging with us. I got some form through the door from Brent Council, soliciting my thoughts on, well, anything!?! Give us your Top 3 they said. have I filled it in yet? No. Too busy blogging about how one should participate.

Right. Gotta go. Form to fill in.

Ask...

2004-07-29T18:30:00.000+01:00

... and you shall receive.

Tim, keep on keeping on.

To: yeot@parliament.uk, timyeomp@parliament.uk
Subject: Webloging by MPs
Good morning Mr Yeo,

You're probably going to be reading a few of these messages today, so I thank
you in advance for reading mine.

Can I just say that, for what it's worth, I don't think Mr Tim Ireland has been
a very helpful chap with regards to the e-government agenda he has been
pushing. Photoshopping you was rude to say the least.

But he, and the rest of us, do have a valid point. Blogging is the cheapest,
most direct, discussion mechanism politians can engage in. And while
effectiviness has yet to be proven due to its infancy, this movement does have
big potential.

Here's what I would do.

Throw caution to the wind, accept the transfer of tim-yeo-mp.blogspot.com to
your administrative control and then blog away! Taste and see that the online
world is good.

Thanks for reading this.

My next task is to email Sarah Teather, my MP for whom I blog at
http://sarah-teather-mp.blogspot.com, and see if she will get blogging.

Regards,

Rob Dyke
http://show-and-tell.blogspot.com
http://sarah-teather-mp.blogspot.com

Blogging by/for MPs

2004-07-29T17:19:00.000+01:00

Following on from the Hansard Society report into UK Political Weblogs (PDF report here), the Guardian keeps the spotlight on this area with this story, basically encouraging MPs to get blogging.

There has been much said on this topic in blogsphere of late. And with good reason. So I'm not going to repeat it here.

But I would like to highlight a few bits of the Guardian article.

"Although the public might think otherwise, a lot of MPs do not have a great deal of money," explains Ferguson. "Most are short-staffed and short of time but the blogging platform is going to be really useful to MPs because it cuts down the price of the maintenance costs of their websites. Blogs costs virtually nothing."

Blogs do cost very little to setup. From a technological point of view, there is very little stopping the main political parties from setting up central blog infrastructure and providing default design templates and saying 'get on with it'. I mean, to a greater of lesser degree that is what the LDs already do - their local party sites are all similar in look and feel.

But we know how difficult it can be to get tecknology (sic) on the agenda.

Why are MPs reluctant to get direct with their online ineractions? Labour's Richard Allan, MP for Sheffield Hallam says "To be perfectly frank, when I talk to colleagues, they are concerned about their reputations and by being too honest. MPs are worried [about blogs] because they don't want things taken down and quoted back at them. But a blog only works if it is personal and honest.

I'm having trouble working out why my elected representitive would be concerned about being too honest. And while I agree that quote/unquote journalism is obstructive to progress and change in opinion and mood, it is important that honesty and integrity are at the front of communications with the people.

Which is why I don't want to see a US-ian style - staff written with approved spin - of weblog from UK politians.

So what's next - that's the question a few of us have been asking. Thinking caps on indeed.

I figured I needed another online presence

2004-07-28T09:52:00.000+01:00

and this, temporarily, will be it.

I figured that the presences I had (for the wireless projects, for my mp, etc) were too targetted and therefore not suitable for adding random notices, pointers to flotsam, and typewritten scriblings.

But here will be just fine.

First post!

2004-07-27T22:03:00.000+01:00

Wooooooohhaaaaaaaa!

FP! I RULE!

Sorry. Sorry about that. I guess I used to spend too much time on /. when I were a lad...