The Buzz: An obit for the Observer?
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8185809.stm Version 0 of 1. By Siobhan Courtney Welcome to The Buzz, our weekly round up of how the stories Newsnight reports are being talked about in the blogosphere, twitterverse and other social media. THE DEATH OF THE NEWSPAPER? Could coffee, croissants and a leisurely read of the weekend papers soon be a distant memory? Newsnight reported this week that The Observer is to <a class="inlineText" href="/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8184667.stm">undergo a strategy review</a> amid speculation the publication could be axed. Thousands have joined <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=135799485803">Facebook</a> and <a class="inlineText" href="http://twitter.com/savetheobserver">Twitter</a> Save The Observer groups. The journalism and society thinktank POLIS highlights the irony that these campaigns represent <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.charliebeckett.org/?p=1753">the first time that the venerable Sunday newspaper has had any online impact.</a> Elsewhere on the blogosphere, there is further debate about the possible closure of the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. The Third Estate says <a class="inlineText" href="http://thethirdestate.net/2009/08/save-the-observer/">"If I wanted to encounter such banalities on a Sunday morning I could go to church".</a> Sheer sentimentality aside, Liberal Conspiracy questions <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/08/05/save-the-observer-why-exactly/">what reason there is to support its existence?</a> Poster semiminted on Digital Spy Forums reckons <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=34380473">its a sign of the times that newspapers are struggling when their product is so easily accessible in numerous places.</a> ANALYSING THE RORSCHACH TEST The <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.rorschach.org/">Rorschach Inkblot Test,</a> a psychological evaluation tool comprising a series of 10 inkblot plates created by a Swiss psychiatrist nearly 90 years ago, has been reproduced on the online encyclopedia <a class="inlineText" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test">Wikipedia</a> complete with how to interpret patients' responses. It is a move which has sparked a furious debate between psychologists - who argue that prior exposure to the images and the interpretations of them could render them ineffective as a psychological assessment tool - and supporters of the free access ethos who oppose suppression of any information True/Slant reflects how ironic it is that <a class="inlineText" href="http://trueslant.com/nickobourn/2009/08/01/the-open-source-inkblot/">in their professional life, psychiatrists want their patients to share, to open up, and now they find themselves facing a dilemma over that very generosity.</a> Siding with the Wikipedia defenders, Alterdestiny says the debate has raised <a class="inlineText" href="http://alterdestiny.blogspot.com/2009/07/rorschach-test-wikipedia-and.html">some interesting questions over the role of research and its publication on public sites.</a> Poster Martin on the ScienceRoll blog thinks that <a class="inlineText" href="http://scienceroll.com/2009/08/03/rorschach-test-scandal-on-wikipedia-poll/">"as the information is out there, the test is already flawed - it's simply too late. Basically, a test that relies on security by obscurity will not work in our age."</a> While Newsweek reckons that the problem with the Rorschach test is that it simply <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/209502">doesn't work.</a> BANKERS AND BONUSES Despite the worst recession in decades, Barclays and HSBC this week announced <a class="inlineText" href="/2/hi/business/8181362.stm">multi-billion half-year profits.</a> Psychologist Graham Jones blogs about jealousy over bank profits and bonuses: <a class="bodl" href="http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/blog/internet-psychology/barclays-profits-bankers-bonuses.html">"One day, probably not too far away, big companies will realise that bonuses actually work against success because they breed jealousy."</a> And WalletPop blogging on the same subject says <a class="bodl" href="http://www.walletpop.co.uk/2009/08/05/bankers-and-their-bonuses-a-deserving-cause/">talk of bankers and their bonuses is a good way to stir up discontent and get us all huffing and puffing... Bankers deserving bonuses? Pshaw!</a> Twitter CEO Evan Williams gave Newsnight his first British television interview in which he said use of the social networking site has exploded in the UK. Twitter CEO Evan Williams: "London is our top Twitter using city" Charles Arthur criticised the <a class="bodl" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/aug/06/twitter-williams-newsnight-interview-transcript">line of questioning on The Guardian Technology Blog</a> , as did Shane Richmond at <a class="bodl" href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100002775/is-newsnight-a-form-of-journalism/">Telegraph.co.uk.</a> There was also fierce debate in the Twitterverse. But Blog.to.it thought it was a <a class="bodl" href="http://blog.to.it/evan-williams-of-twitter-on-newsnight-what-he-said">well balanced, considered piece of TV journalism,</a> while Mike Butcher at Tech Crunch Europe said <a class="bodl" href="http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/08/06/london-is-the-capital-of-twitter-says-founder-ev/">the confirmation from the CEO that London remains the top Twitter-using city in the world is pretty interesting.</a> |