Into The Unknown: February 2008

How NOT to run a 'feature' blog, in two easy steps

0 comments at Friday, February 15, 2008

The Guardian's one of the last few newspapers I'll actually buy (or read), and their online content is near enough outstanding in its breadth, depth and quality (BBC Online aside) - but sometimes their subsection editors' sensibility goes a little AWOL. (I can usually be found skipping the supplements whenever I'm reading the paper; main section - always read, supps - recycled.)

Whilst the whole 'let's do a liveblog about someone's great wild adventure' is still somewhat popular amongst media outlets as a way of engaging viewers and increasing that good old stickiness, here's a classic example of how NOT to do cross-media features: Guardian Unlimited: Travelog: Max, 19, hits the road, backlash commences almost immediately

So remember people, when you're next doing your feature blogs (as you do), don't employ one of your writers' sons as your average-sample-from-the-youth-demographic pseudocelebrity blogger!

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Hello, and welcome Into The Unknown.

My name's Christopher, and this site's my venue for discussion and highlighting of topics more relevant to my technical (and technological) interests.

It appears that you're interested in newfangled thingumajigs and technological bits 'n bobs (all with a healthy dose of cynicism thrown into the mix - for the best, of course).

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

Hopefully this blog and its content contained herein adds some value to somebody else's day... Maybe even yours. Thanks for stopping by. :)

What else does Christopher do?

As well as this site, the most recent creation to crawl from my subconscious, I also spend my time writing on my personal blog (not always safe for work, it is very much my thoughts as they come out so beware!)

When I'm doing work proper, I'm a cross-media designer, systems analyst, solutions provider and general on-call geek for my company, based in the Birmingham area. As an aside, I also provide custom web hosting solutions for people who want a solution that's a little more personal (and cost-effective).

In the rest of my spare time, every so often I tap new entries into other sites of mine: The Uniblog, About Brum, this blog's companion Tumblog... Loads of sites!

Since moving to the fair city of Birmingham, I've increasingly found it a rich, detailed place to live, and eventually I decided to start blogging about it. Thus was born About Brum, and slowly but surely I'm chipping away at the latest development for it - podcasts highlighting one aspect of the city or the region in depth. Lots more work to do on those, but they should be great when they're finished.