Matt Churchill

I read this blog post last week about the shift from the traditional 9-5 working culture to that of a 7-9 and it wasn’t until now that it processed enough to think about it properly.

The digital age has brought with it continuous connectivity and as a result a presumed expectation that regardless of location, time or state of mind, we are able to be involved in and prepared to work erroneously for our employers – be that your company or your client.

The millennial, research tells us, will not put up with working if sais millennial does not feel it is fulfilling a series of needs, perhaps more complex than those of previous generations. I wonder then if the millennial will continue to work as the current trends are indicating 7-9, or if the millennial will say ‘enough is enough’?

With a 7-9 culture should come increased flexibility of working pattern, rather than a prolonged intensity of working pattern.

It would appear that this is not the case.

In the post 2008-2009 recession period, we are still extremely aware that there is a scarcity of job opportunities and that employment is a bit of a blessing. Does this mean however that the current millennial working population are more willing to put aside their generally accepted behaviour, or are they widely adopting the new working patterns because they enjoy it?

Is there also perhaps a feeling of panic that if you do complain about the hours you are working, the pervasiveness of degrees means anyone can replace you, be trained up and instantaneously disregard you, tainting your record as the perfect employee?

Or does the blame lie at the top with a Thatcherite age group dominating managerial roles who see the shift as the perfect opportunity to increase productivity levels and thus profits?
I am all for the digitisation of working practice, but with this comes a greater need to separate work and life.

Perhaps the millennial needs to take a look at itself and decide where it stands.

What do you think?

The Swindon Advertiser has come up with an innovative way to recreate scenes from a football match with Southampton using Subbuteo.

Southampton Football Club recently banned the taking of photographs of their players as they felt they should be paid for image rights.

At the time, the Hampshire club said:

“The club has decided to make available to external media organisations photographic images taken by the club’s own professional sports photographers only.

“These images will be available to all media organisations on normal commercial terms. The purpose of this is solely to protect the club’s commercial revenues derived from the use of its wholly-owned images.

“Saints fans will of course continue to be able to see a wide range of match day photography on the club website.”

Anthony Marshall, the brains behind the idea to use Subbuteo said:

“Everyone is trying to get around it. We just have to be as imaginative as possible. It is a bit quirky and hopefully the readers will see the funny side of it.”

“Football clubs need newspapers as much as newspapers need football clubs. The partnership is mutually beneficial.

“Clubs essentially receive free advertising, with their team and sponsors splashed across the back pages every single day, while the readership of papers is boosted by those who want to find out what is going on at their club.

It is appalling, yet not surprising, that as the current state of the game dictates, image rights of footballers should come under scrutiny, and is a damning indictment as to the state of the game.

There are strange goings on at Southampton at the moment: manager Alan Pardew was sacked after a 4-0 win last week, despite guiding the club to success last year winning the Johnston’s PaintTtrophy and pushing for a playoff spot with a ten point deduction hanging over the team.

That is of course no excuse for the odd behaviour and banning of photography. There are strange things afoot and it is a shame that local newspapers are being sucked into the swirling mess.

Free speech rights are set to take a turn for the better as the US Supreme Court seeks to rule on recent events brought about by the publication by Wikileaks of controversial US military records.

The Guardian has reported that it is likely that the US Supreme Court is likely to favour Wikileaks given the probability that the release of the data will be the catalyst for legislation.

The Afghan war has been rumbling on and this latest twist could, from a point of view of the publishing of secret data, be one one of the most impactful.

This demonstrates just how the digital age will continue to infiltrate the traditional order and to shape the way we live.

The knives have been out for Wikileaks for a while and whilst any judgement may not totally prevent further legal proceedings, it will set a precedent that will echo for a long time yet.

Wikileaks, the long-time advocate of freedom of speech and freely available information of national, and international, importance, has become the unlikely footnote to the Afghan conflict.

The BBC are trialling a new hypertext service over their online streamed content.

According to Paid Content:

The BBC’s Andrew Littledale developed a way to show hyperlinks to BBC.co.uk pages and BBC News stories related to whatever is being said on the live channel.

What I really like about this is that it demonstrates how online content can be utilised to make offline content more useful and to add context to a story.

This could be extended to include relevant resources about the topic being discussed, real-time conversation, images or videos too.

TV is regaining a status of a social activity as we connect online over certain shows or events as they happen through the broadcast medium. That the broadcasters are acknowledging this ever more is fascinating and demonstrates the positive role that the web can play in bringing people together and helping to develop and add value to the experiences they’re sharing.

Cate Sevilla, editor of tech and lifestyle blog Bitchbuzz, has launched the Oh My Blog Workshop.

The initial sessions will take place atTechHub, on September 23rd at 19:00.

“Stellar Content and the Dark Side of Blogging”, which is comprised of two, 45 minute long sessions, will feature veteran blogger Natalie Lue as a Guest Mentor.

The workshops will be run with the aim of ‘making your blog better’, helping to grow the already burgeoning London blogging scene into an “unstoppable force of creativity and innovation”.

I was lucky enough to ask Cate a couple of questions about the venture…

What was the catalyst for putting the workshops together?

After spending a lot of time this year talking to various PR companies and brands about blogging, and even teaching at blogging classes that were organized by other companies, I realized I wanted to organize and teach at my own workshops. I’ve learned so much over the last five years of blogging, and specifically from setting up BitchBuzz, and I really want to help others and share what I know. I think there’s a lot to be said for openness and collaboration in any community or industry, and I hope that by the mentors at Oh My Blog sharing what we know and by being open, we can help turn the London blogging community into something really fierce.

Who do you hope will attend the sessions?

Anyone in or around London who has a blog that wants to become as savvy and as knowlesgeable about blogging as they can. They can blog professionally or as a hobby. Our workshops would also be perfect for someone hoping to turn their blog into a business.

Who can get involved in future sessions?

Anyone who works in or is involved in an industry or community relevant to our workshop topics. If you’re interested in becoming a guest mentor or partner, or if you have an idea for a workshop topic, you can email me at CATE at BITCHBUZZ DOT COM

Have you got plans to expand the sessions outside of London?

We would love to! We’ll see how the first three go, and if there are enough people outside of London who would like to attend, this is definitely something we’d be keen to do.

Tickets for “Stellar Content and the Dark Side of Blogging” are now on sale for £15 and you can follow the latest developments on Twitter at @OMBworkshop

Blogging about something you call a passion has pitfalls as well as positives. On the plus side, it means you get to write about something you really dig, understand and want to learn more about. On the downside, it can mean you become so entrenched in topic it feels like you are wading through treacle.

I have a lot of time and respect for people who pour hours into creating, maintaining and managing music blogs. I’ve been lucky enough to write for some exceptionally talented people who love what they do and want others to be a part of it.

There are, to me, three types of music blogger:

Passionistas – they do it for themselves, and if they’re lucky enough that somebody should read their stuff it’s a bonus

Enthusiasts – they love music, want to be read and find themselves contributing to several different blogs and websites (I’d consider myself among this group incidentally)

Careerists – the music is good, but it’s just a stepping stone to that all important first journalistic job

Whatever category you loosely fit into, the one thing you need as a music blogger, is time.

It is, except in very rare circumstances, a position where you listen to as much music and go to as many gigs as possible, fitting the activity around your other priorities – work, family, friends etc

This means that as much forward planning as can be concocted is vital if you are to make as much of the opportunity afforded to you by plucky PRs (and editors) as you can.

Editors, by and large, stick with this. They know what it takes to fit in the music around lifestyle as they’ve already been there and done it.

The PR, with a review opportunity doesn’t necessarily take the aforementioned factors into account. A review expected two days before a single release, is not in most cases feasible. A last minute attempt to entice you to a gig which kicks off in three hours is folly.

As a music blogger I want time, patience and an acceptance that I’m not at the beck and call of a PR just because the artist they reckon is going to be ‘the next big thing’ hasn’t managed to attract the likes of the NME or Mojo. It smacks of desperation.

I want my editor to give me two weeks advance notice as a minimum so I can plan to fit the gig/review into my routine or existing plans. I want to like the music i’m going to hear (if I don’t already) and an antagonistic approach will not help this to happen.

The formula for keeping music bloggers is simple: time + space = a fair review

I’d love to know what other music bloggers think: if i’ve missed the point, i’m on the money or somewhere in between, let me know!