Feed
Just a quick note to draw your attention to a new feature on the site: the feed icon at the bottom of the right-hand column. I tend to prefer to write detailed pieces every week or so, rather than the frequent, shorter and more informal posts you’ll find on other blogs, so hopefully the feed will be useful for some of you.
Something on media coverage of Iraq to follow later in the week.
Something on media coverage of Iraq to follow later in the week.
Meantime, try the excellent UK Watch, if you haven’t already. In its early stages and already a great resource, this could develop into something on a par with America’s ZNet, with a bit of backing. My last post, and the one to follow, underline the need for us to produce and develop alternative and reliable sources of information outside of the mainstream media. UK Watch and ZNet are attempts to do just that. The writing’s illuminating, thought-provoking and rewards regular visits. Highly recommended.
5 Comments:
It is good to see that UK Watch is up and running again (it seemed to be down for several weeks). But I don't think UK Watch could really be regarded as an alternative to the mainstream media (though the excellent ZNet certainly could) as it is. UK Watch mostly consists of a mixture of articles reposted from mainstream sources (like the Guardian, New Statesman, etc), and more radical sources (SchNews, Socialist Worker, etc). While this is a valuable service (much like Global Echo), acting as a sort of reverse filter for the media, it is hardly alternative or any more reliable. That said, it is worth supporting.
Also, curiously you now seem to have two feeds. One from blogspot (which still seems to work) and one from feed burner. Which should I use?
The point is that with a bit of backing UK Watch could well develop into something like ZNet. That's what the people behind it tell me they'd like to achieve. At the moment they have to start out by publishing what leftfield writing they can, but their aim is to develop a community of writers, produce articles and interviews themselves, and generally try and move things on from there.
See the Eric Herring interview this week for the sort of thing they hope to be doing more of in the future. They've reproduced some of my articles from here but when I get more time to write I'd like to be able to take them up on their offer of some writing some material purely for them. As I say, its a chance to develop something worthwhile, and a site worth keeping an eye on.
oh btw. - it seems that both feeds can operate simultaneously so use whichever suits. Feedburner seems a bit more flash but, as you've probably discerned by now, I understand very little of such things.
Of course, I agree that UK Watch should be supported - I was merely noting its current status. And I had noticed that a few articles seem to have been published exclusively there.
As for feedburner, I seem to recall that it badly mangles the feed for Information Clearing House (even once you figure out that the feed they list on the site isn't actually theirs). So you might like to list the blogspot feed as an alternative next to the other, for people whose browsers can't find it.
Incidentally, I have replied to your comment on my blog. (Even if you don't want to reply, you should at least read the last bit, which I think is important.)
Thanks for your final comment on my blog - I enjoyed the discussion, and I think I got quite a bit out of it (even though we hit a few dead ends a first).
It occured to me that in addition to sites like UK Watch, another way to organize news is via a coalition of blogs. This is not exactly a new idea - for instance there is one called Anarchoblogs, which unfortunately appears to be awful, but it gives an idea of how these things work, or the much better Moon of Alabama. It's kind of a single blog which seems to combine blog entries from the RSS feeds of a number of other blogs, and looks to be a better way for people to communicate with each other in the comments sections (rather than jumping from blog to blog). Might be a good idea to join/set up one. (Which is what I was planning to do after I had enough entries to call my blog a blog.) Just a thought.
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