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Is it just because I’m old, or…..

Posted by Pam | 26.05.07

Thoughts about the fleeting life-span of e-literacy usually only strike me when I’m looking for an excuse to put off tackling the hard drive housekeeping. But this time they were sparked by a text message from an old mate who makes natural history films and, so, spends much of his time in places where there would be signs saying “Earth’s last true wilderness”, if only there was anyone within 100 miles to make, mount or admire them.

When he first started travelling, exchanges of messages were memorable events. One year, Ted received a birthday tribute on time, thanks to a detour by the scantily-clad crew of a dug-out canoe. On another occasion, he ended a letter “Must close now or I’ll miss the post” – a fine example of British understatement, given that in the rainforest, the boat that carries post calls monthly (weather, flood and fallen trees permitting).

I still have the letter – stained with the splattered corpse of one of the biting insects of which it complains. But today’s txt? That’s as likely to survive as the place he sent it from – a South Pacific paradise that is almost certain to sink under the rising tide of climate change.

Gadabout Giffords would be the first to admit that – however relayed – his despatches aren’t destined to be historically important. But they do highlight how communication has changed in the last 10 years, and the challenge the changes will create for historians of The E Age in future.

For sure, digital technology is a boon in many ways. It’s quicker, slicker, less elite and more widely shareable than any ‘old skool’ letter, diary or manuscript. But, as anyone who ever owned a Betamax knows, it also becomes redundant faster than you can say reel-to-reel tape recorder.

And when the pace of technological development is combined with a read-it/dustbin-it attitude to communications and records, it doesn’t really matter how many Bibles fit in a tetrabyte. In future, who will have the means to view the Collected Emails of Atticus, Bede’s YouTube History of the English People, the Flickr Book of Kells, or Samuel Pepys’ Blog?

We’ve been here before – we think. The years around the last Millennium are often called the Dark Ages because of the scarcity of hard information. Usually, the historical gap is blamed on a sudden boom in horn-helmeted stag parties and a new fad for raiding, looting, ripping and burning. But it’s tricky to be certain, without written evidence.

What if the real reason the darkness descended was that a monk with time on his hands hit on a beautifully-illuminated way to ask all the world’s writers and records-keepers: “Are you sure you want to delete?”. And they answered, as we do daily: ‘Yes”?

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Help on posting jobs, the Directory and the Newsletter

Posted by Tom | 25.05.07

I think there is a bit of confusion about posting jobs and the difference between being signed up to the newsletter and being a member of the directory. With this in mind I thought it would be useful to post a quick explanation about how the directory, job posting and newsletter sign up work and relate to one another.

Firstly the newsletter sign up and the member directory are separate. If you are signed up/receiving the newsletter this does not mean that you are in the member directory. With this in mind please note that you must be a member of the directory and have your profile setup to post jobs.

Basically when we migrated users from the old site there where a lot of you who had decided to receive the newsletter but not be members of the directory. We wanted to respect that decision and kept the two separate but made it as easy as possible to pop by the site and join if you felt like it.

Finally we use the grey boxes on the right hand side to give people some helpful pointers on what and how to do things. If your stuck give them the once over. Having said that we all know how confusing instructions can be sometimes so if you think something doesn’t make sense drop us a line.

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Get Blogging - here's how

Posted by Admin | 18.05.07

Join the blog?

As you can see, a new feature of the Bristol Media site, is the blog.

So if you fancy kicking off topics we’d love to hear from you.

We’re looking for around a dozen main bloggers who represent different parts of our membership (TV, animation, marketing, digital etc…)

What we looking for?

Contributors to:

spark debates about industry news, hot topics, opportunities and threats
comment on existing or emerging developments in your sector
share feedback on events/ conferences and the like
write reviews of new kit, applications or publications
post about new sites to visit, virals, great work you’ve seen and so on.

We’ll give you a password to post immediately, so just get in touch – pam@bristolmedia.co.uk and we’ll get you going.

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New site - live

Posted by Admin | 09.05.07

It’s been a few months in the making and after a lot of hard work from our wonderful web developers, Beef- it’s here, the new Bristol Media site.

The new site offers a lot more functionality and added value than the previous incarnation. Lots more features, opportunities to interact and share your ideas, comment, be kept informed of events and diary dates, the ability to upload your work to the new showcase section (coming very, very soon), post your jobs and all your company news in a much more user friendly way.

The site’s aim is to draw all of Bristol’s media and creative companies, freelancers, one-man-bands and contractors to come together under one banner, Bristol Media.

Our initial aim is to have Bristols’ most comprehensive directory of creative and media companies and people and have the biggest list of creative and media Bristol jobs under one roof.

So use it, subscribe to it and email us with any suggestions or feedback you may have.

This really is just the start, so welcome aboard…

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