Sincere apologies.

Firstly, a happy new year to you all.

Secondly, my lack of care for my blog is clear for all to see when you see that opening sentence being written on January 28th, poor form indeed.

I have neglected my lovely little blog recently, but endeavour to spice it up once more in the coming weeks.

2010 has had a manic start, and will continue in a similar fashion, I've taken over the role of News Editor at Pluto, UCLan's fantastic student newspaper, and am also getting stuck in with a project with the BBC this semester too; this, coupled with my degree means I will be a very busy boy!

I promise to pop in soon.

Honest.

Image editing - Preston North End Football Club

In continuation with the Skills Tests for the Digital Newsroom Module here at UCLan, I had to test my ability with image editing software.

I had to choose one of the following to photograph:
• Lancashire county council
• Preston City Council
• The Flag Market
• The National Football museum
• Preston North End football club
• The University of Central Lancashire

Then I had to edit the image to three different sizes, using cropping tools and resizing. The three sizes were:
• One 100x100 pixel thumbnail in jpeg format
• One 400 pixel wide by 300 pixel high version in jpeg format
• One 200 pixel wide by 500 pixel high version in jpeg format

To take the images I used a Fujifilm FinePix S5000, and to edit and crop them, I used Photoshop Elements 8.0.

This is the original image I took, of Preston North End's Deepdale Stadium, I chose to include the statue of PNE legend, and sporting hero Sir Tom Finney, as I feel it adds more to the image, than just a shot of a generic football stadium.












This is the 100x100 pixel thumbnail version of the photo, I chose not to crop anything, simply to resize, as I liked the editorial content of the original photo, so felt no need to cut any of it out:



This is the 200 pixel wide by 500 pixel high version of the image; in this image, I opted to include the towering floodlights including part of the National Football Museum, whilst keeping the statue of Sir Tom Finney the focus:

And finally, this is the 400 pixel wide by 300 pixel high version of the image, in this image, I decided to not include the floodlights, or anything high up in the shot, but to keep the statue in shot, and show a bit of the side of the home stand, including a map of the stadium, and a half full car park:

'Dick' Griffin...

So tonight was the night the nation waited for, no we’re not talking X Factor or Strictly, we’re talking politics.

Tonight was the night that the BNP Leader Nick Griffin had his and his party’s true colours shown to the world.

After weeks of criticism against the decision to allow the BNP to have their views on BBC’s Question Time, the time had finally arrived.

In all truth, and for what it’s worth, I wholeheartedly agree with the decision to have the BNP on the BBC’s flagship politics show, after all, we live in a democracy and seeing as the party was voted in democratically, they have every right to be on the impartial BBC, no matter how disgraceful their views.

The night was always going to be uncomfortable for Griffin, and he took a real grilling from audience, other panellists and Dimbleby alike.

Quizzed on his views on immigration, the Ku Klux Klan and holocaust denial, amongst other issues; Griffin did himself no favours as he laughed off claims of racism, and arrogantly smirked his way through an uncomfortable hour.

He was visibly shaken by the test of his political mettle, and frequently muddled himself with his words, making a point then contradicting it almost instantaneously.

Hopefully Jack Straw will be proved right in saying the appearance was not an ‘early Christmas present for the BNP’, hopefully it’ll open the eyes of British voters who voted not in knowledge, but in anger.

The BNP thrive on coverage, and they certainly got some in this instance. Fingers crossed that the British public will see Griffin for the slimy, racist creature that he is.

All in all, a good night for Britain, and a positive night for politics.

Democracy, One. Nick Griffin, Nil.

Barack Obama, the greatest leader, ever?

Ever since Barack Obama stumbled onto the political scene, I was mesmerized.

Mesmerized by his charisma, mesmerized by his charm and more importantly, mesmerized by his ability to inspire.

On January 20, Barack Obama made history, and shattered taboos; becoming the first black President of the United States of America.

This fact alone tells you many things, not only the one-dimensional views of the country he now controls, but also Obama's love to take on a challenge, and succeed.

Barack was born into a family of challenges. His parents divorced when he was aged just two, he then saw his father just once more after the split, before he died in a car accident.

Throughout his childhood, Barack was moved from school to school, lacking stability and continuity, he lived with his Grandparents aged ten, until graduation, then lost his mother to ovarian cancer in 1994.

Obama reflects on his childhood struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multi-racial heritage; attributing his mutual respect for different cultures and beliefs to his Hawaii upbringing.

His inauguration speech alone was enough to win me over, a speech that will go down in history with Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I have a Dream'.

In his first days as President, he identified a number of issues as key on his presidential agenda, the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camps and the withdrawal of troops from Iraq; he also took steps to reducing carbon emissions, and aims to reform the American health system.

Obama is also making positive steps in assisting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza; and it is refreshing to hear such positive comments about the American President, after having George W. Bush in office for so long, almost every word that Barack mutters is a work of art.

Barack Obama has, without a doubt, a chance at being one of the most influential, and successful Presidents of all-time, and I for one hope he achieves everything he sets out to achieve.

Customising a Google Map.

For one of my Digital Newsroom module assignments, I have to prove my ability to perform as a multi-skilled journalist.

For this individual part of the assignment, I had to show my proficiency at using Google Maps, creating a custom map, using stories I found in the Lancashire Evening Post, then locating the online article, and linking it to my custom map.

Below, is the result.

View Map Skills Test in a larger map

5 tips for writing online headlines...

As part of the BA (hons) Journalism course here at UCLan, we delve into a module called Digital Journalism, which takes a look at optimising the internet for Journalistic use.

In last week’s workshop, we looked at effective headline writing for the web, and an article by “the guru of web usability” Jakob Nielsen.

We were set the task of writing five tips for the perfect headline.

Rule No.1 – and in my opinion, the most important, reveal as much information as possible. A lot of the time, be it RSS feeds, or one your mobile phone, the headline will be all you see, it needs to sell you the entire story in a sentence.

Rule No.2 – it should be understandable out of context, as referred to in my first rule, sometimes people don’t have the time to consume the entire story, at times a headline is all they will see, it needs to be understandable and revealing.

Rule No.3 – and in my opinion the most important, for the internet. The headline needs to optimise search engines. Headlines with words such as ‘a’, ‘the’ are pointless, as engines such as Google will simply filter it out; which leads me onto Rule No. 4.

Rule No.4 – make every single word count. Use ‘4’ instead of ‘four’, ‘PM’ instead of ‘prime minister’. Save every character, make it count. Use as few words as possible.

Rule No.5 – the headline should be front-loaded with information, for me personally this is paramount. Due to my wannabe i-Phone, ‘Samsung Omnia; when visiting an RSS feed, I can’t see the entire headline, so in order to get a real gist for the story, I need the key information immediately. This is true on the web too, as those in a hurry won’t hasten to skip by a headline which is too lengthy to read.

Feel free to comment whether you agree, or indeed disagree!

UK takes positive steps towards a low carbon future.

Britain is set to join the high speed railway craze that is sweeping the globe.

The plans to build a network of high-speed railway, linking London to Scotland in just three hours, is unquestionably overdue.

The United Kingdom has significantly less high-speed rail provision than other major countries across the globe, with just 113km of rail.

Japan currently has the most high-speed rail laid, with 2452km nationwide, 21 times more than Britain.

The new plans would not only cut journey times significantly, but it would also play a major role in a low carbon future.

Even Britain’s closest neighbour France, are putting us to shame. France has over 400 high speed trains across 1,100 miles of new high-speed lines linking the English Channel to the Mediterranean, and has numerous more planned.

The use of high-speed, electric railway, can eradicate the use of short-haul flights that just add to the nation’s ever-growing carbon footprint.

It’s about time that Britain joined the high-speed revolution, and hopefully Labour can leave behind a legacy to be proud of.