tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-223374762024-03-07T21:27:48.731+00:00DocumentallyDocumentallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18317739998453228319noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-71610548248631524272008-04-03T11:08:00.001+01:002008-04-03T11:19:20.285+01:00Farewell to the Documentally blog.All going to plan, this will be the last post on <a href="http://www.documentally.blogspot.com">www.documentally.blogspot.com</a>.<br /><br />I am not stopping my podcast (although these long absences may give that impression), I am just consolidating all of my personal blogs podcasts and business stuff on to one page. Brave or stupid?.. time will only tell.<br /><br />That one page is <a href="http://www.OurManInside.com">www.OurManInside.com</a> and at the time of writing it is still a work in progress. You should still be find your way around to all my previous content.<br /><br />Thanks for hanging around here. My podcast feed should stay the same but please change all of the blog feeds of mine you may be subscribing to.. to <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/OurManInside">http://feeds.feedburner.com/OurManInside</a><br /><br />Thanks again..<br /><br />ChristianUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-79408930782912251862008-03-17T01:44:00.002+00:002008-03-17T02:27:59.168+00:00Iraqi Refugees - Life In The ShadowsThe fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War is upon us, and there is speculation that the engagement may continue yet another five years, if not more. To date, approximately 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in combat.<br /><br />While the loss of combat troops is certainly tragic, even more stunning is a recent World Health Organization report based on Iraqi Health Ministry figures which estimates that 151,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between March 2003, the start of the invasion, and June 2006.<br /><br />Many of the reports of civilian deaths are disputed. What cannot be argued, however, is another grave consequence of the Iraq War: the displacement crisis as a mass exodus of Iraqis flee the instabilities and ever-increasing sectarian violence at home, tearing their families apart.<br /><br />In mid-January 2008, with the support of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), I traveled to Amman, Jordan to photograph and record a few of these families trapped in a no-man’s land; asylum seekers looking for refuge, too afraid to return to their blood-soaked country.<br /><br />Here are a few of their stories:<br /><br /><embed src="http://blip.tv/play/Aa3ALAA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="234" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed><br /><br />For more information please check out.. <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/country/jor.html">The UNHCR Jordan Website</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-6163421220618263942008-03-14T15:31:00.003+00:002008-11-13T03:55:44.407+00:00www.OurManInside.com<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcqTspsuKdIaqlrLqIgwJISxUHX4-4KcH_H1loU6Gdsj7JOy-5qrdF1xgE5hQsLos1mKH7DmsuH39PKuSHQfa7Lyz8DHfLZE0KlGWAFWdjGfvg937xmArb47BklLKvEmz8rUmIQ/s1600-h/me.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcqTspsuKdIaqlrLqIgwJISxUHX4-4KcH_H1loU6Gdsj7JOy-5qrdF1xgE5hQsLos1mKH7DmsuH39PKuSHQfa7Lyz8DHfLZE0KlGWAFWdjGfvg937xmArb47BklLKvEmz8rUmIQ/s200/me.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177626809602488914" /></a>Well I am back from Austin Texas and the amazing <a href="http://www.sxsw.com/">SXSW.</a> A little jet lagged, a little sleep deprived but inspired and energised all the same.<br /><br />If you missed out on our live feeds and updates while we were there, most of the content me and <a href="http://me.dm/">Phil Campbell</a> have produced is on <a href="http://live.rezpondr.com/">live.rezpondr.com</a><br /><br />We are currently looking for sponsorship so we can attend next years event so please get in touch if you feel you are in a position to assist.<br /><br />Should you want to catch up on any of my other content/pix/words please pop over to my 'Normal' site at <a href="http://www.ourmaninside.com/">www.OurManInside.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-67336152337100233462008-03-05T12:05:00.000+00:002008-11-13T03:55:44.699+00:00Meeting BillHow cool is this..?<br /><br />Thanks to the wonders of blogging and the fact there are people that do actually read my blog on <a href="http://www.ourmaninside.com/blog/blog.php">OurManInside.com</a> Bill a podcasting friend from the <a href="http://flasoapbox.podomatic.com/">Florida Soap Box</a> and also the <a href="http://www.progressivepodcastnetwork.org/">Progressive Podcast Network</a> (PPN) managed to hook up with me for a brief hello at Texas airport where we were getting picked up by our friend <a href="http://twitter.com/kitykity">Kity Kity</a> aka Susan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGHyeHWlVVdRBRV2EnUh6RqX0KynlqkS9_3uPaJqvOm3MdxQZfKAFEeDbx2qQHllFYcbGVAVANTs7nh91Dfk9xc6BltXillTAqKTlNZszmC84kLRWkxfC2f5G3TcKEyIX-8H3-5A/s1600-h/Doc-and-Bill.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGHyeHWlVVdRBRV2EnUh6RqX0KynlqkS9_3uPaJqvOm3MdxQZfKAFEeDbx2qQHllFYcbGVAVANTs7nh91Dfk9xc6BltXillTAqKTlNZszmC84kLRWkxfC2f5G3TcKEyIX-8H3-5A/s320/Doc-and-Bill.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174232414166989650" /></a>For each of us it is the first time we had met a member of the PPN in the flesh and a great welcome for me to see a familiar face and hear a voice I have listened to for ages.<br /><br />Myself and Phil Campbell are the guests of Kity Kity in Wylie, Texas before we head down to the interactive extravaganza that is <a href="http://sxsw.com/">South By South West</a> (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, about 3-4 hours south of here.<br /><br />Make sure you check out Bills blog at <a href="http://filthandthefury.blogspot.com/">http://filthandthefury.blogspot.com/</a><br />You can also follow/add bill at <a href="http://twitter.com/bill_tx">Twitter</a><br /><br />He is a really decent guy and I hope we can grab a beer together soon!<br /><br />p.s. I recorded a podcast on the plane over.. I will try to get it online as soon as.. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-71147526779957520192008-02-02T17:28:00.000+00:002008-11-13T03:55:44.902+00:00Episode 41 - Two Clips<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnt_NEcO-GkDyV_nSaIYgAmVV9sChbb6M6NBlVihicalFMcAWCIuUcN3fI9yBdi8bMxHyRSVwQc2LNkpaF_E87jgLuBbWYKAbWjz04FGmI03nAXXU5fOUYAC5QmU6nLAWAz_egSw/s1600-h/Doco-Che-crop.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnt_NEcO-GkDyV_nSaIYgAmVV9sChbb6M6NBlVihicalFMcAWCIuUcN3fI9yBdi8bMxHyRSVwQc2LNkpaF_E87jgLuBbWYKAbWjz04FGmI03nAXXU5fOUYAC5QmU6nLAWAz_egSw/s200/Doco-Che-crop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162436699525532898" /></a>Whilst feeling a little bit guilty for not having posted a (self-made) podcast in a while I decided that I would paste a couple of random recordings together and stick the outcome into my feed. Forgive me if it is a little rough around the edges..<br /><br />It's not my normal fare.. but it is what it is.<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=203395549">Itunes</a> already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally041.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-61924914007670161512008-01-29T12:05:00.000+00:002008-11-13T03:55:45.320+00:00Episode 40 - An interview in JordanWell here is a turn up for the books.. And a handy one at that as I am bowled over with my various projects at the moment so i am posting this interview with me in my feed to not only save me some valuble editing time but also to introduce and thank a British podcaster who lives in Canada called David Bailey.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeEairKLLPh47lCu1DZwt48ZsdiLluxYqeg-ly6bhzPKhV3ktMKAMANz3fvpKpKx3qIXhIEj2vdpIZTSYmxr_2XpUT_vTHxxHV0kbeZc74cYxaWG5sa0WHQK6lkhIqvJu1asbnA/s1600-h/Jordan-interview.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeEairKLLPh47lCu1DZwt48ZsdiLluxYqeg-ly6bhzPKhV3ktMKAMANz3fvpKpKx3qIXhIEj2vdpIZTSYmxr_2XpUT_vTHxxHV0kbeZc74cYxaWG5sa0WHQK6lkhIqvJu1asbnA/s400/Jordan-interview.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160871334269996242" /></a>David Phoned me up whilst i was working In Amman Jordan and we had time for this quick interview. David's content can be found at <a href="http://dfbmbe.wordpress.com">http://dfbmbe.wordpress.com</a> and more of my other updates can be found at <a href="http://www.OurManInside.com">www.OurManInside.com</a><br /><br />You can also stream the podcast here.. <a href="http://dfbmbe.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/documentally-in-amman/">DFBMBE Blog</a><br /><br />Many thanks to Dave in taking the time to call me in jordan and for making the interview available as a podcast.<br /><br />correction: During the interview i should have said... It is the largest refugee crisis to hit the Middle East in 60 years. We must not forget Afghanistan.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-87484680076680179642008-01-08T09:55:00.000+00:002008-01-08T10:11:12.611+00:00Project Update.My flight is booked and in a few days I fly to Jordan. Although I am still to get my hands on a D3 I am satisfied that I have the use of the new D300 for at least a month. Thank you to those that humoured me in my testing of the website <a href="http://www.chipin.com/">chipin.com</a>. £40 was donated, before i pulled the widget. I really appreciate the gestures and that money is safely put away and will be put toward other savings when they accumulate.<br /><br />The unexpected <a href="http://www.ourmaninside.com/blog/files/dbd907bf6148bec5b9d61e0b520d9c92-69.php">death of my Mother</a> over the holidays has not only allowed me to re-evaluate my goals in life but also meant the luxury of a new work tool will have to wait as my savings have been put towards her burial and send off.<br /><br />My next assignment will be dedicated to my Mother <a href="http://www.liala.co.uk">Liala.</a><br /><br />On the podcasting front I still have a backlog to get through but as you can imagine these have been unusually difficult times. I promise to do more podcasts in the future. So please sit tight and stay subscribed. I was going to pop all this in a podcast but thought those that subscribe may well read this blog too.<br /><br />I am not one to look forward to much as i feel living in the moment is the best bet. Still. I am open to all kind of possibilities this new year and feel strangely optimistic for the future.<br /><br />Cheers guys.<br /><br />christian.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-88997391336317817332007-12-19T12:41:00.000+00:002008-11-13T03:55:45.510+00:00Up and coming Projects.OK, I am upping the stakes now as in a few weeks I hope to be flying out to Jordon to do a podcast on refugees fleeing Iraq.<br /><br />To do it properly I would really like to get my hands on the best possible digital <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSCY8Re50r7rHLC2IAxc8ZXtvf9XcnHk6p7wCu-_Qr7C_XdrhSNif8GBkBwN3-RZl_53P9jxdhlGAEofOeThSSQH_nCXWxO1VjHBi-SUN_OJl7e2lkhXIGou-xRJp5NUfQ6EwRKg/s1600-h/nikond3.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSCY8Re50r7rHLC2IAxc8ZXtvf9XcnHk6p7wCu-_Qr7C_XdrhSNif8GBkBwN3-RZl_53P9jxdhlGAEofOeThSSQH_nCXWxO1VjHBi-SUN_OJl7e2lkhXIGou-xRJp5NUfQ6EwRKg/s200/nikond3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145664739217623906" /></a>SLR on the market today. In my mind (as a Nikon user with a heap of lenses) this has to be the Nikon D3.<br /><br />This is a whole heap of camera costing a whole heap of money (over £3000) and although I stand a good chance of bothering a few of my podcast listeners and blog readers, I would like to ask everyone out there this..<br /><br />If you are in a position to help sponsor me in my quest to acquire the best tool for the job please do so by either donating/sponsoring what you can (see the little box on the right) and you can be sure to receive my heart felt thanks and gratitude as i promise to do a good job in raising awareness and taking pictures that may well change lives.<br /><br />I am a hand-to-mouth photographer and would appreciate any financial assistance or even a heads up as to where and how I can purchase a Nikon D3 in a market place that seems to be snapping them up before they hit the shelves.<br /><br />Sincerely thanking You in advance.<br /><br />christianUnknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-36582397932318478182007-11-16T16:19:00.000+00:002008-11-13T03:55:45.764+00:00Episode 39 - Freeganism<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitaL44G2MnV53qGb1513pZir9xduIxyB91Q01MxGNQRz-O15En3Enc6oPFhPuItOSqQXSXIkalcZtHERSeHl5nJ5rPjhJqk4BdrwgdtIyttuDjCKPD6l9h3fduT7tKMaVIZ5fz5A/s1600-h/Ep-39+pic.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitaL44G2MnV53qGb1513pZir9xduIxyB91Q01MxGNQRz-O15En3Enc6oPFhPuItOSqQXSXIkalcZtHERSeHl5nJ5rPjhJqk4BdrwgdtIyttuDjCKPD6l9h3fduT7tKMaVIZ5fz5A/s200/Ep-39+pic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133468834762612674" /></a>Meet Alf, he used to manipulate people using fear and greed to make them buy products they didn't need.<br /><br />Now with his friend Bob and many others, he follows one of the paths of Freeganism, shopping from the backs of stores, without money, dumpster diving to utilize some of the many ton's of waste food and other products consumers and suppliers throw away each year. <br /><br />As we remember the words of the economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill when he said.. "If you want to destroy a system, refuse to buy it's products", Alf agrees it's a dangerous message.<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=203395549">Itunes</a> already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally039.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a><br /><br />For more information visit:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.freegan.org.uk">www.freegan.org.uk</a><br /><a href="http://www.freeganism.org"><br />www.freeganism.org</a><br /><a href="http://www.OurManInside.com"><br />www.OurManInside.com</a><br /><br />Please feel free to email me at the usual place.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-27954847194078854952007-11-02T19:36:00.000+00:002007-11-02T19:39:10.386+00:00What Is A Freegan?Alf is a practicing Freegan and in this short film he explains the principles and ideas behind Freeganism.<br />For more information please visit <a href="http://www.freegan.org.uk">www.freegan.org.uk</a><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3TQQ5iTGzh0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3TQQ5iTGzh0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-22459542391269858142007-10-19T19:45:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:46.023+00:00Episode 38 - Bar Chat<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA8QsIApn7r-pceOgWa1TgvXSseIK_x0YQOHFDwFdQ6G5tezYMy_832nJN97Rj5YCYvWlO7lQ5ZKe6JY1Y1OywFRW_W2AeOkNm5g6EykSno62VCMJe8UEA0ISoikXUNWA4MVaokQ/s1600-h/EP-38-cctv.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA8QsIApn7r-pceOgWa1TgvXSseIK_x0YQOHFDwFdQ6G5tezYMy_832nJN97Rj5YCYvWlO7lQ5ZKe6JY1Y1OywFRW_W2AeOkNm5g6EykSno62VCMJe8UEA0ISoikXUNWA4MVaokQ/s200/EP-38-cctv.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123121929468810802" /></a><br />A little chat in a bar under the Curzon Cinema in London, England. I am joined by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_john2005/">John Perivolaris</a> an independent photographer and film maker <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_john2005/"></a> <a href="http://www.main-vision.com">Richard Azia</a> (Warzabidul)<br /><br />We talk about protesting, a new take on the proliferation of CCTV in the UK and other bits and bobs.<br /><br />Here are some more handy links...<br /><br />The Town Crier at the beginning of the podcast is the world famous <a href="http://www.londonstowncrier.co.uk/">Peter Moore</a><br /><br />Join the flickr group <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/surveillancemirror/">Surveillance Mirrior</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.helenasmith.co.uk/photography/about.php">Helena Smith photographer</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.tarynsimon.com/">Taryn Simon photographer</a><br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=203395549">Itunes</a> already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally038.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-45509742485031232002007-10-03T11:07:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:46.200+00:00Episode 37 - A Ramble<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimG84Keii0tZG-Tv9ll5NZcC09BJ83Cr1lZVXn8QN-2hppPBFTwrc-cF30ds5R6T6-cnUjPuVDUYiP63igzZB1zDDj1eRxnhbVA7860vSi-9BBY6Tf1I67OSTDpeP6TyoBstq5Pw/s1600-h/podcast+ramble+Ep37.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimG84Keii0tZG-Tv9ll5NZcC09BJ83Cr1lZVXn8QN-2hppPBFTwrc-cF30ds5R6T6-cnUjPuVDUYiP63igzZB1zDDj1eRxnhbVA7860vSi-9BBY6Tf1I67OSTDpeP6TyoBstq5Pw/s200/podcast+ramble+Ep37.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5117201991361140258" /></a>This Episode is a slight diversion from my normal format.. It's just quite literally a ramble. While out with the dog I thought it a good excuse to record an update on what has been happening recently, plus do a mini micro test of a new field recorder, the Zoom H2.<br /><br />I also give a heads up to a few people I respect and admire and accidentally throw the ball at my dogs head. (She's fine).<br /><br />So although different to my normal format.. it's still recorded live and without a net, or script and unfortunately.. gloves.<br /><br />Please email comments support and coordinates to any hidden stashes of cash to the normal address.<br /><br />Please check out these great places belonging to a couple of the people I am talking about..<a href="http://www.deekdeekster.com">www.deekdeekster.com</a> and..<br /><br /><a href="http://wwww.main-vision.com/richard">www.main-vision.com</a><br /><br />Also, I have big thanks and respect going to Giles of <a href="http://www.kyoi.net">Kyomedia</a> Who against all odds has once again saved the documentally podcast from certain doom.<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=203395549">Itunes</a> already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally037.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-28909314711502284292007-09-19T01:04:00.000+01:002007-09-19T01:13:27.769+01:00Financial ShowdownMeet Martin Summers, the Former East European projects officer for the New Economics Foundation as he tells us a little of what is happening in the world of finance at the moment.<br /><br />I got a call from a friend a few months back telling me I should speak to this guy as he is predicting all sorts of interesting stuff. A long while later and shortly before things started hitting the mainstream media I finally hook up with him and do a short interview with the kind assistance of a Twitter friend <a href="http://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/">Richard</a>.<br /><br />I am thinking that if I had done the interview way back when first recommended, I would have appeared pretty prophetic. <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GLnryKeQ16A"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GLnryKeQ16A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-87856758957155432612007-09-13T23:33:00.000+01:002007-09-13T23:34:17.038+01:00Cynthia McKinney on 9/11<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tp9WOi1QcM4"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tp9WOi1QcM4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-46793882777204403512007-09-11T22:29:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:46.407+00:00Episode 36 - Two chats at PodcampUK<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvq4hgdsU4A4LGaCiTOrTYUCj9PRiB75l9iXnpCz6Fn2OArJ0uXCw0dcWCNDcSvdq8EVSCVsMWNbV5xTT0GCDot6FcC7OWJzf-YEmcBdDihwndHASWy-x1x5i0U-vgPA2Tgh39Vw/s1600-h/podcamp-cast-grafic.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvq4hgdsU4A4LGaCiTOrTYUCj9PRiB75l9iXnpCz6Fn2OArJ0uXCw0dcWCNDcSvdq8EVSCVsMWNbV5xTT0GCDot6FcC7OWJzf-YEmcBdDihwndHASWy-x1x5i0U-vgPA2Tgh39Vw/s200/podcamp-cast-grafic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5109066476487506882" /></a><br />In this episode I meet Richard Rudin and Glyn Wintle in Birmingham at the amazing unConference that was <a href="http://www.podcampuk.com">PodcampUK</a><br /><br />Richard Rudin is a senior lecturer on journalism at John Moores University in Liverpool and Glyn Wintle is from the <a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org">Open Rights Group</a>.<br /><br />We talk about the state of Journalism in the UK today, give a heads up to Jeremy Paxman, discuss how politicians react to 'real people', touch apon independent journalism, Electronic Voting and preserving our civil liberties in the digital world.<br /><br />Richards podcast can be found at www.Rudinpodcast.libsyn.com, The Open Rights Group are at www.openrightsgroup.org and the little song I sneak in at the end is by <a href="http://www.JoshWoodward.com">Josh Woodward</a> entitled 'The Wrong side Of The Revolution.'<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=203395549">Itunes</a> already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally036.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-82318461876443398062007-08-28T22:49:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:46.649+00:00Episode 35 - The Perfect Prison.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbDh2jTGZvr_FGsBwwCFOonDDvWjDZFcvSDPFKE4tqaHWrxKLlKWDH0qQDfZ_aFG0J8gjUcqYPepby0ymueYh-cFgY7Z3V1aJ8TICRyO2FKE_SRd6Gv5uGBOc80LTo0FfaXGw9Q/s1600-h/perfect-prison.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbDh2jTGZvr_FGsBwwCFOonDDvWjDZFcvSDPFKE4tqaHWrxKLlKWDH0qQDfZ_aFG0J8gjUcqYPepby0ymueYh-cFgY7Z3V1aJ8TICRyO2FKE_SRd6Gv5uGBOc80LTo0FfaXGw9Q/s200/perfect-prison.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5103872379262925714" /></a>There is a quiet, dark revolution underway in Britain. It was happening yesterday, it's happening now - this minute. It will continue to happen tomorrow. <br /><br />Without anyone really noticing it we are becoming a police state. We're not quite there yet - it's a long way down to the real depths of secret police, social control, monitored movements - but we're blindly sleepwalking that path. <br /><br />George Orwell's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four">1984</a> portrays a country plunged into totalitarianism. The state is locked in an endless war that, although somehow affecting no one directly, functions as a perfect mechanism for inducing fear and justifying the destruction of basic liberties. <br /><br />Crucially there is mass surveillance. This is the key: an essential element for a true police state is that everyone should be monitored, at all times. Or they must at least believe this is happening. In 1984 everyone is watched, intrusively. Privacy has all but evaporated, the word itself ceasing to have meaning. Everywhere, fear.<br /><br />Without getting hysterical, without too much hyperbole, there are clear parallels to modern day Britain. <br /><br />Since September 11 we have been at war with an enemy - "terror" - that by many of our actions we are empowering. The stage is now set for a generations long conflict that can never be, in any real sense, won. In order to fight this war, basic liberties are eroded: long imprisonment without trial, without charge becomes legal. Evidence gained from torture is suddenly admissible in a court of law. Foreign intelligence services carry out extraordinary renditions through British airspace and soil, with the connivance of the government. <br /><br />And, there is mass surveillance.<br /><br />CCTV camera and tracking technologies have proliferated. Not so many years ago such cameras - let's call them spy cameras; that is after all what they are doing - were limited to spaces like garage forecourts. They were ineffective things, recoding largely useless, indistinct time-lapse photos onto VHS tapes. Endless hours of drivers filling-up their cars and walking in to pay. Perhaps the occasional robbery, caught on film, to show on 'CrimeWatch' because the police cannot catch the suspect. <br /><br />Cut to the present day: cameras are, almost literally, everywhere. They are in shops, they're in bars and clubs, they are high on gantries over the roads, at traffic lights they are watching the high street. They are watching and recording you as you go about the most banal tasks. <br /><br />The technology is still in relative infancy but has already developed far beyond those scratchy VHS tapes. Face recognition software and high-resolution optics mean your movements can be traced, your facial expressions logged: Your speed and trajectories measured: Your number plate inscribed onto a computer database. You went shopping this afternoon, parked in the Main Street carpark, brought some underwear on a credit card and then went home? Yes ma'am, we know all that. It's all there, on our hard drive. You met a woman who is not your wife for the fifth time in two weeks, she always wearing a long black skirt, you a gray suit? We know that sir, it was picked up by our cameras and noted by the computer engineer when he ran some tests on a face recognition software. <br /><br />This monitoring started out as a deterrent against crime and, as such, how could any of us object? Don't you want to be safe?<br />Local councils across the country approved more and more projects that promised to smash yob culture. They secured some central government funds, raised cash from local businesses. Sinister words like surveillance, like police state were never mentioned, potential human rights implications pushed aside: The cameras would make us safer by allowing the police to catch criminals, to safeguard the elderly. Don't you want the elderly to be safe?<br /><br />And then we are at war with terror and we're more afraid than ever. It's not that a teenager is going to snatch your purse outside the bank; that's a quaint fear from happier times. Now it's suicide bombers on the bus.<br /><br />More cameras, better monitoring will help save us. How can we object?<br /><br />The technology was put in place, the network established and it does have benefits. It can, perhaps, add to our security. It can help police build a case against homicidal fanatics. Perhaps it will even help reduce a crime rate that has, thus far, shown no signs of actually being reduced.<br /><br />Yet there is a price to pay. We have, unwittingly, put in place the building blocks of a police state; the ability to know where citizens are and, with some high degree of accuracy, what they are doing. When privacy ceases to exist, so in a real sense does freedom. To stop the criminals we are now all monitored as if we are potential criminals. The bag-snatcher is in the database of images as he runs from his victim.. So are you, as you carry the weekly shop to your car.<br /><br /> *<br /><br />In the late 18th Century a British philosopher designed the perfect prison. The man was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham">Jeremy Bentham</a>, the prison known as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon">Panopticon</a>. It was a study in architecture, a building to be constructed in such a way that an observer could watch prisoners without them knowing if they were, at any moment, actually being watched. Perhaps the observer is writing down their every action. Or perhaps the observer is asleep. <br /><br />The prisoner would never know and so, the prisoner would have to assume they were being watched at all times. Bentham envisioned it as a way of creating an omniescent observer: a God in command of all the prisoners, a permanent presence. Big Brother.<br /><br />In his words, the Panoptican would be: "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example."<br /><br />The emaciated prisoner would internalise this gaze, and learn to behave in the way he was expected to behave by the observing power. He would become his own prison guard, his own re-educator. His own Big Brother.<br /><br />Bentham was a liberal, a reformer. He designed the prison for peoples own good.It was not driven by impure motives but a desire to save the dregs of society. But his project was to be confined in space: it was a physical building outside of which the gaze of the observer failed. It had clear limits.<br /><br />In modern, CCTV Britain, a Panoptican is being created and it has fewer boundaries. It has been established in our public spaces. In certain towns, certain cities it is more complete than you perhaps imagine. The observer could be watching you almost everywhere. We are becoming a perfect prison.<br /><br /> *<br /><br />It is just about possible to argue that none of this matters, if we trust absolutely that the authorities controlling it all never, ever abuse their incredible powers. If the government, security apparatus and judiciary stick absolutely to the rule of law, if they uphold the rights of the individual with just zeal. If they ensure there are no illiberal erosions to these basic, sacred rights.<br /><br />And that's the problem. Authorities rarely, if ever behave that way for long. They certainly do not behave that way automatically but by continued debate, argument, contest. <br /><br />Especially in times of war, the instinct of authority is to retreat, to shut down and to restrict. This is already happening: traditional laws are suspended - on the grounds of a vague, nefarious threat to the nation - and along with them are suspended our collective moral decency. Our preciously, democratically elected government starts to behave more and more like a Stalinist dictatorship. They all have national emergencies too; that's why the reformers disappear, that's why the military tribunals meet in private to hand out sentences that cannot be appealed. <br /><br />We take another step down that ladder, another step into the darkness. <br /><br />With the CCTV and surveillance technology now already out and on the streets, the mechanism is there for the state to take further control of our lives. It may start with monitoring terrorist suspects but where does it end? Can we trust our leaders, our parliaments - those that have failed us so dramatically over simple, vital matters of war and peace - to ensure this all goes so far but no further? Will we so easily abdicate our best interests to them?<br /><br />We are not a police state yet. The databases tracking your movements are not linked together, they are not complete. The face recognition software is experimental, not universal. The national ID card scheme that will concrete in another layer of monitoring has yet to be rolled out. We are, however, treading the path and we are further down it today than we were yesterday. Will we keep on walking?<br /><br />Please feel free to comment me or email...<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=203395549">Itunes</a> already, you can <a href="http://www.documentally.com/podcasts/Documentally035.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(Thank you to Laura from the BBC for doing my intro voiceover.)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-39181414066749705282007-08-02T00:08:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:46.775+00:00Episode 34 - Undercover Underpaid<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiieUyWreM7m9HymHEb-9QtgvEQF1wtHEf5WJdVnrUZjZhTd0jeV_LKOUgibsUdOrHgQR1fVsi4W94WctMXHVtfwImGBMx6S6R83AyrLkEM0wF4JglRHReyExoXfnsfeoPOmMrfbA/s1600-h/Ep34-hat-pic.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiieUyWreM7m9HymHEb-9QtgvEQF1wtHEf5WJdVnrUZjZhTd0jeV_LKOUgibsUdOrHgQR1fVsi4W94WctMXHVtfwImGBMx6S6R83AyrLkEM0wF4JglRHReyExoXfnsfeoPOmMrfbA/s200/Ep34-hat-pic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094038593521882354" /></a><br />Shhh.. I am on a stake out..<br />An uncommon moment where I take time out from my nearly normal format and ask for feedback from anyone that has the time to have an opinion on which direction my podcast should meander next.<br /><br />And with some of my own big ideas on the horizon, I also come close to begging for sponsorship so I can put them into action. I'd be happy with some feedback and perhaps one big fat life changing cheque though.. :)<br /><br />Please feel free to comment me or email...<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in Itunes already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally034.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-38320666107923507292007-07-26T23:40:00.000+01:002007-07-27T17:51:56.616+01:00Episode 33 - Billing Land Rover Show 2007<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/abrb5AZDeW8"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/abrb5AZDeW8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>A little off roading in a Series Two Land Rover at Billing Land Rover Show, Northampton, England.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-91729217443372020922007-07-20T09:15:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:46.967+00:00Episode 32 - The Larmer Tree Festival<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgspjOI9h29i-JWPHp0VH0F-fJ6vckTiIgp1n1QPSKOLZHWCUexKB3GUBZ5au4Fv4vR2T78IyhBWf-hXwO6yeGHVuWU07Wk6-nrzeXmBW4VmeeUQZWTysidKj0d_4oxyqmhugc8og/s1600-h/ep32.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgspjOI9h29i-JWPHp0VH0F-fJ6vckTiIgp1n1QPSKOLZHWCUexKB3GUBZ5au4Fv4vR2T78IyhBWf-hXwO6yeGHVuWU07Wk6-nrzeXmBW4VmeeUQZWTysidKj0d_4oxyqmhugc8og/s200/ep32.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5089193533387895010" /></a><br />In a wet kind of way, Summer is upon us. Somehow though one festival always seems to survive the worst of the weather under a bubble of good vibes and great music from across the globe.<br /><br />Here is a random collection of moments from this years Larmer Tree Festival. I left out all the typical shots of the big name bands from the Jazz, world, and folk music scenes and instead wanted to give you a glimpse of the people and sites surrounding the magic that is the <a href="http://www.larmertreefestival.co.uk/">Larmer Tree festival</a>.<br /><br />Special thanks go to the <a href="http://www.thepocketsprogression.com/glowglobes.htm">Glowglobes</a> and <a href="http://www.billybragg.co.uk">Billy Bragg</a> for kind permission to use their music.<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SicabYZsz4A"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SicabYZsz4A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-37350796626566784962007-07-06T01:55:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:47.074+00:00Episode 31 - Taking Liberties<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8w9mOqhHKNuam1c5zXbETpCfTrfzxeJibBp5VX7ZUoq3hqc-PvDGIkAKgHj23H8lDLWmN7TcWh5svvJMhbbb7F0mKL1E2uReL7HKKmgQQRDBIZY7-Cjqs12knnddbeTJYchz9ZA/s1600-h/takingliberties.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8w9mOqhHKNuam1c5zXbETpCfTrfzxeJibBp5VX7ZUoq3hqc-PvDGIkAKgHj23H8lDLWmN7TcWh5svvJMhbbb7F0mKL1E2uReL7HKKmgQQRDBIZY7-Cjqs12knnddbeTJYchz9ZA/s200/takingliberties.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5083883380323450514" /></a><br />I pop to the cinema to see 'Taking Liberties'. A British documentary about the gradual stripping away of our civil liberties by Tony Blair's government.<br /><br />For more information please visit <a href="http://www.noliberties.com/">No Liberties</a><br /><br />and.. <a href="http://www.noliberties.com/basics.htm">Basic Civil Liberties</a><br /><br />and.. <a href="http://www.noliberties.com/youdo.htm">Things YOU can do</a><br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast in Itunes already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally031.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-11739915921933235982007-06-26T22:22:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:47.238+00:00Talking George Orwell with Blair at our feet.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtq3oMFWEl9M2JJBWdAPmQAblbPHIzJb9ALoOiKSiNZzqvO2Z3hw6lId01ORxwJ6yqVN1GqrlL1wKUGd7rZO3uULjtl2wQ2iDWnrZI6URfwzZQHUEtoOmDNgK0LWoNUOHbBjpgkw/s1600-h/Orwell-Grave-blogpic.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtq3oMFWEl9M2JJBWdAPmQAblbPHIzJb9ALoOiKSiNZzqvO2Z3hw6lId01ORxwJ6yqVN1GqrlL1wKUGd7rZO3uULjtl2wQ2iDWnrZI6URfwzZQHUEtoOmDNgK0LWoNUOHbBjpgkw/s200/Orwell-Grave-blogpic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080486627979058114" /></a><br />We stand at the end of the reign of Britain's least favorite prime minister Tony Blair, at the same time standing in the rain at the grave of Eric Arthur Blair, English novelist, essayist and critic. You probably know him as George Orwell, famous for his political satires Animal farm and the world renowned '1984'.<br /><br />I am joined by John Perivolaris editorial and fine art photographer as we reflect on the Blair age of big brother and the other Blair that had the foresight to write about it nearly sixty years ago.<br /><br />Oh yes.. and it was Orwell's birthday.<br /><br />If you have not subscribed to the podcast already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally030.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a><br /><br />Thanks go to <a href="http://www.lonepigeon.com">Lone Pigeon</a> for the tunes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-26779199000791876342007-06-26T02:48:00.000+01:002007-06-26T02:48:27.360+01:00Episode 29 - Blair's Graveside, Orwell's Birthday.John Perivolaris talks about Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) on the day of his birthday and close to the day Tony Blair ends his UK prime ministership.<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NIMG0U5aM8U"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NIMG0U5aM8U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-48173880268037946472007-06-19T01:27:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:47.450+00:00Episode 28 - Facebook<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAh1ROJTy8KVu-ZeThq1FHecPkppfjsDChKmIYuskRfPq4ZtUmd3mouRJ7HqtyJlOpTu2olsGbV5tP_8btFqfaAyV4cwKPeGfohl0NfI8WvR61iPIMYWGr27H4u_RR4nXG7MsvbQ/s1600-h/facebook.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAh1ROJTy8KVu-ZeThq1FHecPkppfjsDChKmIYuskRfPq4ZtUmd3mouRJ7HqtyJlOpTu2olsGbV5tP_8btFqfaAyV4cwKPeGfohl0NfI8WvR61iPIMYWGr27H4u_RR4nXG7MsvbQ/s200/facebook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077746975715122082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">(If you have not subscribed to the podcast already, you can <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally028.mp3">listen to the mp3 here</a> or read the text below. There are some great tunes on the podcast though..)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Facebook - innocent social networking website, or high tech spy network?</span><br /><br />The web is generational, progressive. We have truly hit web 2.0. Nowadays we acquire our social-technological skills through the internet, less face-to-face and much more face-to-screen. At school I talked and wrote letters. At Uni and the following years spent traveling, it was email. More recently it is mobile phone, email, text, i.m., forums and v.o.i.p.<br /><br />Most, if not all of my friends today remain proficient at email, IM and mobile phone use. Those old friends that aren't have turned into acquaintances and some have slipped right out of sight. That rings true for some family too.<br /><br />It is not uncommon for today’s 13-year-old to be communicating through gaming channels, blog comments, text messages, photo messages, mobile phones, v.o.i.p, twitter and a host of others I have yet to discover. Some of these social trends are adopted almost instantly and, virus-like cross age groups and social networks. Those involved now learn newer and easier ways of getting through to their lattice of digitally minded acquaintances.<br /><br />This is old news to most of the people I communicate with, as many in my social-technological circles are old hands at all these methods and are ready to grab hold of any new techno-fad that hits their screens.<br /><br />So what's really new? Well at the moment I have found myself sucked into the virtual world of facebook. Kind of a myspace for the more discerning web networker. I finally found myself giving in to the incessant barrage of facebook requests from friends that could quite easily email me, and partly though a feeling of inadequacy when people say.. Oh you don't have a Facebook account?"<br /><br /><br />Well now I do and if I thought Googles data mining activities were overt, nothing could have prepared me for Facebook. I guess all this has been a roundabout way of trying to say Facebook owns YOU. Perhaps not in physical form but as far as your virtual online life goes (and lord knows that is the largest portion of our waking lives now-a-days) Facebook owns the data, use patterns, preferences, communications and adoption trends of the entire next web generation. What’s more, the data acquired through all of your innocent online ramblings is incredibly clean, trustworthy, and as collated as any marketer could dream of.<br /><br />But it's not just all marketing, there's something much more sinister in Facebook's digital files. Facebook owns the data of the first generation to live their entire lives online, a generation that will spend their lives studying and trying to get to grips with the world and its intricacies. Do I, already in my thirties, feel a generation chasm opening up between me and all those to follow?<br /><br />This is all different to Google’s data collection techniques. If google takes its time behind the scenes sorting through your Google mail, blogs and web searches to profile you, Facebook is straight in there, offering you convenient little white boxes for you to fill in all of your little secrets, your hearts desires and any other personal info you may whisper a friend.<br /><br />If a man in a dark suit arrived at your door unannounced asking for your name, date of birth, marital status, name of partner, political view, religious persuasion, address, phone number, details of all of your friends, lists of the kind of books you read and films you watch, poems you have written, a few diary entries and - to top it all - wanted a selection of photos with descriptions of all those in the pictures, would you busy yourself providing a shoe box with all this handy information in so he could take it away?<br /><br />No? I wouldn't ether. I’d at least ask him who he was and what he wanted it for. If his answer was something about being a multinational corporation worth billions of dollars, and that he wanted to help you make friends and keep those that are your friends informed of what you are up to, would that make you any more likely to hand over your life details to him?<br /><br />It’s absurd on so many levels and yet, en mass we seem to blindly offer ourselves up on a plate. The only difference is we have not been able to look these guys in their collective faces. And has anyone actually bothered to read the small print, the details in which the devil lives? Here is an extract of the first page of the many paged terms and conditions.<br /><br /><blockquote>"All content on the Site and available through the Service, including but not limited to designs, text, graphics, pictures, video, information, applications, software, music, sound and other files, and their selection and arrangement (the "Site Content"), are the proprietary property of the Company"</blockquote><br /><br />Just in case that statement wasn't clear and frightening enough. I’ll put in another, long extract. If you can’t be bothered to read it, it can be summarized thus: “I hereby surrender all rights of ownership, control and use of everything I’ve posted on Facebook.” In legal jargon, that looks like this:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."</blockquote><br /><br />You may say that this is the norm. If so, how did we let it get this way? Is our privacy worth this little? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Wikipedia</a> has a concise history and also raises the privacy issue quoting a line that has appeared in facebook's privacy agreement as stating <span style="font-style: italic;">"We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile."</span><br /><br />Another clause that some users are critical of reserves the right to sell users' data to private companies, stating <span style="font-style: italic;">"We may share your information with third parties, including responsible companies with which we have a relationship."</span><br /><br />So in a nutshell, what are the pros and cons? Anything that fosters communication and spreads ideas has some inherent goodness. Its design makes it ridiculously easy to use and it is always good to meet new people. Combine that with the fact it is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and you are allowed to advertise and it is hardly surprising people are flocking to use it.<br /><br /><br />With all I’ve just said regarding the terms of use and privacy, you would think this enough for people to be wary. Many are. Have look about the web and you will see more than a few concerned people, critical of Facebook.<br /><br />In my opinion it’s all too easy for some people to become addicted to it, and obsessed by what is a distraction. It breeds procrastination. There is no real human interaction only odd, counterfeit relationships; people pretending to be interested in others, in the hope they collect more friends to look at their facts and figures, blogs and interests.<br /><br />Also, it is open to anybody and everybody, be they sales people, government agents or stalkers. Who is really behind the icon? When communication is reduced to a few lines of text, how do we know what's really being implied? How can we really communicate?<br /><br />This is all coupled with the incredible technology designed purely for extracting personal, and potentially useful information. Frankly, I can’t see why an educated and informed person would even log on.<br /><br /><br />Curiosity maybe? We’ll go ahead, sign up if you dare, but before you do, do some homework on what you’re signing up for. Take a look around the web and read some of the concerns. To save time you could just head over to my blog at www.Documentally.com and there is a whole host of links. You may even stumble apon the speculation that the C.I.A and the shadowy 'Information Awareness Office' have links to funding of Facebook.<br /><br />Ultimately the decision is yours. As long as you are fully aware that in this Orwellian community all you write, post, mention, show, mail, blog and comment is fully accessible and archived by numerous people behind the scenes and you are cool with that, then no problem. I hope nothing you write comes back to haunt you.<br /><br /><br />So in answer to my question is Facebook an innocent social networking website or a state of the art intelligence gathering organisation.?<br /><br /><br />It's both.<br /><br /><br />Don't forget you can leave a comment below or email me on: podcast (@) documentlly.com failing that please feel free to skype me at Documentally...<br /><br />Just please don't ask me to chat on facebook.<br /><br />Many thanks to the bands <a href="http://www.rebelsoulband.com/">Rebel Soul Band,</a> Kundama and <a href="http://www.anti-flag.com/">Anti-Flag</a> for letting me play their great tunes.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Further reading..</span><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">The Wikipedia Entry</a><br /><br /><a href="http://albumoftheday.com/facebook/">A short flash film</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd%5B347%5D=x-347-545269&als%5Btheme%5D=Privacy%20and%20Human%20Rights">Privacy International</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2005/11/01/mu-examining-facebook-use/">Another Link</a><br /><br /><a href="http://media.www.westerncourier.com/media/storage/paper650/news/2006/09/13/Opinion/Facebook.Sparks.Concerns.Over.Constitutional.Rights-2269586.shtml">News Link</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/internet/interimrankings.pdf">More Privacy International</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t34949.html">Common Sense</a><br /><br /><a href="http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6767593.stm">BBC news on tracking within social networking</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-59439874107557974682007-06-14T01:41:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:47.600+00:00New Promo!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9_7cBkAH4JjUcxloqWjJ8L6NckOecaOi_r2b5kzoTkYy8TPaP1WCGIqP5kJSQididmZGmpeunabwVPNWxrsJyXAa8brOW_btySL071xE4Z9lEVjh94Jlab1qR5cAFwCvezHK7g/s1600-h/new.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9_7cBkAH4JjUcxloqWjJ8L6NckOecaOi_r2b5kzoTkYy8TPaP1WCGIqP5kJSQididmZGmpeunabwVPNWxrsJyXAa8brOW_btySL071xE4Z9lEVjh94Jlab1qR5cAFwCvezHK7g/s200/new.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5075715640867707762" /></a>I know there must have been a few people out there sick of hearing my old promo.. I know I was. So I rustled up an hour and made a new and much shorter one. It's only 30 seconds long and should be easy to squeeze into the smallest of spaces should you be kind enough play it.<br /><br />I am also up for returning the favour so please go ahead and link me to your promos and I will find a place for them in my podcast too.<br /><br />You can find the new shorter promo linked <a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/mini-promo.mp3">HERE</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22337476.post-25596122829196519422007-05-29T20:35:00.000+01:002008-11-13T03:55:47.701+00:00Episode 27 Bilderberg<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqf-i13pMCdgF_-fCCzmMK29Jc24Amb9KTSlqv4uNJhAf6C_Ck7zWIVtLKnwegSZ8rQdfovGTybADsgn412gMUqTBjHLjhknNx2sPGVuuZLWAM5Kam5riC_o7eyJg2shJbsNs2uQ/s1600-h/Bilderberg.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqf-i13pMCdgF_-fCCzmMK29Jc24Amb9KTSlqv4uNJhAf6C_Ck7zWIVtLKnwegSZ8rQdfovGTybADsgn412gMUqTBjHLjhknNx2sPGVuuZLWAM5Kam5riC_o7eyJg2shJbsNs2uQ/s200/Bilderberg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070068882661634322" /></a><br />Meet Tony Gosling, Journalist and reasearcher behind the website Bilderberg.org.<br />On one late evening in Bristol, Tony gives me a brief rundown on the shadowy group that attend one of the most well know and yet secret annual meetings in the world.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pcnworld.net/documentally/Documentally027.mp3">Listen to the mp3</a><br /><br /><br />For more information.. <a href="http://www.bilderberg.org/">bilderberg.org</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1