Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink• Newspaper to be available only on messaging service
• Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters
Comments (236) Rio Palof The Guardian, Wednesday 1 April 2009 Article history
Printing presses will fall silent in brave new Twitter-based future.
Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication.
The move, described as "epochal" by media commentators, will see all Guardian content tailored to fit the format of Twitter's brief text messages, known as "tweets", which are limited to 140 characters each. Boosted by the involvement of celebrity "twitterers", such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Stephen Fry, Twitter's profile has surged in recent months, attracting more than 5m users who send, read and reply to tweets via the web or their mobile phones.
As a Twitter-only publication, the Guardian will be able to harness the unprecedented newsgathering power of the service, demonstrated recently when a passenger on a plane that crashed outside Denver was able to send real-time updates on the story as it developed, as did those witnessing an emergency landing on New York's Hudson River. It has also radically democratised news publishing, enabling anyone with an internet connection to tell the world when they are feeling sad, or thinking about having a cup of tea.
"[Celebrated Guardian editor] CP Scott would have warmly endorsed this - his well-known observation 'Comment is free but facts are sacred' is only 36 characters long," a spokesman said in a tweet that was itself only 135 characters long.
A mammoth project is also under way to rewrite the whole of the newspaper's archive, stretching back to 1821, in the form of tweets. Major stories already completed include "1832 Reform Act gives voting rights to one in five adult males yay!!!"; "OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more"; and "JFK assassin8d @ Dallas, def. heard second gunshot from grassy knoll WTF?"
Sceptics have expressed concerns that 140 characters may be insufficient to capture the full breadth of meaningful human activity, but social media experts say the spread of Twitter encourages brevity, and that it ought to be possible to convey the gist of any message in a tweet.
For example, Martin Luther King's legendary 1963 speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial appears in the Guardian's Twitterised archive as "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by", eliminating the waffle and bluster of the original.
At a time of unprecedented challenge for all print media, many publications have rushed to embrace social networking technologies. Most now offer Twitter feeds of major breaking news headlines, while the Daily Mail recently pioneered an iPhone application providing users with a one-click facility for reporting suspicious behaviour by migrants or gays. "In the new media environment, readers want short and punchy coverage, while the interactive possibilities of Twitter promise to transform th," the online media guru Jeff Jarvis said in a tweet yesterday, before reaching his 140-character limit, which includes spaces. According to subsequent reports, he is thinking about going to the theatre tonight, but it is raining :(.
A unique collaboration between The Guardian and Twitter will also see the launch of Gutter, an experimental service designed to filter noteworthy liberal opinion from the cacophony of Twitter updates. Gutter members will be able to use the service to comment on liberal blogs around the web via a new tool, specially developed with the blogging platform WordPress, entitled GutterPress.
Currently, 17.8% of all Twitter traffic in the United Kingdom consists of status updates from Stephen Fry, whose reliably jolly tone, whether trapped in a lift or eating a scrumptious tart, has won him thousands of fans. A further 11% is made up of his 363,000 followers replying "@stephenfry LOL!", "@stephenfry EXACTLY the same thing happened to me", and "@stephenfry Meanwhile, I am making myself an omelette! Delicious!"
According to unconfirmed rumours, Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive of Craigslist, will next month announce plans for a new system of telepathy-based social networking that is expected to render Twitter obsolete within weeks.
From the archive
Highlights from the Guardian's Twitterised news archive
1927
OMG first successful transatlantic air flight wow, pretty cool! Boring day
otherwise *sigh*
1940
W Churchill giving speech NOW - "we shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender" check YouTube later for the rest
1961
Listening 2 new band "The Beatles"
1989
Berlin Wall falls! Majority view of Twitterers = it's a historic moment! What do you think??? Have your say
1997
RT@mohammedalfayed: FYI NeilHamilton, Harrods boss offering £££ 4 questions in House of Commons! Check it out
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Friday, 6 March 2009
Can we build a world with open source?
Victor Keegan The Guardian, Thursday 5 March 2009
Vinay Gupta is a Scottish-Indian engineer who designs low-cost homes for poor parts of the world or disaster zones, and then makes them freely available on the internet so others can do the building. His flagship is the Hexayurt shelter system, which costs around $200 (£142). It uses common building materials, including insulation boards - which, he claims, are a third of the cost of a tent. The business plan is to cut the price of essential goods and services to the point where the poor can afford them. Gupta is just one example of a global movement that offers an alternative to the scandalous tales of banking avarice that have saturated the world's media.
We are often told that the best things in life are free, but few have ever tried to build it into a business model. Yet it is curious that while financial capitalism is in global meltdown, a completely different kind of entrepreneurial activity - call it commune-ism - is rising, from an admittedly low base. This is the act of doing things for the common good, for nothing - either from altruistic motives or because you expect to get compensated by using the product of someone else's free endeavours. Until recently, this kind of activity - known generically as "open source" - has been confined to software through such brilliant communal projects as Wikipedia, the Firefox browser (which now has 21.5% of the global market) or the Linux operating system. Interestingly, such products don't appear in the figures for gross domestic product (GDP) - at least, not until they are used in something that can be bought, such as a low-cost Linux computer. It is unrecorded wealth and if the movement grows we will have to look afresh at how we measure the wealth of nations.
Open source was given a boost last week when the UK government dropped its hitherto shameful neglect to give an endorsement for public services to use open source rather than proprietary software where it delivers best value for money. Whether this is just an empty gesture to take the wind out of the sails of the Conservatives - who have made capital out of claims that £600m could be saved by using open source in public projects - remains to be seen, but it is a step in the right direction. Open source is on a roll and the interesting thing is that it is now expanding into hardware. The global recession, coinciding with an unprecedented expansion of social networks ought to give it a big boost and turn the new model into a global force. If you fancy an open source mobile phone try Openmoko.com. Want to be part of an open source project building a different kind of car? Look at theoscarproject.org. Other interesting initiatives include openfarmtech.org where they are developing open source ecology including building eco-villages or akvo.org, specialising in sanitation. Wired magazine recently reported on the progress of Arduino, the Italian firm that makes a successful open source circuit board. There was a plan for an open source house via the Flickr photo site but there hasn't been much activity recently.
Open source hardware doesn't have the same power as software if only because the final product, as opposed to the designs, can't be replicated for no extra cost as software can. It has a different kind of potential as it can use networks to liberate the creative energies of frustrated employees or jobless people all over the world in order to build products people actually want that reflect local realities, including availability of materials. It is a paradigm that fits a networked age in which the actual manufacture of goods is outsourced. If governments of the world are worried about where new products and jobs will come from when the recession eventually ends, then they could do a lot worse than to encourage the building of products by the people for the people.
Vinay Gupta is a Scottish-Indian engineer who designs low-cost homes for poor parts of the world or disaster zones, and then makes them freely available on the internet so others can do the building. His flagship is the Hexayurt shelter system, which costs around $200 (£142). It uses common building materials, including insulation boards - which, he claims, are a third of the cost of a tent. The business plan is to cut the price of essential goods and services to the point where the poor can afford them. Gupta is just one example of a global movement that offers an alternative to the scandalous tales of banking avarice that have saturated the world's media.
We are often told that the best things in life are free, but few have ever tried to build it into a business model. Yet it is curious that while financial capitalism is in global meltdown, a completely different kind of entrepreneurial activity - call it commune-ism - is rising, from an admittedly low base. This is the act of doing things for the common good, for nothing - either from altruistic motives or because you expect to get compensated by using the product of someone else's free endeavours. Until recently, this kind of activity - known generically as "open source" - has been confined to software through such brilliant communal projects as Wikipedia, the Firefox browser (which now has 21.5% of the global market) or the Linux operating system. Interestingly, such products don't appear in the figures for gross domestic product (GDP) - at least, not until they are used in something that can be bought, such as a low-cost Linux computer. It is unrecorded wealth and if the movement grows we will have to look afresh at how we measure the wealth of nations.
Open source was given a boost last week when the UK government dropped its hitherto shameful neglect to give an endorsement for public services to use open source rather than proprietary software where it delivers best value for money. Whether this is just an empty gesture to take the wind out of the sails of the Conservatives - who have made capital out of claims that £600m could be saved by using open source in public projects - remains to be seen, but it is a step in the right direction. Open source is on a roll and the interesting thing is that it is now expanding into hardware. The global recession, coinciding with an unprecedented expansion of social networks ought to give it a big boost and turn the new model into a global force. If you fancy an open source mobile phone try Openmoko.com. Want to be part of an open source project building a different kind of car? Look at theoscarproject.org. Other interesting initiatives include openfarmtech.org where they are developing open source ecology including building eco-villages or akvo.org, specialising in sanitation. Wired magazine recently reported on the progress of Arduino, the Italian firm that makes a successful open source circuit board. There was a plan for an open source house via the Flickr photo site but there hasn't been much activity recently.
Open source hardware doesn't have the same power as software if only because the final product, as opposed to the designs, can't be replicated for no extra cost as software can. It has a different kind of potential as it can use networks to liberate the creative energies of frustrated employees or jobless people all over the world in order to build products people actually want that reflect local realities, including availability of materials. It is a paradigm that fits a networked age in which the actual manufacture of goods is outsourced. If governments of the world are worried about where new products and jobs will come from when the recession eventually ends, then they could do a lot worse than to encourage the building of products by the people for the people.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Antony Gormley's plinth project live over 100 days
Artist Antony Gormley's new project, in which a different group of 100 people stand on Trafalgar Square's empty fourth plinth for an hour at a time, live around the clock this summer.
The project, called One & Other, will take place over 100 days from 6 July, and will see 2,400 people from all over the UK standing on the fourth plinth for an hour each.
Sky Arts will broadcast the action live as well as screening a weekly programme from the plinth. Viewers will also be able to follow the project on a special website, www.oneandother.co.uk, which will include a 24-hour web-cam and give users the opportunity to vote for their favourite moments.
This is the first project this year to come out of Sky Arts's collaboration with creative producer Artichoke, which aims to bring "public art to life on air, online and on the streets".
Previous shows have included La Machine, a 50ft mechanical spider that paraded through Liverpool last autumn, and The Sultan's Elephant, seen on the streets of London in 2006.
"What really excites us about One & Other is the immediacy that this project will bring to our programming," said John Cassy, channel manager for Sky Arts.
"The fact is, none of us know what's going to happen on the plinth – that's the vision that Antony had, and that's what's so thrilling.
"The Fourth Plinth has become, over the years, a part of our national identity – and we're hoping that through the website and our programmes, we can offer everyone across the UK a chance to become involved, in whichever way they choose."
Gormley added: "The idea is very simple. Through putting a person on to the plinth, the body becomes a metaphor, a symbol.
"The work will allow us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It's about people coming together to do something extraordinary and unpredictable."
Sky Arts, which now has three digital TV channels, recently doubled its output to 36 hours every day of the week.
Recent programmes have included Songbook, a series on songwriters; and Brush with Fame, which sees reformed art forger John Myatt paint celebrities such as John Cleese and Robin Gibb in the style of world famous artists.
The project, called One & Other, will take place over 100 days from 6 July, and will see 2,400 people from all over the UK standing on the fourth plinth for an hour each.
Sky Arts will broadcast the action live as well as screening a weekly programme from the plinth. Viewers will also be able to follow the project on a special website, www.oneandother.co.uk, which will include a 24-hour web-cam and give users the opportunity to vote for their favourite moments.
This is the first project this year to come out of Sky Arts's collaboration with creative producer Artichoke, which aims to bring "public art to life on air, online and on the streets".
Previous shows have included La Machine, a 50ft mechanical spider that paraded through Liverpool last autumn, and The Sultan's Elephant, seen on the streets of London in 2006.
"What really excites us about One & Other is the immediacy that this project will bring to our programming," said John Cassy, channel manager for Sky Arts.
"The fact is, none of us know what's going to happen on the plinth – that's the vision that Antony had, and that's what's so thrilling.
"The Fourth Plinth has become, over the years, a part of our national identity – and we're hoping that through the website and our programmes, we can offer everyone across the UK a chance to become involved, in whichever way they choose."
Gormley added: "The idea is very simple. Through putting a person on to the plinth, the body becomes a metaphor, a symbol.
"The work will allow us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It's about people coming together to do something extraordinary and unpredictable."
Sky Arts, which now has three digital TV channels, recently doubled its output to 36 hours every day of the week.
Recent programmes have included Songbook, a series on songwriters; and Brush with Fame, which sees reformed art forger John Myatt paint celebrities such as John Cleese and Robin Gibb in the style of world famous artists.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
The despair of Darfur
Five years after the peak of the violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan, some 2.7 million people remain scattered in camps and dependent on an international community that has no clear idea what to do with them, no sure way of protecting them, and no practical plan for a solution.
"We have created an open-ended, ongoing $3bn peacekeeping and humanitarian process that chiefly serves to maintain the miserable status quo, this stasis of misery. There is no end in sight. Under the status quo now prevailing, there is a certain level of violence that has become normal, large parts of the countryside remain depopulated, pro-government and rebel groups work as bandits, for and against each other, Unamid [the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur] is ineffective, carjacking and robbery has become a regional industry, and millions are stuck in the camps. People say it can't go on indefinitely like this. But unless something radical changes, it will."
"We have created an open-ended, ongoing $3bn peacekeeping and humanitarian process that chiefly serves to maintain the miserable status quo, this stasis of misery. There is no end in sight. Under the status quo now prevailing, there is a certain level of violence that has become normal, large parts of the countryside remain depopulated, pro-government and rebel groups work as bandits, for and against each other, Unamid [the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur] is ineffective, carjacking and robbery has become a regional industry, and millions are stuck in the camps. People say it can't go on indefinitely like this. But unless something radical changes, it will."
Belfast museum faces legal battle over Darwin exhibition
DUP assembly member Mervyn Storey calls for creationist display to challenge evolution theory
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 February 2009 12.18 GMT
The Ulster Museum in Belfast faces a legal challenge unless it stages a creationist exhibition as a counter to its forthcoming series on Charles Darwin, a Democratic Unionist member of the Northern Ireland assembly warned today. Forty-eight hours after the DUP's Northern Ireland environment minister, Sammy Wilson, railed against the idea that climate change is man-made, his party colleague Mervyn Storey has threatened legal action against the museum over its promotion of Darwin's theory of evolution.
The North Antrim DUP assembly member called this morning for an "alternative exhibition" promoting creationism to be staged alongside one planned for the Ulster Museum in Belfast this year. Storey, a born-again Christian advocate of creationism and so-called intelligent design, said that as the museum in Belfast's university district was publicly funded it should be subject to the province's equality legislation.
Speaking to the Guardian at Stormont, he said: "In the past, when I have written to the museum about necessity to show the public an alternative to Darwin's theory (and let's stress it is still only a theory), they have been quite dismissive. "They could be subject to a legal challenge under equality legislation within Northern Ireland if they chose to ignore alternative views that many people here in the Province believe in," he said.
He also described Charles Darwin as a "racist" over his description of aboriginal peoples in his other classic tome The Descent of Man. "In this politically correct society we live in today, if Darwin expressed those views about other peoples of the world now he would not be put on any pedestal." Asked if humans evolved from monkeys, Storey said: "Certainly not, and there are plenty of other people in this society who don't believe it either."
The chairman of the education committee at the Northern Ireland Assembly said: "I am not against the museum or anywhere else promoting Darwin's theory, but I think it would be in the public's interest to give them an alternative theory as well. "We are currently because of the anniversary being bombarded with Darwin's theory but there are others in the scientific world who question that thesis and their voices should be heard in publicly funded institutions like the museum."
Storey confirmed he has written to the National Trust complaining about information on display around Ireland's most famous landmark, the Giant's Causeway in his North Antrim constituency. The DUP assembly member said he had objected to notices informing the public that the rock formation was about 550m years old. Storey believes in the literal truth of the Bible and that the earth was created only several thousand years before Christ's birth.
The former school teacher is also campaigning to have creationism and intelligent design theory taught in Northern Ireland's schools. However the Sinn Fein education minister, Catriona Ruane, insisted they would not form any part of the schools' curriculum.
The backbone of the DUP – the largest party in the Stormont assembly – is made up of evangelical Christians, many of whom have been members of Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian church. It has left the more secular wing of the party to have to deal with maverick statements from the DUP evangelicals.
Last year Iris Robinson, a DUP MP and wife of Northern Ireland's first minister, caused controversy when she condemned homosexuality as an "abomination" that could be "cured" with psychiatry. Her remarks are the subject of a police investigation after complaints that the comments allegedly incited hatred against the local gay community.
Earlier this month, Wilson used his powers to ban a government-paid climate change TV advertisement. Wilson, a climate-change sceptic, claimed the ad was "insidious New Labour propaganda."
Sunday, 8 February 2009
A Million Farewells
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Han Solo's famous quote from Star Wars, which was revived to pleasingly self referential effect in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, is a saying familiar to men of a certain age who like to reach into a bag of popular culture quotes and pull out an appropriate phase when the situation requires it.
There is something comfortable about falling back into the arms of some carefully, cleverly chosen words of wisdom that have already been tried and tested.
These particular words came to mind as I seriously thought to myself I was about to bid farewell to my mortal coil as I stood in the rain shooting a scene on the edge of a cliff in Tintagel in Cornwall a few years ago. I as both producer and actor needed to be in a pivotal scene where I had to strangle the director who was also acting. We figured it could not get any more spectacular than being precariously perched on the lip of a sheer 30 meter drop onto jagged rocks below with the waves crashing against the cliff walls.
Thankfully our incredibly obliging DOP and Soundman agreed to try and get as close as possible to capture the event while attempting not to slip on the wet moss covered rocks and fall to their certain death, taking us with them in the process.
We got the shot, we did not die and we all have postponed our farewell for many years to come.
Spike Milligan famously wanted the phase, "I told you I was ill", carved on his tombstone as his farewell.
We at ditto would like to put a piece together for our event on May 16th which includes the farewells of everyone at ditto as well as the extended ditto family so please add a comment, add your farewell. Be brave!
...and to get the ball rolling here are a few...
Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. ~Richard Bach
Man's feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell. ~Jean Paul Richter
Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need to know of hell. ~Emily Dickinson
Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye? ~Author Unknown
Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. ~Charles M. Schulz
How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~Carol Sobieski
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. ~Irish Blessing
You and I will meet again
When we're least expecting it
One day in some far off place
I will recognize your face
I won't say goodbye my friend
For you and I will meet again
~Tom Petty
Friday, 6 February 2009
Alicia Bastos said... "Martin Luther King"
Love the themes, good balance!I would like to suggest one of my idols Martin Luther King speeches.I have a dream, is probably the most popular, but if you have time to read some of the other such as Loving your enemies or Eulogy for the Martyred Children which I will show you a little extract ( Despair?):"Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. (Mmm) It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. (Yeah)
Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah) But if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, (Yeah. Well) and that God is able (Yeah) to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace. (Mmm)And so today, you do not walk alone. You gave to this world wonderful children. (Mmm) They didn’t live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. (Well) Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. (Yeah) And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. (Yeah) They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, (Well) nor did they die discussing and listening to filthy jokes. (Yeah)
They died between the sacred walls of the church of God (Yeah) and they were discussing the eternal meaning (Yes) of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. (Yes) Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare (Well): Good night, sweet princesses. (Mmm) Good night, those who symbolize a new day. (Yeah) And may the flight of angels (That’s right) take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you." I would love to know more about the new logistics information, is the hub will become a crazy interactive experience???Up for the meeting next thursday!
Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah) But if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, (Yeah. Well) and that God is able (Yeah) to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace. (Mmm)And so today, you do not walk alone. You gave to this world wonderful children. (Mmm) They didn’t live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. (Well) Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. (Yeah) And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. (Yeah) They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, (Well) nor did they die discussing and listening to filthy jokes. (Yeah)
They died between the sacred walls of the church of God (Yeah) and they were discussing the eternal meaning (Yes) of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. (Yes) Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare (Well): Good night, sweet princesses. (Mmm) Good night, those who symbolize a new day. (Yeah) And may the flight of angels (That’s right) take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you." I would love to know more about the new logistics information, is the hub will become a crazy interactive experience???Up for the meeting next thursday!
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