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Wednesday Dec 24, 2008
Christmas, lists and sexy geeks
It's impossible to escape one thing at this time of year.
No, I don't mean Santa, Jesus and increasingly desperate high street retailers trying to sell you the "magic of Christmas".
I'm talking about "Top 10s". Call me a geek, but ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed perusing the year end lists on pretty much anything and everything. So, in the spirit of "Top 10s", I've complied some of my favorite lists/reviews/interesting posts of 2008 from across the blogosphere - in no particular order. Add your own if you like!
First up we have the Guardian's Top 100 sites for the year ahead (only slightly disappointed that TheSite.org wasn't in there, but hey-ho..)
Along a slightly similar line we have Read/Write's Top 100 products of 2008.
Moving into the realms of charities, justgiving posted a very comprehensive review of 2008 - so comprehensive it needed a part I and part II.
From across the pond, the Non-Profit Tech Blog published a Philanthropy and Non-Proft Top 25 list - very interesting to see some "traditional" charities dropping out of that list this year and some less obvious ones appearing for the first time.
Moving closer to home, as Helen noted, TheSite.org had a creative end to 2008. Whilst we're on TheSite.org, in case you do over-indulge too much this Christmas it's worth finding out how much your dead body is worth.
There's also been plenty happening on the do-it.org.uk blogs - I've particularly enjoyed having some student stereotypes being busted on the Student's Blog.
As this post is all about lists and Top 10s, I couldn't not mention Robin Goad's Hitwise Intelligence blog - always packed full of interesting stats about online search.
No list round up of mine would be complete without a music section, so here's the (ever so slightly pretentious) Pitchfork 50 Best Albums of 2008 list. For all you sports fans out there, here is the Guardian sports blog Classic YouTube 2008 round up - worth checking out for the Shteeve McClaren interview alone.
Finally, just to prove what everyone knew in 2008 - here's Wired Magazine's Sexiest Geeks of 2008 list.
Enjoy!
Posted by Sam Thomas ( 10:27 AM ) Link to this post Comments[2]
Wednesday Dec 17, 2008
Media organisations engaging with young people...
I've spotted two things that media organisations have done that really interest me.
The first is Dazed & Confused, the monthly style magazine founded by Jefferson Hack and Rankin, handed over the entire editorial of their current issue (January 2009) to teenagers. And the result, albeit on first glance, is really interesting. In a world where media organisations are increasingly unwilling to engage with young people without completing a small forest of forms it is genuinely refreshing to see a mainstream magazine put resources into engaging directly with young people and giving them a platform that goes beyond tokenism.
That said, the articles do all seem to be written by and about young people with names you'd be hard pressed to hear used on a council estate. And, as with all style magazines, it's as much about look as the substance. But, beyond the arty photos and clever typography lie some real issues that concern young people today.
The second thing I've been impressed by is the BBC's murder map (that's not actually its name). There was a time when it appeared every weekend there was another stabbing or shooting of a young person, but whilst the map and accompanying statistics and full list doesn't make pleasant reading; it does put the issue into some context.
In 2008, 72 teenagers (aged 10-19) have been murdered (or manslaughter) in the UK. That figure is relatively stable, but the figure for killings in London (29 this year) are far higher than an average of 17 since 2000.
The average age of those killed was 17, and most of them were stabbed. Saturday was the day when the majority of the killings took place.
Presenting the information this way makes the point that for all the hysteria about wayward teenagers, every one of these young people is a victim. And it is a factual resource that proves that huge parts of the country (including places like Nottingham, Bradford, Wales or Northern Ireland) haven't seen the sort of violence that if you believed certain parts of the popular press were a guaranteed occurrence on every high street.
Posted by Olly Benson ( 2:16 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Tuesday Dec 16, 2008
Hopes, Fears and Aspirations in the UK Today
Last month, YouthNet staff, supporters and a panel of young people gathered together on the 29th floor of Millbank Tower, in the aptly named venue, 'Altitude'.
The aim of the evening was to showcase our latest piece of research, 'Fear and Hoping in the UK'. This report provides a fascinating insight into the hopes, fears and aspirations of young people in the UK.
From housing and knife crime to terrorism to global warming, respondents let us into their views of the world today.
In order to discuss the results further, a panel of six 16 to 24-year olds, hosted by our Chair and Founder, Martyn Lewis CBE, joined us. As well as allowing the audience to really get to know them, their enthusiastic approach challenged the negative stereotype of young people that is so often portrayed in the media.
Guests from the public and private sectors enjoyed stunning views of London at night, in what was a very enjoyable and enlightening evening.
We'd love to hear what your hopes, fears and aspirations are, so do feel free to post your comments.
If you would like to view a summary of the report, please click here.
Alternatively, if you'd like to receive a hard copy of the report, please contact us
Monday Dec 01, 2008
View from across the Atlantic...
I've recently got back from a trip to the US. It was supposed to be a holiday, but a couple of things made it a bit more working, and a bit less holiday. Firstly, I've probably bored my colleagues senseless with my excitement at doing a spot of freelancing for the BBC on the night of the US election... being in a restaurant/studio overlooking Times Square when Obama got elected is something that'll never forget.
But along with the holiday bit, the other part of my trip to the States that counts as working was going to the YPulse Mashup in Boston. I've been a follower of Anatasia's youth media and marketing blog for a good couple of years now, even contributed a few times. So on the ridiculous notion that "you're in America. I'm in America" I dropped her an email to see if she was anywhere near me and we could catch up over a coffee. Better than that, she'd got a whole conference that slotted perfectly into my schedule.
So 36 hours after I'd witnessed one of the greatest election victories of recent years, I was in a sports hall at Boston University meeting a variety of people involved in youth media/marketing in the US. The whole conference has been successfully blogged and written up here, but here are a few things that I think YouthNet can learn from the conference:
Millennials/GenY (defined as those roughly of people born from 1980 until about 2000) have a totally different relationship with their parents to those born earlier (GenX). As a generalisation, GenY's are as likely to go clubbing and seek advice from their parents; whereas GenX's avoid their parents at all costs. The downside of this is helicopter parents.
GenY also have a totally different outlook on work: they know they being exploited so seek rewards in recognition of this fact. They totally blur the boundaries between work and home... they'll update their Facebook in the office but not think twice about checking their work email over the weekend. They also want regular praise (but then who wouldn't?)
We have a mobile version of TheSite.org – and we're planning for more of our interaction to be via wireless internet (but in the long term, it's unlikely to remain a separate entity to our web version). The US mobile phone model is different to Europe – and the popularity of SMS is about seven years behind us – but this doesn't sound that unfamiliar: girls text more, guys use mobile internet more.
In discussion about video, the panel said that "viewers value authenticity more than production quality", short videos work better than TV shows on the web (although the US doesn't have an equivilant BBC iPlayer) and that a lot of teens don't want to create video. Our multimedia editor, Chris Chapman, has been doing a lot of work on improving our video offering and the points the panel raised tie in nicely with what he (and the rest of us) have been up to.
Finally: two ideas to interest our fundraisers. Firstly, MyYearbook is apparently the fastest growing social network in the US. I don't know whether it will go mainstream this side of the pond, but it has quite an interesting funding model. In return for putting up with ads, users earn "lunchbox money" that they can turn into real cash to support actual causes.
Secondly, Virgin Mobile in the US has been running a pro-social awareness raising campaign on the issue of youth homelessness. In return for a text message, a hoodie was donated to a young homeless person. It's difficult to equate the equivalent easy win for YouthNet, but using mobiles to raise funds still seems like something worth tapping into.
The great thing about being an online charity is that we have a worldwide presence, even if our target beneficiaries are in the UK. Anastasia has already been bigging up YouthNet in Business Week, and more importantly referring young people who get in contact with her to TheSite.org. And we've been talking about joining a proposal to develop an application in partnership with another US organisation we like: YouthNoise.Overall I think the thing I left the conference with was actually how (not surprisingly) the issues that our US-cousins are facing are pretty much the same as we are. If you change a few of the brand names, ignore the accent and don't mind that they say "mobil" where we say "mobile" there is very little difference between us.
Olly is Editorial Manager of YouthNet.
Posted by Olly Benson ( 11:37 PM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
