that canadian girl

Category: Blogging & Online Media

  • Blogging vs Dogging?

    “More people know what dogging is than blogging, according to a survey which suggests that Brits are not as tech-savvy as might be expected.”

    Research conducted among taxi drivers, hairdressers and pub landlords – backed up by conventional market research of more than 1,000 adults in the UK – has found that seven out of 10 people don’t know what a blog is. Nine out of 10 don’t know what podcasting or flashmobbing are.

    Four out of 10 know what dogging is, perhaps due to the activities of certain celebrities. Only 49% of people know what a chav is, despite the widespread coverage they have received in both tabloid and broadsheet papers.

    So I could start explaining blogging, but if you’re reading this blog, you must already have an idea. And I could start explaining dogging, but I might just let the Beebs do it.

    The point this article makes is that outside of the media industry bubble, not very many people are aware of what a blog is. The fact is, new words are appearing at the speed of the evolution of culture (and by this, I don’t mean Intellectually Enlightening Culture with a Capital C, I mean “Queen Chavette Jordan” kind of culture…) and no one can keep up with them. We each keep up with the vocabulary that matches our lifestyle, so the odds of “cabbies, beauticians and landlords” needing to know all about podcasting and blogging are rather low.

    Oh and the other point the article makes is that Brits are a right bunch of perverts! 😉

  • Can any of you speak German?

    I need help solving this mystery. I’ve had +400 visits from a message board called Castplenum this month. You’ll find it here. If you speak any German, go take a peak and try to find out why they’re talking about my blog and linking to it. It’s been puzzling me for a month now, so I need to find out!

    In exchange, I’ll give you the next part of the much awaited “Stupid Google Searches of the Month” – Some had me laughing out loud by the sheer dumbness of the search string.

    I’ll just give you this one as a preview: “lots of knickers on stage charlotte church party in the park 2005 oxford.” Ooooh yeah we’re in for some fun this month.

  • Comments working again

    If you tried to leave a comment in the past few days and haven’t succeeded, many apologies!

    Andrew tried so hard to stop spam from getting through to comments that he stopped comments from getting through altogether! Woops!

    But now everything should be working perfectly, so feel free to pour your heart out 🙂

  • Google Maps tells too much?

    I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while but it’s just sitting in a pile of “must write about”‘s, which means if I don’t do it now, it’ll never happen (just like I’ve been meaning to repaint the nasty lilac walls of our bedroom a better colour since we moved in 3 1/2 months ago…)

    The Register reports South Korea and Thailand’s concerns with Google Maps offering insight into their military installations. So of course, El Reg goes and posts screenshots of every potentially interesting and secret building on the face of the Earth!

    Go have a look for yourself at what all the fuss is about. Ahh, little RAF airplanes on the landing strip…

  • Google Blog Search

    Google has added a blog-specific search to its arsenal. It “defines blogs as sites that use RSS and other structured feeds and update content on a regular basis.”

    Search Engine Watch reviews it in more depth.

    The results haven’t convinced me yet, as I seem to have caught a lot of http://keyword-keyword-keyword.com URLs that lead to junky link farm blogs. I’m assuming that’ll improve over time, as this is only a beta. I’m still likely to check Technorati or a similar site if I’m desperate for blog content, or do a regular Google search which still yields a whole lot of blog content.

    Darren and company     aren’t too impressed either…

  • Upgrade completed

    I’m finally running WordPress 1.5 – after months of moaning and bitching at my dear other half to get him to do it, I’ve finally managed to tie him down to his chair long enough that he knew he had no choice but to fulfil his duty as Geek of the House, before I’d let him go free.

    (And if you’re about to ask why I didn’t do it myself, he made the mistake of tweaking the crap out of the 1.2 version, which implicitely contracted him to give me all the same features again when upgrading!)

  • Another stupid application for Google Maps

    When I was a kid, I was told that if I dug a hole in the ground, I would come out in China.

    Clearly, I was lied to.

  • My Little X-Treme Pony

    My Little Pony

    Dooce‘s daughter rocks!

    ————–

    Blogging is so odd, you can read so much about people, you start thinking you know them, and then you come to the realisation that a. you’ve never met them, and b. you’ve based your image of them on what they choose to divulge on their blog. Granted in some cases, like Dooce’s, she reveals pretty much everything there is to know, and probably too much sometimes, [Don’t say you haven’t been warned!] while others just happen to have charming online personas that we just choose to be happy with.

    I don’t really know anyone else in real life who has kept a regular online diary of their personal life over the years, so I haven’t been able to compare reality and what the blogger chooses to share, except for my own little life. In my case, I chose to steer clear of talking about work because, first of all, I know how bloody good Google can be at digging up very very old shit. So I kept quiet during the months where I hated my job, leaving my dear other half to suffer while I bitched and moaned about incompetent managers. And now? Well, I love my new job. Nobody online actually wants to hear happy news, do they!? I’m sure you can all do without a cheeseball lovesong to my new job…

    So where was I going with this… Oh yeah, blogging, feeling like you know people. Now with podcasting, vlogging and photoblogging, it just seems we can get as deep into other people’s lives as they will let us.

    But for now, thanks for visiting, it’s time for you to go. Good night! *Shuts door*

  • Tangerine Julz

    My little sister Julie has decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. Une petite Universitaire de 19 ans qui fait sa petite affaire en Arts (avec un grand aaahh!) à Ottawa.

  • Loin de chez soi

    Une amie de longue date vient tout juste de créer son premier blog (bienvenue dans notre monde!) pour nous permettre de la suivre dans ses études à New York!

    Et oui, la petite Paola n’a pas été satisfaite par ce que Londres lui a lancé comme défis, maintenant c’est New York et l’école de journalisme! Bonne chance ma belle, et continue à écrire, t’auras le dernier mot.

    ***
    My dear friend Paola has just created her first blog, built as a point of contact while she’s in journalism school in New York. The challenges she faced living far from home in London weren’t enough, now it’s New York, runs in Central Park and many complicated readings for classes.