April 28th, 2008 by mhjones

It’s great to see that Steve Gillmor and the gang have returned from hiatus and found a home with Mike Arrington.

The Gillmor Gang sprung out of conversations Steve was having with Jon Udell (now at Microsoft) during our time at InfoWorld. These two would muse, debate, and generally play verbal pong pong for considerable chunks of time. As Steve writes (yes Steve, I am a full 10 days behind on this news), he wanted to share the ideas they discussed with the world at large.

One of many other characters worth pointing out in the fray here is Mike Vizard, former editor in chief at InfoWorld who took a punt and imported yours truly from Australia in 1999, just before the Internet business went pear shaped.

These three guys, perhaps more than any others, shaped my experience in San Francisco from 2000 to 2003 - and I’m still enjoying the fruits of that season. So that’s why I listen to the show. There are breadcrumbs here that I do want to pick up and run with.

For other people, the Gang is arguably what RSS/Web 2.0/attention/social media/social networking was always all about. Shared ideas, and turning the mythical “conversation” into reality - warts and all.

In fact, it was this show that partly inspired me to launch The Scoop podcast. We are no Gang, but to my knowledge we are still the only podcast in Australia that’s based on the concept of a panel-style conversation.

Update: wrap your noggin around this post and comments at TechCrunch. The fun has started.

Tagged: Podcasting, Social media, Tech news, The Scoop
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April 18th, 2008 by mhjones

The team at misaustralia.com has given the site a fresh look, and I’m enjoying the result. I was part of the team that developed version 1.o, so it’s great to see the evolution.

As online editor Chris Jenkins writes, one of the biggest changes is they have dispensed with the flash viewer. In its place is the DRM technology that’s found on afr.com.

DRM aside, I do like the “latest news” box in the news stories; the multimedia viewer; bigger and clearer photos; the whole top nav bar with drop down menus; and all the social media tags.

What are your thoughts on the site?

(John Laws clause: I continue to do lots of work for MIS and the AFR)

Tagged: Aussie media
Comments: 1 Comment »

April 14th, 2008 by mhjones

I’ll confess to being more than a little proud of the journos at The AFR and MIS Magazine last Friday night at the annual Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards:

[Ben] Woodhead was a frequent visitor to the winner’s podium, collecting individual honours as Best Industry Journalist and the top gong of Best Journalist. While he collected those awards for his work at The Australian, he also represented Fairfax Business Media, who had another successful night with MIS Magazine winning Best Business Technology Title while the Financial Review won Best Industry Title. Paul Smith was also judged to be the Best Business Technology Journalist while Julian Bajkowski won Best News Journalist.

Also, congrats to all the other winners. I was one of the judges in the “Best New Journalist” category, and it was really interesting to read around 12 nominations from this year’s crop. The winner, Elissa Baxter, is a worthy winner, and it will be interesting to follow her career.

And beyond Elissa, there’s some incredible talent out there. In my humble opinion, it bodes well for the future of IT journalism in this country.

Tagged: Aussie media
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April 14th, 2008 by mhjones

Hey all. A request for information. I’m looking for CEOs of large companies in Australia who would be interested in joining us on The Scoop in the near future.

I’ve already got one person lined up - the new MD of Sun Microsystems Australia & NZ, Duncan Bennet. We met last Friday at the annual ITJourno Lizzie Awards and it turns out he has an internal blog. Given that his boss Jonothan Schwartz is a very well known CEO blogger, I argued it was about time he flicked the switch and went public.

So, any other suggestions anyone?

Tagged: Podcasting, Weblogs
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April 8th, 2008 by mhjones

Hugh Bradlow had been on my list of people I wanted to interview for some time. In part, because I was reading his blog on Telstra’s infamous NowWeAreTalking. We finally met recently at a broadband conference and this video is the result. It’s a shade long at nearly 16 mins, but we decided it was a good yarn and worth the effort. Hope you agree!

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.500826&w=425&h=350&fv=guid%3Dguid93432] from www.misaustralia.com posted with vodpod

Tagged: MISaustralia.com, Social media, Tech news
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April 4th, 2008 by mhjones

It’s hard to believe, but 12 months ago today was my last day at The Australian Financial Review where I was IT Editor. It was a career-defining role and one that I’d had my eye on for a decade prior.

You may remember that the main reason I left the AFR was because I had enrolled in theological college. Anyone who has studied and maintained a full-time job will tell you that it’s a tough road to do both simultaneously - so I opted for the easier road to preserve sanity and I’m studying part-time. One year later I’m still ploughing through two subjects each semester, and still loving it.

Meanwhile, today is the one year anniversary of my editorial and professional speaking business, Filtered Media. Thanks to the AFR and MIS Magazine, I’ve been able to puruse my interest in new media. I’ve started The Scoop podcast, helped develop and launch misaustralia.com, record video interviews for the MISaustralia Leadership Series, and a few other projects including some freelance journalism.

Beyond the AFR, I’ve written for a few magazines, been a speaker and panel facilitator at various industry conferences, and ventured into the world of corporate speaking, talking to companies about future trends in media, the Internet and online marketing.

On the personal front, my family moved house, and made a life-changing trip to Uganda and Dubai.

Time flies, as they say, but it’s all good. And if you’re one of the many people who’ve supported me in various ways, thanks!

Tagged: Personal, The Australian Financial Review
Comments: 1 Comment »