Archive
Year: 2008
-
An EU apprentice to a US master?
June 12, 2008
Barack Obama has been recently dubbed in the press as the "Master of Facebook Politics" (see this great NY Times article entitled The Wiki-Way to the Nomination). This is old news to anyone with even a vague interest in digital public affairs, but now it seems that the mainstream press are waking up to Obama's pioneering use of social networks in his campaign, especially when it comes to raising money. Clearly, he was more effective as this than the...
-
Do you struggle to find plain English explanations of the net?
June 10, 2008
Sometimes even we struggle for plain, easy to understand words to explain the basic concepts and tools of the internet, let alone how they can be used in a public affairs context...we know, it's hard to believe isn't it? Thankfully help is at hand. Our monthly internal knowledge sharing lunch, or "Click & Tell" as we call it, unearthed a site called Commoncraft, which is full of informative videos that explain the basics of web...
-
ECB Record Surpasses Expectations, but Where’s the Euro Group?
June 9, 2008
“That’s the only cut this year!” quipped a council member when European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet took the knife to the ECB’s birthday cake in Frankfurt on June 2. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the Bank’s establishment. Apparently the mood in Frankfurt was of genuine celebration tempered by concern at the conflicting challenges which the Bank currently faces over inflation and growth. It has been a long journey since June 1998. It’s...
-
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me blog.
June 5, 2008
We recently read on BadScience about the Dore miracle cure for dyslexia, a £2000 treatment which has been associated with NASA space technology (denied) and a research study that ended with the resignation of five members of the editorial board of the journal Dyslexia. Additionally both academics who have spoken out against the treatment and patients who merely said it didn't work for them have been threatened with libel action. However, the rights and wrongs...
-
EUTube goes from sex to science
June 4, 2008
Eureka! EUTubes newest clip is geek-tastic. Even though the European Commission brought us this clip, which we discussed in an earlier post, it is still unexpected that they have shown such agility on EUTube. Even more shocking that they are making public service videos which aren't lame. It seems that the video is promoting science research in the EU, though the web site it sends viewers to, Marie Curie Actions, could do with some work...
-
Just another social networking site?
June 3, 2008
A new social networking site has just hit the digital shelves, but rather than existing solely to aid procrastination, this one appears to have a point to it. myparl.eu is a political forum and social networking tool for parliamentarians in Europe, including both MEPs and MPs of the member states. On top of allowing European politicians to poke each other and update their relationship status, the site aims to encourage networking between various levels of...
-
Prime Minister, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
May 29, 2008
Browsing YouTube this lunch, we note that that embattled UK PM Gordon Brown is seeking to both reconnect with the voters after a trouncing in Crewe with the use of a US style YouTube Q&A session. You've got until the 21 June to submit your questions to him via the Downing Street YouTube channel. Questions about his future career plans are presumably not likely to get answered. All part of a strategy to make him...
-
Eurovision Song Contest: The Centre of Gravity Shifts to the East
May 28, 2008
Allemagne quartorze points, Royaume-Uni 14 points, la Russie 272 points, Ukraine 230 points, la Grèce 218 points. So it was a runaway victory for the Russian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Belgrade on May 24, and oblivion for most west European entries. The centre of gravity moves further east. See you in Moscow in 2009! Some (western European) commentators see the modern contest as a great conspiracy of political block voting, with...
-
Searching the EU blogosphere
May 23, 2008
Image via Wikipedia Apparently in the world of search we are moving in two opposite directions, or at least Google think so. And who are we to question. Mere PA people that we are. Firstly, there is apparently a move towards expanding the scope of general search to other forms of content. After all, whether it's a vid. Note that as you've been searching Google recently maps, pictures, videos and allsorts of other online content...
-
Serbia’s Election: Elation in Brussels Turns to Frustration
May 23, 2008
Elation in Brussels at the unexpected success of Boris Tadic’s pro-European Democratic Party in Serbia’s general election</ahas quickly turned to frustration as the Socialist Party, with 20 seats in the new parliament, decides whether to throw in its lot with the nationalist Radicals led by Vojislav Kostunica. Tadic’s party won the most seats, but not enough to form a government on its own. (Former ambassador to Belgrade, Charles Crawford, has forthright views on Mr Kostunica).