March 6th, 2012 Posted in Digital comms, Internet, Ireland, Online, Politics
The controversial Irish version of SOPA is to be made law, it was announced last Thursday.
Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock said that all interested parties should now focus on ‘making Ireland a model of international best practice for innovation, and ensuring that our copyright laws facilitate the achievement of this goal’. He added that he had no intention of curbing the freedom of Irish internet users.
The new copyright law will allow record labels and other copyright holders to seek legal injunctions against ISPs that allow access to websites that contain copyrighted material. It follows on from a 2010 High Court case in which EMI sought an injunction against UPC, ordering it to block access to sites that allow illegal downloading.
The Stop SOPA Ireland group had been campaigning in the run-up to last week’s events and collected over 80,000 signatures on a petition. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has also voiced disapproval of the law, saying ‘we have thrown the copyright issue over to the courts without any public policy guidance to help them decide the case law’.
Source: The Irish Times
November 14th, 2011 Posted in Digital comms, Media
Digital Skills Acad
emy, the digital media education and training provider at the Digital Hub, is seeking applications from Irish businesses to develop digital products and services for free through its WebElevate Programme.
The programme is an honours-degree level programme delivered in partnership with Dublin Institute of Technology, focused on re-skilling experienced participants in areas such as Mobile Application Development, Web Commerce, Global Digital Marketing and Web Video production.
Designed to reflect a real working environment, participants work on actual projects for Irish businesses, developing digital media products and services, under the expert guidance of industry experts delivering the WebElevate programme. Participants are college graduates with years of professional experience, who are now re-skilling in the area of digital content and technologies. Up to 20 businesses will be served through the programme, developing products and services such as Web and Mobile Applications, eCommerce platforms and Web Video Products.
Applications are being sought from both digital media and non-digital media businesses who would like to access the resources of the WebElevate programme. All intellectual property rights of the product or service and profits from same will remain with the companies.
Companies interested in taking part are invited to attend an information session at 8am on Friday, 18th November 2011 at the Grand Canal Hotel, Grand Canal Street Upper, Dublin 4. For further information, visit www.webelevate.ie/invite
October 13th, 2011 Posted in Digital comms, Politics
Downing Street has h
ad a reshuffle in recent weeks as the digital communications team received a welcome boost. Jennifer Poole, former head of digital engagement at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills has now joined the team to head up Number 10’s website copy and online content in the role of News and Content Manager.
She follows Nick Jones, who joined the team last month to take up the position of interim head of digital, and Anthony Simon, who earlier in the year became Senior Digital Campaigns manager. The digital communications team now numbers nine, and has been merged so that they cover everything from Number 10, The Deputy Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office in one fell swoop.
It’s all part of a major press re-organisation at Downing Street that will allow greater coordination of communications on cross-government issues. So we can expect more focus on regional and local media and a greater use of online tools from now on. By the looks of their website, they’ll already started too.
Source: PR Week
July 19th, 2011 Posted in Campaign, Charity, Crisis, Digital comms, Online, Public Relations
Oxfam Ireland recently lau
nched its biggest ever emergency appeal for those affected by the catastrophic drought in East Africa. Over 12 million people are facing starvation in the region, so ease and accessibility to donate is crucial to securing new funds.
This is the first appeal that Oxfam Ireland has used online advertising for, and the results of the campaign so far have highlighted a significant shift towards donating through online platforms.
The charity has created a Facebook app where users can donate, with the message that they’ve just donated appearing on both Oxfam’s and their own pages. They’ve also taken to Twitter to spread the word about the appeal, and are fast approaching 3,000 followers already.
Digital communications, they say, offers charities huge opportunities to engage directly with their constituents. As the costs of m-commerce reduce it will prove a fantastic platform for charities as it is an immediate and compelling method of engaging donors and successfully raising funds.
To donate to Oxfam Ireland’s East Africa appeal, visit:
Their website
Their Facebook page
Or text Donate to 51500
Don’t forget to check them out on Twitter at @oxfamireland too.
July 5th, 2011 Posted in Digital comms, Google, Online, Social Network
Google+ is the latest social netwo
rk to hit the web and has so far received a huge amount of attention online, both good, bad and indifferent. Want to know what all the fuss is all about? Then read this quick guide by our UK training partners Nixon McInnes (summarised below).
What is Google+ ?
It’s basically Facebook, but Google style. The main difference is that it allows users to share updates, photos, links etc. with many different groups of people (called ‘circles’) without the need to agree to be their friend first. Users can create different circles for different groups, for example, work colleagues, friends, family, etc.
+Sparks
This is the search feature of the site that makes recommendations for content that may be suitable for you based on the interests you enter. It includes blog posts, articles and videos from across the web. It’s more of a ‘recommendation engine’ than a search engine and will tie in with the ‘Google +1’ button.
+Hangouts
A unique feature of Google+, Hangouts enables users to have a group video chat. It switches camera based on who’s talking and also allows several people to watch a YouTube video simultaneously while seeing each other’s reactions at the same time.
+Mobile
Google+ also offers instant photo uploads. With permission it automatically adds your pictures to a private album in the cloud so they’re available at any time from any device. There’s also +Huddle, a group messaging experience that lets everyone in your circle know what’s going on.
Google+ vs. Facebook
Pros: You don’t have to agree to be friends with someone to see their updates. The ‘circles’ concept is much more developed than Facebook’s Groups feature.
Cons: Your updates are not off-limits to search engines. The interface is nearly identical to Facebook (although this is only a con if you dislike the latter).
Should we take notice?
There has certainly been a lot of buzz about it and there is potential for further development. There is no obvious way for businesses to use Google+ yet, which could be an obstacle to its success. The biggest challenge they face, however, will be getting more ‘normal’ people to use it so that they can really compete.
Source: Nixon McInnes
June 17th, 2011 Posted in Digital comms, Internet, Journalism, Media, Newspapers, Online, Sales, Trans Media
Newspapers the Guardian and the Observer are intending to adopt a “digital-first” strategy as losses from last year were announced at £30m by Guardian Media Group chief executive Andrew Miller.
This “major transformation” aims to double digital revenue from an expected £47m in the current financial year to nearly £100m by 2016. Miller said the move was unavoidable because “doing nothing was not an option”.
The Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, said that the newspaper needed to embrace an “open” digital philosophy in which it embraced contributions from beyond the ranks of its own journalists, and posed the question of whether the titles could focus 80% of their attention on digital.
Rusbridger said: “Every newspaper is on a journey into some kind of digital future. That doesn’t mean getting out of print, but it does require a greater focus of attention, imagination and resource on the various forms that digital future is likely to take.”
He also stated that there would be a redesign of the Guardian’s Monday to Friday editions later this year. Researc has shown that half of readers read the newspaper in the evening, so the aim was to create a title that would be “as relevant at 9am as 9pm”. It would focus less on breaking news and instead aim to emulate “Newsnight not News at Ten”.
Source: Media Guardian
May 31st, 2011 Posted in Awards, Client Wins, Digital comms, Technology
Neon SMS Solutions is the lea
ding provider of flexible and cost effective text messaging services for public and private enterprises.
They’ve just renewed their contract with Interleaf Technology Ltd., which facilitates libraries sending overdue notices as text messages to a borrower’s mobile phone.
24 libraries are now using the application and have saved a collective €100,000 in the last year when compared with the cost of sending out posted notices. 250,000 texts were sent out in 2010.
NeonSMS has gone from strength to strength with a new Brand identity and website which was shortlisted for a golden spider award. The company has been growing rapidly and has a broad range of clients from financial institutions and corporates, to government and non-profit organisations.
