Anonymity, action and headlines at BarCamp5

I'm currently sitting very antisocially next to Annie Mole and the gingeriffic Mr Ben Matthews typing way about the amazing stuff available at BarCamp5 - a meet up of social media peeps at eBay's offices in Richmond. The key focus of the event is a kind of self enclosed school where everyone is both a teacher and a student.

There's a whiteboard in the reception of the very cool, Palo Alto-esque office, which was completely empty at the start of the day. By 2pm, when I stumbled into the building with a nasty hangover, the board was awash with scribbled post-its - each one a lecture that individuals were offering at some point during the day.

So far today I've attended three.

I've just been sitting very attentively through a presentation by the Open Rights Group (ORG) an amazing lobbying group, which works to represent geeky types everywhere by spotting the big glaring holes in legislation and nudging politicians into action. The talk was given by Glynn Winttle and was one of the most interesting and enlightening presentations I've seen in a long time.

So powerful was the oratory that I've decided to pledge the monthly five quid donation that the organisation needs to exist and I would urge you to do the same. I'll write another time about the very cool work that ORG do but in the meantime please, please, please visit the website here - http://www.openrightsgroup.org/

The quality of the lectures as you might imagine vary quite massively and I've already had to sit through an example of social onenism with people talking about how they remain anonymous online. True enough I could've left before I did but I thought I'd at least give the lecture a chance....never again.

Currently I'm listening to a talk on writing headlines given by a bloke called Tom who if I remember correctly is Communities Editor for The Times. I'm going to sign off now because Tom deserves far more of my attention than he's currently getting and I genuinely feel like I'm learning something important.

People should do this more - sharing useful information - and I don't understand why it seems to be the preserve of the social media crowd. Let's do this more often. Photos coming soon.

Dom's new music review

I saw these guys performing in the grounds of Brighton Pavilion about two months ago at the heart of the summer. I was one of a number of onlookers to buy a CD - I got the last one, elbowing out a disappointed Hare Krishna - and I've been listening to it regularly ever since.

The band are called Drookit Dogs and whilst they don't seem to have made themselves a household name just yet, they're a DomW tip for the top.

Have a listen and see what you think. If you're from B-Town or London and you want to know more, check out the band's site.

Social commentary on toilet walls

I saw this on a pub toilet wall- don't ask - when visiting the Mayor's Thames Festival on Sunday. I don't know when it was written but based on its relevance I'd say it's pretty fresh (I might want to reconsider my choice of words).

I really hope it wasn't spotted by any Lehman Bros employees, I guess it could be considered a portent of doom.

These shoes were made for walking in

I’m having a tremendous day today, woke up nice and early. So far I’ve tidied the house, read a bit more from Tony Benn’s diaries and worked out my running route. The sun’s shining through the window and warming my legs, spread-eagled as they are across the duvet.

This probably won’t get posted until Monday morning due to the lack of internet at Chez Dom but it was drafted at 1pm on Saturday afternoon – just so you know.

It’s funny how the news can affect you. Working in PR, news has a kind of weird removal. It’s a breeze that either pushes at your back helping you along or hits you head on. I was at a meeting with colleagues on Friday at we began talking about 9/11 and what we were up to when it happened and similarly with the London bombings.

When the World Trade Center atrocity occurred, for most PRs it was an irritation – at least in the early stages before the full scale of the disaster was evident. The story was taking up print space, pushing out the stories that the clients wanted to be covered.

Similarly when XL Airways went into liquidation yesterday I tutted, I knew it was going to be a royal pain in the bottom for my clients and potentially for me too. Looking at the people stranded around the world without flights home, the reality began to sink in but it was only when I received a call from my sister that the scale of the story hit home.

My sister works at Manchester Airport and has done for at least four or five years. Most of her mates work for airlines and a few poor beggars worked for XL.

On Thursday night at midnight precisely a couple of guys knocked on the house where a few of my sister’s mates were staying. They were from XL or at least were acting on behalf of them. They told the inhabitants that since the house was provided by the company, they would be evicting all of the inhabitants first thing in the morning. What’s more however, all of the housemates would need to report to the airport at 9am to hand in all and any XL property in their possession and that if they were not forthcoming then would be charged for replacement.

So my sister’s mates were turfed out, not nice but that’s business I guess. It’s worse for her friends based overseas or who were staying over before making their way back home on an inbound flight. None of them are covered by ABTA and so won’t be able to claim their fares back from the company – or not easily at least.

The biggest kick to the gut however, is that none of them have yet been paid for this month. Their wages won’t be forthcoming and the employees are unlikely to ever see that money.

It’s all too easy to protect ourselves from the suffering of others but maybe we’d all be better people if we tried to walk a mile in the shoes of someone else.

The fickle nature of grads and salaries

Hello! I've been away a while I know, but I'm sorry. I've just been terribly busy you see. Yeah, I know, not an excuse...oh well.

So I feel I should set the scene. I'm sitting in my lovely local (pub) just off the Uxbridge Road in Shepherds Bush. I have a pint of Peroni to my right, complete with little dribbles of condensation, and a half eaten pub-made sausage roll on my left. In short, I'm in heaven.

Up until five minutes ago I was working. Now I'm not and you have my full and undivided attention.

Just recently the Hotwire office has been overtaken by fresh-faced grads. It's the highlight of the annual calendar purely because of the enthusiasm and joie de vivre they add to the place. Dallington Towers has literally been buzzing for the last two weeks as a result of these awesome individuals and I've even been given the privilege of line managing one of 'em - Chloe.

It got me thinking of the time when I started in PR and my expectations of the industry. There was one thing that captured my imagination most - money. Being a poor student, the single thing of most interest to me was the process by which I would prevent my self from starving and I found PR to pay perfectly well.

It was only when I moved to London and started rubbing shoulders with the finance crowd, which but for my academic incompetence I would have joined, that I started feeling short changed and hard done by.

I should point out that is by no means my opinion on my current pay packet - I'm very happy thank you very much - but just a reflection of the twinges of jealousy I felt when talking to my far better off mates working in the field of accountacy and banking.

Funny thing is though, that they didn't/don't feel better off or happier. They were hanging around obese felines that made their remuneration look measly. I know it's too easy to fall back on the old "money can't buy happiness" routine but largely it's true......ish.

My single piece of advice to any newbie to the industry is not to judge your job solely on what it pays - although that's got to be a factor after all - but judge it on the satisfaction, creativity, responsibility, the opportunity to learn, to hang around awesome people, to be supported in your endeavours that your choice of career brings.

If you want a single proof point of this I recommend that you check out the blog of the greatest awards ceremony in living memory - ever.

The Flackenhacks have re-emerged for 2008 here. The organisers are taking advice from you lot about award categories and other shizzle and if you want to participate your ideas and other bits and bobs do it on the wiki here.

Anyway by now I'm slightly pished and should be getting on to my next pint. Speak soon chaps.

Ta-ra.