Londoners: rally today at Scotland Yard 11AM to preserve the right to photograph!: “Just a reminder for you Londoners: the National Union of Journalists and the British Journal of Photographers are having a photo-in today at Scotland Yard, a demonstration against the outrageous new law that can put you in jail for ten years for taking a photo of a police officer ‘a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’
We’ll be gathering at Scotland Yard today at 11AM, cameras in hand, to make the point: Nineteen Eighty-Four was not a manual for statecraft.
Monday 16 February 2009, the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 will come into force, potentially making it a crime to take a picture of members of Her Majesty’s armed forces, including constables.
The Act amends the Terrorism Act 2000 regarding offences relating to information about members of armed forces, a member of the intelligence services, or a police officer. The new set of rules, under section 76 of the 2008 Act and section 58A of the 2000 Act, will target anyone who ‘elicits or attempts to elicit information about (members of armed forces) … which is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.
The penalty could be of up to 10 years in prison. While BJP does not believe the Act will result in the imprisonment of photographers and photojournalists, we believe the Act could be abused by some police officers who are already loosely using Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to prevent photographers from taking pictures in public places.
So, we have joined the National Union of Journalists’ call for photographers to make their voices heard at a media event on 16 February in front of New Scotland Yard. The plan is simple, turn up with your camera and exercise your democratic right to take a photograph in a public place.
(Via Boing Boing.)
It almost sounds silly to even hear the word ‘Twitter’ coupled with business. It sounds more like something your children would ask for at Christmas. However, despite the unusual name, as Twitter grows so will its ties to the world of business. This begs the question, how is Twitter a powerful tool for businesses?
If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it is a microblogging tool, which in essence gives users 140 characters with which to communicate. Examples of posts include links to articles, advice, self-promotion, questions, and statements about what people are currently doing.
Posts are sent to people who have chosen to follow you, and you receive posts from people you’ve chosen to follow. It’s kind of like an ongoing Facebook status update, only responses can be viewed online in a browser, obtained via specialized Twitter clients, sent and received via text messaging, accessed using numerous iPhone apps.
So how are businesses supposed to get a return from a microblog that only gives you 140 characters to work with? Before talking about how businesses should use Twitter, it’s important to first talk about how Twitter should not be used.
To tap into the power of Twitter, you must learn the craft of listening to your followers and responding with content that is relevant and engaging. This doesn’t mean that you don’t promote you business; it just means that you post content that compliments your business promotion. This may include sharing articles about your industry, asking users how you can better your business, responding to questions and complaints, offering incentives and conducting surveys. As you engage your followers and build relationships, it should ultimately result in the promotion of your business by not just you alone, but your followers, who you’ve developed such a strong repertoire with.
Ultimately, take Twitter for what it’s worth, a microblogging tool for communicating with others. Don’t expect Twitter to double your website traffic in a week or even a few months. You’ll tap into the power of Twitter once you notice that it’s not you that’s sharing your business with others, but your users who are sharing it with others and those others with others and so on down the line.
(Via Tutorial Blog.)
Desktop Wallpaper
Summer certainly flew by and while I occasionally wish we had just one more month to squeeze in, I realized that since my fingers are almost frozen, autumn definitely arrived! P.S. Meanwhile it’s Winter!
Resolutions: 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1920×1080, 1680×1050, 1600×1200, 1440×900, 1400×1050, 1280×1024, 1280×960, 1280×800, 1280×720, 1024×768, 1024×600, 800×480, 480×272, 320×240.
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