School for scandals
In the back of the current Private Eye there’s an advert for this summer school at the Centre for Investigative Journalism. The computer-assisted reporting workshops also look pretty useful. The courses are aimed primarly at journalists but would be ideal for expanding a blogger’s reach.
Which gave me an idea. A bunch of like-minded bloggers could get together and start a fund for an annual Blogger’s Scholarship (the above course for example is £300 for non-NUJ). Chuck a few quid into the hat and send a Dillow or an Ireland or a Phil or a Unity or a Harrowell (or A.N. Other…).
The candidate then enriches the rest of the fund’s “board” as their expertise filters down through their blog, they share their newly acquired skills and tips, or field ideas out to other blogs with specific interests.
Just thinking out loud…
Posted on July 7th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Ah - but how many bloggers would really be chuffed to be told by their peers “you’re shit and need to go on a training course”?
(Says the man recently press-ganged by his superiors into attending a two-day “how to write” course, despite having made his living out of words and writing good and stuff for years. I’m not bitter - oh no… The cunts.)
Trust you to construe this as a “send the shit bloggers back to school” gambit.
I think this course sounds interesting and at least some of the speakers are people I would like to hear pass on some of their experience, skills and insights. I’m not sure, however, how practical your scholarship idea would be - it would require a very careful choice of candidates. The cost seems reasonable, too.
I worked for a number of years designing training material in the training department of a very large financial services group and we often noticed that those who might benefit most from various of the training courses or packages on offer were the most reluctant to attend ;). It’s all part of people management and development, which I have to say many even quite large UK mainly domestic organisations don’t have a clue about. Mind you, if the courses are any good, motivated employees will jump at the chance to get on them.
I too am cynical but for the opposite reason to Nosemonkey; my experience of the “blog community” is that they are actually a venal and rather selfish bunch and the concept of paying for someone else to get prestige, Real Media contacts and training would appear to them to be akin to handing someone your car keys so they can get home and shag your wife. I think it’s quite a good idea really and if you organise it I will chuck a few quid in, but keep me as far away as possible from the organisation and selection process because I think it would get insanely and destructively political v. quickly.
Yep, it was me being utopianist and why-can’t-we-love-each-other again. Still, it would be fun to organise, and watch it collapse in a stunning display of spitting acrimony. Maybe awarding the scholarship on a lottery basis would help avoid that.