Adventures in digital publishing

Writers, photographers, illustrators & data interpreters needed for Thinking Digital’s first magazine – in print!

Thinking Digital always produces a wealth of digital content – speaker videos, delegate blog posts and exabytes of social media goodness (well, nearly). So how about translating it into the tactile page and immortalising it in print form?

We’re assembling a team of delegate volunteers to help us plan, write and produce a magazine. It’s an experiment in user-generated content and crowd publishing, and where better than TDC to try it out? Here’s something similar we did for the Turner Prize at BALTIC last year, and more info on our ‘pop-up publishing’ work.

Add your story ideas (and comment on others) on our public Google Doc – then we’ll get together at Wednesday’s conference dinner and sketch out a page plan. We’ll set the copy deadline for the weekend, then design, print and post it out to all TDC delegates by mid-June.

Grab @DanHowarth, @NellyStav or @SocialiteEvents (aka Lindsey) if you’d like to get involved in the project. We’d love to have you on board.

The BBC College of Journalism held its first conference for hyperlocalists on 24 May at its new northern HQ in Salford, MediaCityUK. People came from around the UK, and as far away as Detroit in the US – with a mix of journalists, students, academics and everyday enthusiasts. 

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Our hyperlocal experiment, JesmondLocal, has a funding application in with Nesta – an innovation agency which believes locality will rule the web by 2020. Its ‘Destination Local’ project is offering up to £50k to 10 hyperlocal media projects who are dabbling with mobile technology. After seeing some of the excellent submissions on YouTube, I think we’re in for some serious competition. Successful projects announced at the end of June.

I was lucky enough to do an interview with the mighty Jeremy Leslie of magCulture – one of the magazine industry’s most respected designers – for issue seven of independent North East mag, Novel. Here’s the text, but I recommend picking up a copy of the mag, which is stocked in a number of bars, cafés and shops in Newcastle – and it’s free. Photo by Sam Ashby (with thanks).

Print is dead. Long live print.

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Turnaround: turned around

The North East’s first 48-hour magazine, in full pagey-turney splendour, for your viewing pleasure. If you’d like a printed copy, drop me a tweet.

48hrmag:

What is “Art is:”? Turnaround reporter Callum McGlade explains the “Art is:” feature in the 48-hour magazine. Filmed and edited by the skilful Matthew Philip Smith.

Behind-the-scenes at Project Turnaround, the North East’s first 48-hour magazine. Film by the talented Nathan Buck. Not sure who the gormless-looking bugger on the left is…

48hrmag:

48hrmag Uncovered! Watch Nathan Buck’s brilliant video to see how we turned it around!

(via swaffieb)

It’s #48hrmag weekend, but before we kick-off proceedings, I’d like to thank some of the people who’ve made it possible.

As the project is completely self-funded, it was touch-and-go whether we’d get it off the ground until our sponsors came on board this week. Huge thanks to Newcastle University, Newcastle Science City, Waitrose, Pan Haggerty, North P&I, Carruthers & Kent, Little Angels, Newspaper Club, Newcastle Arts Centre, Tweed and Country Clothing, Sharpe Recruitment, Simply Segway, Jury’s Inn, Victory Tea, and Newcastle University’s alumni-sponsored Student Initiatives Fund for their support.

Thanks also to our host, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, and – most importantly – our army of contributors, whose eyes of the tiger make Rocky Balboa look like Teddy Ruxpin.

Now let’s make a magazine.

Image credit with thanks: Jen Collins.

Over the weekend of 25–27 November, we’re making a magazine… At BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead… About ordinary people and the effect (if any) that art has on them… With a team of volunteers… In 48 hours… Now, who’s up for it?

BALTIC is hosting the Turner Prize, for the first time ever in the North East and outside a Tate venue, and it’s shattering records, with nearly 5,000 visitors per day. That’s a lot of opinions and a lot of stories, which we hope to document in 20 pages of silky newsprint.

The team so far comprises students and creative types in the North East, with appearances from JesmondLocal, Novel Magazine, Warm Design and the Cloud Commission.

We’re producing 10,000 copies, which we’ll be dishing out over the following weekend, in the lead up to the Turner Prize award ceremony on Monday 5 December. It’s completely non-profit – any money we make (and we’re definitely hoping to make some) will be donated to local charities and under-funded arts projects in Newcastle and Gateshead.

The project is funded entirely through sponsorship and ad sales (with the exception of a kind grant from Newcastle University’s alumni-supported Student Initiatives Fund), so we’re looking for local businesses and organisations to support us. If you have a business with an ethos that prizes a sense of community, the sharing of knowledge, and showcasing North East talent, then please take an ad… Contact our business development manager, Elizabeth Shaw, for more info: elizabeth@jesmondlocal.com

Otherwise, if you’d like to get involved, please have a gander at JesmondLocal, give me a tweet, or email me at: djhowarth@gmail.com – or pop into BALTIC over the weekend to get your thoughts and mugs in the magazine. 

Image credit with thanks: Ben Christian.

Wor lass gets cuddly with Felix Dennis — a bloody nice chap for a media mogul.