Matt Buck's Hack Cartoons

We are getting close to the opening of Birds of War - a collaborative exhibition about the experience of civilians in Iraq since the invasion of 2003.

There's some terrific stuff on the website and I know the exhibition, opening on April 11th, is going to be excellent.

Birds of War

And here is an old Birds of war drawing of my own.

An unmissable pub crawl with Karl Marx (hat tip to Mark Crail)

Also, don't miss celebrity political blogger Guido Fawkes and his unwise foray into the world of the mainstream media and Newsnight. His film was good - and asked some sensible questions, but the decision to do an interview with Paxo and Mike White from the Guardian ... ouch!

The legacy of unfit for purpose. And we all know something else that could do with being split apart fast too.

On Wednesday MPs will vote on whether one of the most deprived parts of East Manchester is the right place to plonk Britain's first supercasino. (It's important to remember, there is no problem with the 16 other smaller casinos which are to be liberally scattered across the country to join our existing ones.)



The supercasino project
The story of the project
It is convenient that the nearby University of Salford has a centre for the study of gambling and addiction. You feel, somehow, it is going to be very busy in the next few years watching the social problems come home to roost.
University of Salford

Perhaps the plan is that all the social bodies and charitable units that the government and the Conservatives are so busy encouraging (social entrepreneurship) will take the social strain that these new gaming establishments will bring. Infact, I'm sure that's the hope, but would you bet on them being able to?

UPDATE: Well done the Lords. The Bill was stopped by a vote of 3 - and that halts, temporarily, movement towards the Supercasino site in Manchester. There is lots of whining from the government this morning about the poiltical 'opportunism' of its opponents this morning. Hah! That's a pot and kettle argument.

The unmissable journalist pioneer Mr Reeves has No4 online.

Reeves

This one is showing distinct signs of boosted production values - although the slick graphic sign off lacks the traditional face-to-face bon mots of numbers 1 to 3. Please bring them back Ian!

I have just finished a piece of web drawing for Remedy UK, a lobby group of doctors who you may have seen on your television last weekend. They organised two very high profile marches in London and Glasgow protesting at changes the government has made to the way they have to apply for jobs.

Anyone working in journalism who wants to think about what the new media means and how to do it, would do well to watch this short film.

How to

Hat tips to Richard Hernandez and Mindy McAdams

Reaction to the chancellor's budget 'performance' has been mixed. That's the problem with pulling rabbits out of hats - after you've seen it once ... (a brushy sketch below)

Fascinating for anyone interested in where the news is going.

Reeves

It's going to be a like a debutante coming out in society - Gordon 2.0 announces himself to the world ... the suspense, the suspense...

> "I have three lives," Liz writes on her website, "actress, model and producer." So why not a fourth - plumber? Deep down I'm sure Liz would just love to have a go at the craft level plumbers. And you can take it as read that they'd love to have a go at her.<

A piece of commissioned artwork for a column.

Following on from yesterday's posting - full marks on the trying for new methods but this, is really, really, how not to make personalisation and interactivity. It's called Brian.

Eeeek!

A nice drawing would do better...

Amid all the brouhaha about web 2.0, the future of journalism and suchlike, it's important to try and remember the important bit. Machines are only operated by humans - and we interact with technology in very predictable ways.

I was reminded of this by a friend who I'd pestered with another attempt at interactive cartoon animation. In return, he sent me a marvellous link to an online museum of lost interactivity. The fascination is in examining the past use of technology and entertainment to see how the future might run.

When you actually look at a 1920 acoustograph you begin to see the old point. Nothng is new under the sun.

You might call this excellent site - analysis, research or even fact-based journalism, all of which seem so unfashionable in the media at present.

Whatever, it's a pleasure.

Kudos to the students doing Interactive Media Design at Dundee for the museum - and a grateful hat-tip to Mark Crail, who supplied the information. Thanks Mark.


Museum of lost interactions
Moli
Mark Crail
Chartist Ancestors

The answer

I had the good luck to illustrate a column by David Sherlock, the chief inspector of the Adult Learning Inspectorate. His point was about the importance of difference;

"success in globalised economies lies in difference, not in following the standardised herd.

I have heard a German admiringly call the British "genius bodgers". He meant 'creative, anarchic, original, disputational, inventive and amiably odd'. If we want to develop a successful skills strategy, one that will hold our place in the world's financial big league, those are the things that will have to be its foundation."

He's talking my language - and it made drawing the picture a pleasure too.

... but tending to merge into an indeterminate sludge.

When you get taught how to report as a journalist - or tell stories clearly, one of the things you learn is that you should try and tell the tale as you would when in the pub. That is, clearly, and to the point, otherwise everyone gets bored, don't they?

It's the way he tells it.

Don't miss this

Hat-tip to Ian Reeves.

Reeves

The path of true love never did run smooth - the nappy wearing, all-night driving, unwanted lover of the three US astronauts caught up in a tangle, has just lost her job.

Full story

A perceptive post on ch-ch-ch-changes from Shane Richmond at The Telegraph

Shane Richmond

It has been most entertaining watching the PM attempt to disassociate himself from his right hand (or Michael Levy as he's known to most).

Steve Bell put it elegantly in The Guardian this morning too.

Steve Bell

Web 2.0

Ian Reeves

It is often possible to hear whingeing about the lack of a skilled workforce in the UK, this usually comes from the CBI and large corporate employers. When one considers the efforts to outsource jobs to other countries and offshore units, one might think UK workers were simply one of too many seals - with balance sheet innappropriate labour costs.

Kudos to a professional colleague - Ian Reeves - a man blogging about the future of journalism (hackery).

As he says;
> my conversion from inky-fingered print journalist to multimedia contender is requiring me to make a steep dive into a deep pool of technical gloop. Come on in, the water's lovely.

I strongly recommend a dip.

Ian Reeves