Over the last 7 days there were 646 visits to Changing More Than Lightbulbs.
Top 5 stories were:
The Fuel Poverty update was in the top 10. I thought with the snow, that would’ve been more popular!
As the house lights went up and the last Chasing Ice credits rolled, the woman in the next seat at Hebden Bridge Picture House said, “Now I feel like slitting my wrists.”
Continue reading
Cardiff Community Journalism Conference says hyperlocal media – like Upper Calder Vallyey’s very own Changing More Than Lightbulbs – are brilliant!
OK so let’s start 2013 as I mean to go on – having a good clear out.
First up on my pile of junk is the fact that the Hibu plc/Yell Ltd advertising directory, masquerading as a “community” magazine for Hebden Bridge, doesn’t pay its writers and photographers. The Hibu magazine content submission agreement specifies that:
‘You (the “Author”) hereby irrevocably grant to Yell Limited, its affiliates, and Magazine (collectively the “Publisher”) the unrestricted, perpetual, worldwide right to use the Content freely in whole or in part in any manner or medium now known or hereinafter devised for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without compensation.’
Enough to “make Nick Clegg throw his toys out of the pram.” Chris Heaton-Harris MP says 30,000 social media activist members of 38 Degrees helped force Clegg to stand strong on climate targets.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is highlighting the risks to internet freedoms, as a United Nations agency plans to adopt new rules. Without internet freedoms, it’s possible that you wouldn’t be reading this, or a lot of other information that you currently access online. The ITUC says,
“The internet as we know it is at risk. Unless we act now, our right to freely communicate and share information could change forever.
At a conference in Dubai this December, the International Telecommunications Union (or ITU), a United Nations agency, is planning to adopt new rules, including some nasty surprises which could clamp down on the fundamental freedoms of citizens online.
Big telecommunications corporations have joined with countries including China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, countries that already impose heavy restrictions on internet freedoms, to put forward proposals to new treaty at the UN World Conference on International Telecommunications.
So far the proposal has flown under the radar, thanks to the secretive nature of the ITU, but its implications are so serious that we must act quickly to show the ITU and its member countries that citizens will not stand by while our right to communicate freely is undermined.
Please help by signing the petition from Going To Work and Equal Times from the International Trade Union Confederation.”
The ITUC reports that more than 15,000 people have signed the petition internationally now, and this is being noticed by many people involved in the upcoming UN World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). This has had a positive impact, as the ITUC explains:
“It’s meant that we’ve had the opportunity today to present concerns in person at a meeting with the head of the UK delegation to the conference.
We had a positive exchange about many of the issues we’re particularly worried about. We were encouraged that the UK Government shares a number of our concerns, and will be sending a high level delegation comprising government, industry, and some civil society members to the conference.
We found a good degree of common ground, and think we’ll be able to work constructively with them on next week’s conference and the series of UN events following on from it. Other unions around the world are working to lobby their own country delegations, as are the ITUC internationally.
So there’s still all to play for at the WCIT conference, but we can prevent dictatorial governments using the UN process to help them monitor and censor the Net.”
So, please sign the petition and spread the word. The ITUC say,
“The more people who know about the decisions being taken next week in Dubai, the greater the public profile of the event, and the more pressure we can bring to bear on delegations.”
BAFTA has a free online carbon calculator for TV and film productions, small or mega.
For some reason it’s called Albert.(?!)
It was developed by the BBC, putting our tv license money to good use, to make tv production greener. Using it, the BBC has found that producing one hour of tv creates about 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Women’s Film & TV Network points out,
“To put the BBC’s figures into context: 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide is enough to fill almost 50 double decker buses, it weighs the same as two adult elephants or 1, 800 cats and it’s close to the footprint you would expect from eight ‘typical’ UK citizens over one year.”
Clearly, this amount has to come down. BAFTA’s holding a free Greening the Screen event in London on 12 November to discuss how this can happen.
Ways of reducing the carbon emissions from tv & film production include:
There is a new code of practice for greener film and tv production, British Standard 8909, which indicates what to do to reduce a production’s carbon footprint.
Links to carbon calculators for other lines of work, as well as schools and households, are here.