wake up and smell the copy
Posted in marketing, technology, writing on Jul 30th, 2008
Now look, I’ve been turning a blind eye to this but enough is enough. Copywriters everywhere, please pay attention.
Iconic means relating to, or having the characteristics of an icon. An icon is something ‘that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it’.
I think one can, perhaps, describe the iPod as […]
Posted in internet, technology, writing on Jul 29th, 2008
Anyone who’s used Word will know that, by default, it replaces bog-standard straight quotes (and here I’d demonstrate what they look like, but our theme will change them to curved ones) with curved ones. It also changes hyphens (-) to en dashes (–).
No big deal, you’d think. After all, it’s 2008. Surely nobody’s producing websites […]
You might have noticed I’ve been a bit quiet of late, sorry about that. In fact, it’s not just Hackbash that’s suffered, I’m feeling distinctly off-form at the moment, and I’m not producing the quantity or quality of writing that I’d like.
I’m not sure why. Like many writers I seem to go through phases, and […]
Posted in internet, journalism, writing on May 1st, 2008
Hi, it’s 2008.
Just wanted to remind you, because BBC News thinks it’s discovered a security flaw in Facebook applications. Yes, apparently they can gain access to your and your friends’ profile information, so a malicious application could pose as a legitimate one and harvest profile details, even if they’re not public.
I had to double-check the […]
Posted in writing on Apr 13th, 2008
I’ve had this post on the back burner for a while, because I planned to fill it with examples as they occured to me. As I was adding the third, I thought to look on Wikipedia which has plenty, so now I can put this thing to bed.
You see, I have to confess to a […]
Posted in writing on Apr 13th, 2008
I can’t help it.
I’ve trained myself to overlook a bit of apostrophic abuse here and there, and I’ve come to accept that people have to be left to stew in their own lax capitalisation and dreadful grammar, but this is just too much:
Nnnnnnnng. Nnnnnnnnnnnng. Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.
Posted in blog, journalism, writing on Mar 10th, 2008
Right, I’ve sussed out this internet thing. We’re all turning into Smash Hits. Bear with me.
A colleague sent me this a while back: a survey of US journalists’ attitude to and engagement with blogs. I’ve been meaning to write about it for a while now, but hey, I’ve got time on my hands this morning.
To […]
Posted in blog, online journalism, writing on Feb 27th, 2008
Kind of a note-to-self: editorial process is a Good Thing. And although blogging is all conversational and flexible and 2.0, it’s sometimes handy to ask a friend (or, what the hell, journalistic colleague) to cast their eagle eye over your draft. Especially when you’re planning to post at the end of the day.
So, Handolio: if […]
Posted in journalism, work, writing on Jan 3rd, 2008
Last week Dave Lee picked up on Spannerworks’ advert for a new journalist, and drew our attention to the fact that it was, frankly, rubbish.
I hope that Charlie’s reply to Dave’s follow-up post explains a bit more about how we work and what we’re doing in a marketing agency. We’ve spent plenty of time talking […]
Posted in journalism, work, writing on Dec 29th, 2007
There’s a set of responsibilities incumbent on a journalist that needn’t trouble a copywriter, PR executive or marketing assistant. The latter are generally assumed to have an agenda, with a message to sell or place, and their words regarded accordingly. The former should be writing for the reader.
Given the above, it’s not always surprising that […]
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