new media

We’re all stuck in a social elevator says French union

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:43:27 +0200

Disgruntled workers complain. One banner reads "Death to internships!"

In these modern times, it's a lift that takes you from one rung of the social ladder to the next. And in France, the lift is out of order. This is the scenario for a new French comedy, produced by a trade union. Seven colleagues, all desperate to get to the next level, but stuck in the lift. It's certainly funny, but will it attract people to get involved in unions?

With only 8% of France's working population involved in trade unions, the country has the lowest percentage of trade unionists in Europe, while the UK boasts 30% and Germany 23%. Now one of France's top five unions, the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC), has decided to take action against the dwindling numbers in time for major union elections in December. Written by Stéphanie Sphyras, "Dark Elevator" lends its style to British comedy The Office, and hopes to revive the stick-in-the-mud stereotype of the traditional trade unionist.

Stéphanie Sphyras

Stéphanie Sphyras — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:40:48 +0200

Nom

Sphyras

Prénom

Stéphanie

Blog ou Site web

Dark Elevator

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

I graduated from the National School of Performing Arts (l’École Nationale Supérieure Des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre). I've directed numerous short series and a film called "Dernier Instant" with comedian Bernard Haller, which recieved a prize at Festival des Nations in Austria. I'm currently writing and directing the comedy series Dark Elevator. I work for the production company Courte Focale.

langue

French

Profession

Film director

An original remedy for the socially excluded

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:29:45 +0200

Ogle at the ogler of your choice.

Millions of young men live their lives entirely on the Internet, unable to leave the house, in fear of human contact. In response to this troubled niche, an entertainment company has come up with a possible cure. Videos of girls that stare into the camera.... and occasionally say good morning...

A "Hikikomori", according to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, is "an individual who refuses to leave their parents' house, and isolates themselves away from society in their homes for a period exceeding six months". It's hard to estimate how many have fallen prey to this anti-social depression, but some estimate it at around one million in Japan alone.

Avex, one of the largest independent entertainment-related subsidiaries in Japan, has managed to come up with a product for the unusual audience. They believe the "Just Looking" collection, will help those "young males who aren't used to socializing with women (...) become more accustomed to making eye contact and/or handle the fact that a sentient being sits across from them and awaits interaction." A former sufferer tells us whether he thinks it will work, and how he escaped the solitude of a hikikomori lifestyle.

"Paranoid of new media" authorities arrest Facebook users

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:44:23 +0200

Joining an online social network group is risky business in Egypt. Twenty-six people were rounded up and arrested at a gathering organised on Facebook on Wednesday. The internet activists were attending a peaceful meeting on a beach in Alexandria when they were detained unexpectantly.

The meeting was planned to take place on the touristic Sidi Bishr beach. Attendees had got together via the "6 April Youth Movement" Facebook group. The group was involved in the organisation of the 6 and 7 April riots, which were held in protest of deteriorating living conditions in Egypt. The response from the authorities was severe. Three people were killed and around 55 arrested.

Wednesday's participants met to demand the release of those arrested. But the police classed the gathering as a violation of the country's state of emergency, in place now for 27 years, which bans the public meeting of more than five people.

Tom Jacobsen

Tom Jacobsen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:51:55 +0200

Nom

Jacobsen

Prénom

Tom

Blog ou Site web

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

I am a blogger and programmer. I live the life of a bachelor in Gurnee, IL, and currently work full time in an IT position at a hotel supply company. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics, both from Illinois Wesleyan University, and am a member of Mensa.

langue

English

Profession

IT programmer

Faux-amateur videos - the new marketing weapon

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:55:14 +0200

They all follow the same format - an anonymous video, supposedly amateur, of an incredible act or experience appears online. Once a buzz has been created, the so-thought home-made footage turns out to be an advert. A successful marketing strategy indeed, but does it meet ethical standards?

The faux-amateur video has become an essential technique for advertisers. The bigger it is, the more web users fall for it. The latest to date is a clip showing a group of young people cooking popcorn with the radiation from a couple of ringing mobile phones. The video received over 10 million hits in ten days on YouTube, but the majority of its audience thought it was real.

Rumours soon followed that mobile phones were highly dangerous. When news came out that the scene had been faked, it was too late to completely eradicate the initial panic. The affair clearly demonstrates the dangers of viral publicity. Not only is it easy it is to start false rumours, but also to weaken the public trust in the internet, which is seen more than ever as a media fuelled by gossip.

Frédéric Chast

Frédéric Chast — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:52:54 +0200

Nom

Chast

Prénom

Frédéric

Blog ou Site web

LastFools

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

Born and bred in Paris. Graduated as an engineer from the Ecole Centrale Paris. Completed with a Master's degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA - I spent 2 years there). Worked for a pharmaceutical company as a researcher back in Paris. Then for a medical advertising agency (basically, advertising for drugs).

Other than that and the buzz, I wrote a couple long feature scripts. One of them was awarded a prize (Fondation Hachette-Lagardère 2005) and is now in production.

langue

French, English

Profession

Advertiser

Thomas Crampton

Thomas Crampton — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:04:48 +0200

Nom

Crampton

Prénom

Thomas

Blog ou Site web

Thomas Crampton

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

Thomas Crampton is journalist in Hong Kong.

He worked as a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture.

Prior to his most recent posting - feature writing from Paris on media and technology - he covered the 2004 US presidential election, reported on the 1997 Asian financial crisis from Thailand, the SARS outbreak from Hong Kong, the civil war in Sudan, rebel fighting in Sri Lanka, Taiwan’s largest earthquake, the 2004 US hurricanes and the Cannes Film Festival.
Currently based out of China, he is working with the founder of a major media company on entrepreneurial ventures. All views expressed on this blog are entirely personal.

Mr. Crampton has served as president of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong, president of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand and on the board of the New York-based Overseas Press Club.

In addition to citations from Amnesty International for his articles and photography, Mr. Crampton has served as a judge for numerous journalism awards and worked to promote freedom of expression and the training of journalists.

He is co-founder of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Charity Fund that has raised more than $1 million in four years to support the higher education of disadvantaged children from the Po Leung Kuk.

Mr. Crampton was educated in the United States at the University of Virginia, in Ireland at Trinity College, Dublin and in France at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

langue

English, French, Thai and is learning Mandarin Chinese.

Profession

Reporter

Cynthia Samuels

Cynthia Samuels — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:02:37 +0200

Nom

Samuels

Prénom

Cynthia

Blog ou Site web

Don't Gel Too Soon

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

Cynthia Samuels has an extensive background online, on television and in print, with particular experience developing content for parents and families. In the nearly four years she spent with iVillage, the leading Internet site for women, her assignments included the design and supervision of the hugely popular Education Central, a sub-site of Parent Soup that was a soup-to-nuts parent’s toolkit on K-12 education, designed to support parents as advocates and supporters of their school-age kids. She also served as the iVillage partner for America Links Up, a major corporate Internet safety initiative for parents. She also served a long stint as iVillage's Washington editor.. She has also developed parent content for Jim Henson Interactive and served as Children’s Book Editor for both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com.
Her parent-oriented work spread to other media as well. She has also had a long and distinguished career as a broadcast journalist, as senior national editor of National Public Radio, political producer of NBC's Today Show where she worked for nine years (and was also the primary producer on issues relating to child care, education, learning disabilities and child development), and as the first executive producer of Channel One, a daily news broadcast seen in 12,000 U.S. high schools. She has published a children’s book It’s A Free Country, A Young Person’s Guide To Politics And Elections (Atheneum, 1988) and numerous children’s book reviews in the New York Times Book Review and Washington Post Book World.
A creator of online content since 1994, Samuels is a partner in Cobblestone Associates, LLP and has worked with such clients as Universal New Media Group, Amazon.com, EXCITE, Barnes and Noble.com, Women.com, Jim Henson Interactive and the Global Interactive Information Awards. She lives in the Shepard Park neighborhood of Washington DC with her husband Richard Atkins and has two grown sons.

langue

English

Profession

Online content creator and editor

James X

James X — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:02:46 +0200

Nom

Prénom

James

Blog ou Site web

Japan Probe

Centres d'intérêts

Date de naissance

Description

The founder and editor-in-chief of Japan Probe. His hobby is reading and posting on blogs, and he’s terribly addicted to it. Once an English teacher, he is now up to other things…

langue

English, Japanese

Profession

Website editor