You can add to the tag whenever you come across magazines by:

1. Having your own delicious account; and

2. Tagging as for:AlexLockwoodresearch

This then sends your tag to me, so I can add it to the list. Social media in action for common benefit. Done.

Or not quite, because

3. once you’ve got an account, you can also subscribe to tags. So, if you’re interested in following everything about, say, JoeKinnear or Vintage+Fashion, you can do so. Useful stuff, we hope.

“A Manchester Evening News reporter used her mobile phone to secure exclusive footage of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo’s car smash yesterday.

“Crime reporter Nicola Dowling was despatched to the accident scene near Manchester Airport after the world player of the year drove his Ferrari into a roadside barrier.

“Using a Nokia N95 phone she was able to take exclusive stills and video footage which were later sold to a variety of national media outlets including Sky News, the BBC and The Sun.”

Full Story on Hold the Front Page

Many journalists already use our sites, both nationally and locally.

We have numerous email alerts on all our sites, that send you custom information about things that you are interested in.

These are all great ways to have leads for stories pushed to you: subscribe to alerts for MPs in your area on TheyWorkForYou, and sign up to HearFromYourMP; do a search on TheyWorkForYou, and sign up to be emailed when new items appear with that search term (e.g. ‘climate change’).

WhatDoTheyKnow has email alerts for new FOI requests made to public authorities – sign up for ones that you are interested in, or that are in your area. You can also sign up to keyword alerts. Sign up to be emailed about new problem reports in your area on FixMyStreet (Ed – or set up RSS feeds)

It’s also useful for journalists to tell readers about our sites as something that they can do after reading a story, rather than just forgetting about it. For example, if you write a story about potholes mention FixMyStreet, so people can report potholes that they hate. If you do a story about a vote in parliament, get people to look it up themselves via TheyWorkForYou.

Posted by Alex Lockwood

Four North East regional papers have just launched a new Wiki project, Wiki North East.

Together the Evening Chronicle, The Journal, the Evening Gazette and The Sunday Sun have developed the collaboration: editorial articles, archives and user generated content for and about the people, places and events of the North East.

The idea was actually the winner in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style competition among Trinity Mirror staff, put forward by Web developer Louise Midgley, from North-East division ncjmedia, who received a cash prize and will receive future share of any profits from her idea.

There’s a good review of the project from Paul Bradshaw on his Onlinejournalismblog.com.

It’s another great resource for features ideas and sources, contacts and leads for work done on the modules here at Sunderland. I’m guessing it will certainly turn up in a few of the modules too, particularly the new Social Media MAC299 (the development of MAC250) next semester.

Of course, we have our own Wiki for resources for you while studying here. Have you checked it out yet?

George Foulkes (Labour) says:

Is the cabinet secretary aware that the average person’s carbon emission is 5.5 tonnes per year? I have used the National Energy Foundation’s carbon calculator to do some calculations on the First Minister’s carbon footprint. On travel alone—without taking account of any of his household emissions—his footprint is over six times that amount. Since he became First Minister, Alex Salmond has travelled by train only once and takes regular trips by limousine from Bute house to Holyrood. Should he not also set an example or, as is usual with the First Minister, is it another example of, “Do as I say and not as I do”?

Riveting stuff. But there’s been more important words captured by the project. The site is part of mysociety.org, which also runs Whatdotheyknow.com for Freedom of Information requests, and a number of other projects using new media to make democracy more transparent and inclusive.

(Originally published at AlexLockwood.net)