« Libraries and the National Lottery | Main | The Observer »
June 10, 2006
Flattery
I received this very flattering message from one of the campaign groups trying to salvage their local library from a skip. They had recorded the interview that took place in Little Chalfont Library and are passing it round on their mobile phones! What a revolution this is turning out to be
" the clip has not only been seen on the web but there is also a 3G version which we have been distributing over the mobile phone network. We also show it to people in person on our 3G mobile phones. There is also an iPod version. As I have it with me all the time (it's on my phone) I can safely say that it triggers a "conversion experience" in those who see it for the first time, especially here when people realise that our Head of Libraries was partly responsible for the crisis at Little Chalfont.
This is probably one of the first uses of "takeaway TV" for a political campaign. At the very least, it should make politicians immediately aware that many of those who object to computers replacing books in libraries are, in fact, more in touch with new technology and with the strengths and weaknesses of the internet than they are.
I realise that this material is "naughty" but the issue was so important that if people did not see the original BBC clip that would simply not believe that things like this could be happening.
It is a disgrace that there has not been a follow-up to this story on the BBC. The BBC Action Network team did something about it but the over-bearing management of their website appears to discourage anyone from actually putting it to good use. Certainly Pippa Greensmith has not wasted any more time on it since last February (according to the BBC person in charge of production).
I can safely say that your clip has gone "viral" through the great grapevine which is cyberspace and the web stats show that the number of viewings is now in 4 figures. So far no one has blown the whistle on us but I cannot guarantee that it will be online for much longer. All we have been distributing is a link to the a protected streaming version of content rather than the actual content. Once we receive an official complaint we will have to remove the link immediately.
Perhaps you should do your own film on the subject so that which we could distribute openly and legitimately. You are extremely credible and you handle difficult questions without any attempt to sidestep the issues. That is the kind of response that the public want to see. Poison grins and dollops of spin don't seem to work on people anymore and that is a very Good Thing."
Posted by Perkins at June 10, 2006 9:28 AM
Comments
This is EXACTLY what I mean when I tell people like librarians who want to ditch books that it is not a case of either/or it is a case of both/and.I could not run by publishing company without using technology and to keep my family in touch with one another when we are all out and about and abroad, mobile phones are a revolution we would find it hard to be without. But why do the librarians and others feel this is instead of books ? It has in one sense, nothing to do with books. I love to watch old movies on television - indeed, I love to watch Eastenders and The Bill on television but I do it as well as read books but instead of.. but they don`t see it, they just do not see it. Or could it be that by some tiny chance do not WANT to see it ?
Posted by: SUSAN HILL at June 10, 2006 12:05 PM