Since stopping work for hols / maternity leave, my urge to sort out a new nursery for Becks 2.0 has been matched only by my e-nesting urges which include:

– buy/sort new server for all family media / music / pics etc

– sort out flickr feed

– make up a photo book of 2009

– sort out dismal linking and SEO on this blog

– rip my CDs and sort out music library

– sort out contacts…have hundreds of duplicates that drive me mad

– sort out birthday and dates calendar in GCAL for the family

– move household accounts onto Google docs so husband has no excuse for not looking at them/sticking to them 🙂

– do something with the URLs / websites I planned to set up in 2009

– cull / revise facebook and twitter friend lists to add new/interesting followers

– kill email archives / sort out storage for important docs held in email

– set up posterous site properly

I’ve got 6 weeks left, the nursery is almost finished…how far do you reckon I’ll get on this lot?

…on my blog. Thanks WordPress 🙂

According to a blog post yesterday by Rory Cellan-Jones, the tech team over at the BBC recently had an offsite meeting where they spent some time discussing what makes a tech story and what should they cover vs. what should be chopped.

Should we, for example, cover product launches like Apple’s iPhone or a new Sony PS3?

Some felt they had no place on the BBC, others pointed out that some launches marked a sea-change in technology and were worth covering.

What about financial stories, such as Microsoft’s attempts to take over Yahoo – or plunging share prices of leading technology firms?

Let’s leave them to the Business team, some argued – while others felt that our readers and viewers wanted to know how tech firms were faring financially, as well as what products they were launching.

And there was quite a punch-up over video games – with one group arguing that coverage of games and gaming culture was a vital part of any technology coverage, whereas others felt this was an area that should be in the entertainment section.

Oh, and I think we now all agree – stories about Twitter need to be pretty startling to justify their presence on this site or on the airwaves.

An external newspaper tech editor, attending the offsite meeting, gave his thoughts on what the BBC covers vs. what it should do:

Then he set to work to categorise our coverage under four headings, with only the fourth really meeting with his approval:

Security scare stories, about viruses, malware, phishing etc.
Frightening people but not giving them enough information about what to do.

Gee-whizz stories – “in five years time you”ll all have personal jet- packs” – which often give misleading impressions of how much technology can deliver.

“Something should be done” stories – covering petitions for Alan Turing to be honoured or Bletchley Park to be saved.

Really useful stories, which tell readers something they didn’t know. Gratifyingly, he gave as an example our revelations about Spinvox.

So PRs, in your experience, what often does or should make a story on the Beeb? Any experiences of getting stuff knocked back that you were sure would make it in/on?

Cross posted with my employer’s blog