Author Topic: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?  (Read 10712 times)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #50 on: 16 January, 2019, 12:21:35 pm »
They also seem incapable of writing a paragraph.

That is more than one sentence long.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #51 on: 16 January, 2019, 12:50:30 pm »
To be fair, the BBC is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. People will always complain. Complaining about the BBC is a great British institution, like going to M&S to moan about the clothes.

I'm not complaining about the BBC as a whole - just their website. I'm sure the people responsable for its content are not stupid and know exactly what audience to target, but I just think it's a load of ballbag....
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

ian

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #52 on: 16 January, 2019, 12:51:46 pm »
I think the general assumption for online content is to aim it at fifteen-year-olds with ADHD who are on their fourth energy drink of the day.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #53 on: 16 January, 2019, 01:04:39 pm »
I think the general assumption for online content is to aim it at fifteen-year-olds with ADHD who are on their fourth energy drink of the day.

Or worse, fifteen-year-olds with ADHD who haven't had any energy drinks...

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #54 on: 16 January, 2019, 01:07:34 pm »
Too much coffee has much the same effect. Ditto four pints of Rington's before 11 am.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #55 on: 16 January, 2019, 02:13:31 pm »
Further to videos: when something does not have its own intrinsic soundtrack, but is inherently visual, like this explanation of spinning ice disks posted by T42:
https://youtu.be/ILG4sLfXYNQ
I'd really rather not have background music.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #56 on: 16 January, 2019, 02:33:16 pm »
Further to videos: when something does not have its own intrinsic soundtrack, but is inherently visual, like this explanation of spinning ice disks posted by T42:
https://youtu.be/ILG4sLfXYNQ
I'd really rather not have background music.

That bothers me less, because I default to having the sound off.  It's when the sound *is* important (eg. somebody's speaking) and they add pointless, overly intrusive, background music.  Background music's hard to get right when it's appropriate (eg. in drama), the average YouTuber using it to <marketingspeak>create a brand identity</marketingspeak> doesn't have a hope.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #57 on: 16 January, 2019, 03:13:02 pm »
It annoys me though when it starts muted and I think "What are they saying? What's going on?" I turn on the sound and... aargh!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #58 on: 16 January, 2019, 03:19:01 pm »
It annoys me though when it starts muted and I think "What are they saying? What's going on?" I turn on the sound and... aargh!

+1

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #59 on: 16 January, 2019, 03:25:25 pm »
Can only agree. I watched that one with the headphones on the desk.

What annoys me more are GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT half-obscuring the images.  They need to parse the sub bit of subtitles.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #60 on: 16 January, 2019, 03:28:47 pm »
Can only agree. I watched that one with the headphones on the desk.

What annoys me more are GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT half-obscuring the images.  They need to parse the sub bit of subtitles.

You can bet that if there is closed captioning, when enabled it will appear on top of the GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT...

T42

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #61 on: 16 January, 2019, 05:20:38 pm »
Heh. MrsT had one ear done in by malaria, or maybe the atabrin they treated it with, as a child. When we watch films on Netflix we often have English audio with French subtitles.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #62 on: 16 January, 2019, 05:23:44 pm »
Heh. MrsT had one ear done in by malaria, or maybe the atabrin they treated it with, as a child. When we watch films on Netflix we often have English audio with French subtitles.

A Deaf friend of mine has worked out how to persuade $media_player[1] to display two subtitle streams at the same time (one at the top of the screen, one at the bottom), so he and his wife can watch films together with both English and Polish subtitles.


[1] VLC?  mplayer?  Something like that...

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #63 on: 16 January, 2019, 06:41:11 pm »
Can only agree. I watched that one with the headphones on the desk.

What annoys me more are GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT half-obscuring the images.  They need to parse the sub bit of subtitles.

You can bet that if there is closed captioning, when enabled it will appear on top of the GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT...
It shouldn't do. It should be sent to the top of the screen (assuming the GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT are at the bottom). I used to know the technical word for sending captions to the top, but I've forgotten it.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #64 on: 16 January, 2019, 06:50:49 pm »
Can only agree. I watched that one with the headphones on the desk.

What annoys me more are GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT half-obscuring the images.  They need to parse the sub bit of subtitles.

You can bet that if there is closed captioning, when enabled it will appear on top of the GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT...
It shouldn't do. It should be sent to the top of the screen (assuming the GREAT BIG CHUNKS OF EXPLANATORY TEXT are at the bottom). I used to know the technical word for sending captions to the top, but I've forgotten it.

Well we are talking badly made internet videos here, but it's also a functional limitation of some systems (I don't think the .srt format allows any control of positioning[1], for example).

Actually, this should go on the list of reasons craptions aren't good enough...


[1] Which is a bit of a double-edged sword.  Since positioning the subs is up to the player, it does mean you can manipulate their alignment for fun and profit.  The two-languages-at-the-same time trick I mentioned above, for example.  I routinely persuade mplayer to display captions below the letterbox when watching widescreen video on my 5:4 display, which is even better than having them in a sensible place over the image.

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #65 on: 17 January, 2019, 12:13:29 am »
I can gather all the news I need from the weather report.

You are Paul Simon and I claim my £5!

(click to show/hide)

👍

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #66 on: 17 January, 2019, 12:36:26 am »
For the record, I read the Guardian x6 days per week, the Observer on Sundays. Also Private Eye and the New Scientist (but not as much as I should). I listen to the news on BBC R4 much more than I ought to and, because tinnitus/insomnia, I listen to a lot of BBC World Service. Friends in the US/Mrs Robh (who subscribes to NYT) keep me posted on interesting stuff from over there. Also, I listen quite a bit to FIP, which is excellent musically, but I struggle to make sense of the news bulletins (or even the musical links). I am taking evening classes to remedy this. Facebook friends (hello bubblechums!) are another valuable source of information, as is yacf.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #67 on: 17 January, 2019, 12:01:44 pm »
Here's another online news thing I don't like: when the headline changes between front page and story. Here's an example:
Website says "Updates: Road closed after suspected arson attack". Click on it and you get:
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/live-fire-bristol-hartcliffe-hareclive-2438188
Quote
Updates: Major Bristol road in Hartcliffe closed due to car fire - emergency services on scene
A major road in Hartcliffe has been closed after a car caught fire this morning (January 17).

Fire crews are currently attending the incident on Hareclive Road.

A picture of the incident shows plumes of smoke trailing across the road and a car well alight, with a fire engine positioned nearby and a firefighter tackling the flames.

It is not yet known how the blaze started, however Avon Fire and Rescue has been contacted for comment.
Note the last line. "It is not yet known how the blaze started." So how can you say it's "suspected arson"? Oh, you've removed that bit, but not from the "front page".
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #68 on: 17 January, 2019, 12:23:06 pm »
I suppose you can suspect arson (eg. by knowing of someone with a specific motive) without knowing how the fire started, but in general, yes.  Cutting down a long headline to save space on the index page (which didn't really happen in print newspapers) is fair enough, but often it's just re-written as clickbait.  Or even more annoying, made so ambiguous that you've no idea what the story is actually about - sometimes because of assumed context (eg. when stories escape from the sport section to the main news), but it also seems to get done deliberately to more obscure articles - I suppose that's a less sensationalist form of clickbait.

Someone upthread mentioned that the headlines are written by editors, rather than the journalists.  It seems likely that the headlines on index pages are written by a different person to the ones on the articles.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #69 on: 17 January, 2019, 12:32:45 pm »
It had not occurred to me to give it any thought before but I suspect your last sentence might be correct.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #70 on: 17 January, 2019, 12:37:30 pm »
And if your job is re-jigging the index page to reflect FACT × IMPORTANCE, you're probably not delving into every article to check for changes, even if the CMS provides tools to flag when there have been updates.

ian

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #71 on: 17 January, 2019, 01:13:23 pm »
Headlines are generally written by subs, and they may not have edited or read the article other than a quick skim. The aim is something catchy and short enough to fit. Also modern CMSes and layout tools let the article content change post-headline and captioning.

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #72 on: 17 January, 2019, 05:09:59 pm »
I'm saddened to find no mention of RSS in the thread :(.  I still use it for a few things (Graudniad (sic), Scotsman, xkcd, .......) but it is gradually dying out.

Kim

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Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #73 on: 17 January, 2019, 05:31:48 pm »
I miss RSS   :(

Re: How do you keep up with current affairs/culture?
« Reply #74 on: 17 January, 2019, 06:42:45 pm »
I'm saddened to find no mention of RSS in the thread :(.  I still use it for a few things (Graudniad (sic), Scotsman, xkcd, .......) but it is gradually dying out.
One of my main news sources is through various RSS feeds through the Feedly App (which also picks up YACF)
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