Posts By Steph Gray

The digital newsroom Kool-Aid

There’s an interesting online discussion coming up on Wednesday in the form of the regular #nhssm Twitter chat, which this week is focussing on using social media to connect with the media and running a digital press office in the health sector. This is something Tim Lloyd, one of the conveners of #nhssm, has beenRead… Read more »

Professional doesn’t have to be boring

About 60% of my work these days is for the public sector, which is great, as it reflects my main experience and expertise, but which means 40% comes from elsewhere, which I find really helpful. I’m not quite sure where the lead to rebuild ESP Consulting’s new site came from, except that old student unionRead… Read more »

Professional doesn’t have to be boring

About 60% of my work these days is for the public sector, which is great, as it reflects my main experience and expertise, but which means 40% comes from elsewhere, which I find really helpful. I’m not quite sure where the lead to rebuild ESP Consulting’s new site came from, except that old student unionRead… Read more »

The Ministry of Lorem

Now here’s a silly little thing. I saw a post on Kottke.org linking to HipsterIpsum, a filler text generator which instead of the usual fake Latin (lorem ipsum dolor sit amet etc), uses terms beloved of hipsters: Organic sustainable lomo, +1 irony McSweeney’s skateboard Portland PBR tattooed farm-to-table Terry Richardson Williamsburg. Organic farm-to-table wolf, nextRead… Read more »

The Ministry of Lorem

Now here’s a silly little thing. I saw a post on Kottke.org linking to HipsterIpsum, a filler text generator which instead of the usual fake Latin (lorem ipsum dolor sit amet etc), uses terms beloved of hipsters: Organic sustainable lomo, +1 irony McSweeney’s skateboard Portland PBR tattooed farm-to-table Terry Richardson Williamsburg. Organic farm-to-table wolf, nextRead… Read more »

Meet shURLy

One little enhancement I’ve made recently to my social media training and crisis communications platform, the Social Simulator, is a domain-specific URL shortener. The idea is, since we’re simulating Twitter and now Facebook in a private environment, we really ought to offer simulation participants the ability to post short, trackable URLs like they would onRead… Read more »

The Emperor’s new clothes (and why it’s now OK to point)

Maybe Friday afternoons make people bolder. But I think there’s a longer-term shift happening. Last Friday, the ever-interesting insider @pubstrat published an interesting piece gently critiquing the new e-petitions service, arguing — rightly, I think — that requiring petitioners to specify the responsible central government Department for their issue is a step backwards: A solutionRead… Read more »

A bit of structure for your unconference

Briggsy and I have been chatting to some good folk across the pond recently about running a Govcamp-style event, and how unconferences work. Some of their senior folk are nervous, understandably, about trying what seems like quite a radical approach. What if the conversation veers off course? What if the sessions go round in circles?Read… Read more »

Telling stories with data

Yesterday, I did a bit of social reporting at my good friends Claremont‘s ‘Data is Power’ event, hearing about the impact data visualisation has been having on PR and journalism. We heard from the Alzheimers Society about how they raised awareness of the postcode lottery in dementia diagnosis through smart data visualisation. It’s a reallyRead… Read more »