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Ah, but is this online forum different from all the others? The invitation states: "This is a voluntary role and so there is no pressure on you to contribute to set deadlines or timescales." The "V" word in there suggests that this is yet another unpaid outlet for people who desperately want to be seen. If there is money involved, the announcement should say so. (No, I don't want any, because I don't qualify as one of the "young people".) Even an unpaid gig could have value if it really does provides a platform to "develop a sound grounding in journalism". The only way in which that will happen is if there is some editorial control. Journalism means first selling your story to an editor, not writing stuff that pops into your head when you wake up. It also means having your copy ruthlessly edited by someone who stands between writer and reader. Only then will the copy deal with that oh so evident dearth of facts and informed argument. Without an editorial interface, some would day interference, there will be little opportunity to develop a sound grounding in journalism. MK From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Francis Sedgemore Sent: 2013-September-05 16:58 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Volunteer writers Oliver There is no shortage of online forums in which young (and not so young) people can sound forth on the great and not so great issues of the day. Sam has listed a number of such online spaces, and it is a most crowded market. There is of course always room for new websites that follow a particular ideological agenda, but they cater to niche audiences, and it seems to me that only those which engage in and positively encourage click-bait contrarianism survive for any length of time. There is no shortage of opinion on the interwebs, but there is a dearth of facts and informed argument. If with the Institute of Opinion you are going for the latter, all I can say is good luck with that. But even if you succeed in the endeavour, journalism it most certainly ain't. Francis On 5 Sep 13, at 16:35, Sam Kuper <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Dear Oliver, Thank you for alerting the list to the existence of the Institute of Opinion website. I have a couple of questions, if I may. You say the Institute of Opinion "provides a platform for young people to ... develop a sound grounding in journalism." Please can you explain the way in which it does this? Also, http://www.instituteofopinion.com/about/ contains the following sentence: "With a lack of platforms for young people to share their views, IOO was founded by Thomas Aldred and Luke Douglas in July 2012." Given that Wordpress, Tumblr, Blogger, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, Identi.ca, LiveJournal, and a great many other websites which are also free of charge, and which provide platforms for young (and old) people to share their views on the public Web, had been in existence for some time by July 2012 and were widely known about among the world's community of Web users, and also given that more traditional mechanisms of publication (e.g. "zines", i.e. self-published magazines; comment pages, such as the Guardian's CiF section, in established news outlets; self-hosted websites) also continued to provide platforms upon which young people could potentially share views, please can you explain why Thomas and Luke thought there was a lack of such platforms? Many thanks, Sam On 05/09/2013, Oliver O'Hanlon <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Dear Psci-Commers, The Institute of Opinion is a non-partisan, grassroots blog dedicated to providing political and economic analysis and opinion on the latest issues and news stories. It provides a platform for young people to state their views and develop a sound grounding in journalism. The website currently receives up to 4,000 unique readers per week. We are looking for contributors from across the political spectrum, of any age or experience to contribute. We would welcome articles on science-related topics that have a political, economic environmental slant. Ideally, we are looking for people who can contribute articles regularly (1 per week). This is a voluntary role and so there is no pressure on you to contribute to set deadlines or timescales. Please do contact me if you are interested in contributing. Please send us your CV, a short covering letter about yourself and an example of an article that you have written recently to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. Please also visit the website www.instituteofopinion.com<http://www.instituteofopinion.com/>. Feel free to pass this email on to anyone who you think would be interested. I look forward to hearing from you and them. Best wishes Oliver Editor, Institute of Opinion ********************************************************************** Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets) . set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) . set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) . signoff psci-com (to leave the list) . Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets) . set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) . set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) . signoff psci-com (to leave the list) . Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print ********************************************************************** -- Dr Francis Sedgemore journalist, writer and physicist telephone: +44 7840 191336 website: sedgemore.com ********************************************************************** Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets) . set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) . set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) . signoff psci-com (to leave the list) . Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets) • set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) • set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) • signoff psci-com (to leave the list) • Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print **********************************************************************