Call for foreign aid increase

Last May 1,000 young people from all over Australia gathered in Canberra to call on the government to increase foreign aid to 0.7 percent of gross national income.

As part of the ‘Make Poverty History Road Trip’, this group of 18-26 year olds

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travelled through more than 100 towns, meeting politicians and the general public to raise awareness of the Act to End Poverty Campaign.

Deakin University student Simone Short accompanied them on their trip.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/foreignaid.mp3]

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Brave new world for ABC’s 24-hour news service

NEWS ADDICTS arou

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nd Australia will be rubbing their hands in glee because this week sees the launch of the new ABC News 24 television channel.

The station’s output will be available on ‘Freeview’ digital TV sets. It can also be seen on Foxtel, Austar and will be streamed via the internet.

So what can we expect to see? Has the ABC committed enough resources to the project to ensure it is a viable enterprise?
Deakin University’s Journalism Lecturer Colleen Murrell has been mulling over the possibilities with Gerard Callinan from ABC local radio in Gippsland.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/ColleenABCNews24.mp3]

For more information about ABC’s 24-hour news:

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Style Counsel enlightens themediapod on the world of fashion PR.

By Lauren Garnet and Chloe Partikas

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n lang=”EN-AU”>Deakin students were treated to a night of fashion and style at TheMediaPod’s September dinner on Monday 14. It was one of the most successful dinners so far, with 31 attendees and four tables filled with young women eager to hear the stories of Effie Young, the founder of one of Australia’s leading fashion PR consultancies, Style Counsel and the recruitment agent Eli Wallis and employee Rigel Woolnough. They were joined by Deakin graduates Heidi Armstrong, buyer for Target; Sarah Jones, media services officer for Geelong City Council; and Alison Macqueen, publicity assistant for Tennis Australia.

Biggest TheMediaPod dinner ever.

Effie Young speaking at the biggest TheMediaPod.net dinner ever.

Ms Young started off the evening with her career history, which inspired her to create Style Counsel. Ms Young never went to university, as there were no public relations degrees around at the time, but got involved in advertising at the beginning of her career. She held a passion for fashion that saw her spend seven to eight years modelling throughout Australia and Europe. This time of travel allowed her an insight into what she really loved, which was fashion, but found the lifestyle she was leading wasn’t for her.

“Modelling bored the daylights out of me,” Ms Young said. She wanted to do something with “substance” and work in fashion, which was inspired by her associations with designers Valentino and Versace amongst others. Ms Young quit modelling and began a new career path at Esprit, where she worked for the best part of seven years in a variety of roles including buying, marketing and public relations. This gave her a grounding in what “ticks the boxes” in fashion and PR and allowed her passion to stay alive, as in fashion every season is different.

After exhausting years spent travelling four to six times a year, Ms Young left Esprit and was immediately approached by companies such as Myer and Sportsgirl, asking her for her help, and Style Counsel was born. At the beginning it was just herself and a co-worker from Esprit, but after 20 years (Style Counsel will have its birthday on November 18 of this year) she now employs 17 people and a few hand-picked interns.

Ms Young rounded off her introduction with an overview of the different types of organisations and campaigns they currently work on, including Mazda, Mattel, Mimco, Witchery, Target and the Melbourne Racing Club.

She concluded with words of wisdom on the world of PR: “Business is about understanding clients” and “delivering compelling campaigns”, and also that it is important to do research and hear what people have to say before taking concepts to the market. Two-way dialogue is also a very important part of effective PR and to not be too precious about campaigns – if the client doesn’t like your idea, come up with another one.

Geelong City Councils Sarah and Style Counsels founder Effie Young.

Geelong City Council's Sarah Jones and Style Counsel's founder Effie Young.

Style Counsel takes recruitment and training very seriously, and Ms Young regularly sends employees to seminars to learn about things such as social media, which she admits to not knowing much about. Facebook and Twitter are both tools used by the consultancy.

Eli Wallis, the recruitment office for Style Counsel, gave a short speech on her career – she has been at Style Counsel for 18 months. After she finished her degree at RMIT, she worked in public relations and media sales, and then for Mac Cosmetics in London, before deciding she wanted to do marketing and then changing her mind again and ending up in a PR agency.

Eli gave the dinner attendees some fantastic advice: immerse yourself in an industry you enjoy so when it comes to job opportunities, you are very knowledgeable about the issues surrounding the field. She also advised attendees to undertake lots of work experience, and that it is ok to try out different things before you settle into your chosen career path.

The fashion loving TheMediaPod members also gained a motivational idol in Heidi Armstrong. The 2005 Deakin University Media and Communication graduate always had a love of fashion. While undertaking her Bachelor Degree, she also studied fashion design at The Gordan Institute of TAFE in Geelong.

The university training coupled with her TAFE training is what gave Heidi a head start in the fashion industry. She used her university writing and researching skills to gain insights into the industry by gearing journalism articles towards fashion. This illustrated the point that many educators attempt to drill into their students; by using opportunities presented to learn about things in our area of interest, it provides an education alongside valuable networking contacts.

An internship at the Austin Group, which houses brands including Playboy, Rochford and Town and Country allowed Heidi to use both her media and communication and fashion design training.

Directly after completing her university degree, Heidi began working for Target. She sat in an administration role for a year, and was then selected out of 200 applicants as one of 10 trainee buyers for Target. After switching between soft goods and hard goods, her current role is assistant buyer for the Girls 1-6 range, which involves travelling to LA, New York, London and Shanghai four times per year.

Heidi educated us about styling for the Target and Australian market while drawing inspiration from overseas trends. Due to the casual nature of Australian dressing, designs need to be less extravagant than what is on the shelves in Europe. In recent years Target has moved towards being a more fashionable and on-trend destination for people of all ages to shop on a modest budget.

Targets Heidi Armstrong and Style Counsels Rigel Woolnough.

Target's Heidi Armstrong and Style Counsel's Rigel Woolnough.

Sarah Jones of Geelong City Council is also a graduate of a Deakin PR degree in 2005, and she gave an insight into the various projects she works on for the Council. She deemed it similar to working at a public relations consultancy, as her role is varied and every week there is a different campaign or project to work on.

All the inspirational women at the dinner agreed that the love they have for their jobs and the industry they work in makes up for the long hours and hard work that is required to be successful. All the attendees would agree that the dinner was a great success and a fantastic networking tool for students to interact with PR practitioners and to gain an insight into their future careers.

Go Digital or Go Home

By Deakin students, Jessie Cargill & Adrianna Seamer

Government must keep up with the Internet revolution and utilise web 2.0 in order to develop and maintain two way communication with society. That was the message from spe

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akers at a recent Frocomm “In the Public Interest” forum held in Melbourne on August 27.

Speakers Peter Williams and Brian Gieson discussed the impact web 2.0 would have on society if the government accept the changes in online communication and social media.

The World Wide Web is the go-to tool for many businesses and organisations seeking to improve their communication. Web 2.0 is a new approach to communicating online, where users interact and collaborate in a shared network of groups and websites. Blogs, e-newsletters and Facebook pages are just a few ways of using Web 2.0 as a communication tool for businesses and organisations. While these organisations are confident and comfortable in using the Internet for this purpose, government organisations are slow to catch on.

CEO of Deloitte Digital Peter Williams believes governments should become the leaders in utilising web 2.0; allowing the public to access information easily and comfortably. Websites should provide information in an interactive manner. This is seen on Flowerdale.org, a website where residents in the bushfire affected area can go to find information on how to begin the rebuilding process in an easy way by clicking the links and filling in details.

“Open up the data, make it easy for citizens to use the data, and you’ll find that they’ll create value,” said Williams.

“What government 2.0 means in the long term is that it turns us from a representative democracy into the potential for a participative democracy.”

Youth Central, a website created for the Victorian Government by Williams in 2005, shows how social media can be used by governments to create an interactive environment for the public.

Zillow, an American real estate webpage providing listings of all house price estimates, allows the American public to at no charge view the value of their home and other houses. Webpages like this are not allowed by the Australian Government.

According to Williams, the government’s attitude towards web 2.0 is to control it, rather than just let it do what it wants to do.

“You don’t need a taskforce to open a fridge, so why do you need a taskforce to tell government how to use Web 2.0?” said Williams.

Another part of this problem is that many government employees can’t access social media in their workplace.

“The tools of the revolution are locked in the cupboards.”

Director of digital strategy at Ogilvy PR Brian Gieson believes governments should use web 2.0 because the Internet is “where the people are.”

According to Gieson, 75 percent of adults are online and 50 percent are using social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

“If you look at where people go for trusted information today, it’s much different from 20 or 30 years ago,” said Gieson.

Web 2.0 should be used in a simple way, to ensure all people can access and understand the information provided. Gieson worked on creating a more simple website for U.S Medicare. A simpler website can be achieved through having information segmented into appropriate areas and providing only relevant information.

KFC used web 2.0 when introducing a new chicken burger, using social media KFC announced an hour of free chicken burgers, the turn out to this hour was massive, with people lining up around the block. In the world of Web 2.0 it is not about being too careful or worrying about what will work and what won’t – sometimes governments just have to get out there and take a risk.

For further information and future conferences visit Deloitte Digital and Frocomm

Students aren’t horsing around with “The Colts” video

Media and Communication students David Zaffina, James Boyd (both Deakin University) and Daniel Mallia (Swinburne) produce a fortnightly AFL comedy series called ‘The Colts’ for www.footyheads.com.au. The series follows the

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ups and downs of suburban football club, Whitehorse Colts.

Each week the cast is joined by an AFL player, media personality or celebrity who makes a cameo appearance on the show.

The series is a great example of how Deakin students are using new media to get fantastic experience, meet media personalities and celebrities (watch out for a cameo by Guy Sebastian) and make a name for themselves.

The Colts Episode 4 – Part 1

Colts Captain Nick Bentley (David Zaffina) calls for a mid season boot camp after the Colts 91 point thrashing last week. How will the leadership group respond?

The Colts Episode 4 – Part 2

Colts superstar Willie Iron (Daniel Mallia) makes an appearance at Channel 9 and is grilled by leading sports journalist John Dobson (James Boyd).

Top tips for working in PR teams

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eamwork can often make or break projects or campaigns. In this episode of themediapod, Ross Monaghan (right) talks with Cropley Communication’s Adrian Cropley about teamwork success and pitfalls.

Adrian is recognised around the world as a leading communicator. He’s on the Board of the International Association of Business Communicators, and was instrumental in leading the Victorian branch of that organisation to win best medium size chapter in 2008. He’s worked on oranisational development issues within commercial organisations, and now heads-up Cropley Communication.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/themediapod_teamwork.mp3]

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Victoria’s Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill

Having a child is a major part of most people’s lives, but for gay and lesbian couples it can often be difficult. Victoria’s Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill has the power to change gay and lesbian rights. Since this video report was crea

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ted, the Bill has passed through the Victorian Upper House, however it will now return to the Lower House for final approval this year.

If approved, the Bill will give access of IVF not just to the medically infertile but to lesbians and single women as well.

Deakin Univeristy journalism student Tineka Everaardt looks at gay and lesbian rights in Australia.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26qUtZ-cqBg

For more information:

Victorian Parliament’s Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee

Victorian Bills Explanatory Memoranda

Law Institute of Victoria submission

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Learning to learn with Tony Buzan

Deakin Journalism students’ work

deakinDeakin journalism students have been busy this year researching and creating current affairs stories for their ass

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ignments in radio and television units.

From this link you can listen to stories from four third-year students Phoebe Munro, Tineka Everaardt, Robert Cumbrae-Stewart, and Muhammad Shahwan.

Tineka Everaardt examines the Victorian Government’s new Body Image Code of Conduct. Robert investigates the issue of vandalism and graffiti on trains, and Muhammad explores the issues surrounding religious education in Australia.

But let’s turn first to Phoebe Munro who recorded her radio story while on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa. In this assignment she explores how craft is becoming an increasingly important sector of the South African economy.

Phoebe Munro, Craft in South Africa.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/Phoebe%20Munros%20podcast.mp3]

Tineka Everaardt, Body Image Code of Conduct.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/Tinekaspodcast.mp3]

Robert Cumbrae-Stewart, Graffiti on trains

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/Robbiespodcast.mp3]

Muhammad Shahwan, Religious education in Australia.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/Studentpodcast.mp3]

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Keeping kids safe online: Technology guide for parents.

ClickCoverThe NSW Department of Education and Training has just published a technology guide for parents. theMediaPod’s Ro

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ss Monaghan was one of the contributors, along with Lee Hopkins and Ms Megabyte.
To find out about all the technologies your child could be using at school, at home and on the go, check out Click!. It’s full of information about how things work, what is good about them and things you may need to be careful of.

You can download Click! (as a pdf) here, or view it online at http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/news/technology/index.php

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