noodlepie

More thoughts on Guardian Witness

A few of other points on Guardian Witness to add from earlier. Firstly on copyright and payment.

From the FAQ, it appears Guardian Witness is quite keen on the syndication idea, but not so keen on saying outright that the witnesses would be paid, how much or exactly when. They might be paid "according to circumstances",

Our Terms & Conditions also state that, by submitting content to us, you authorise the Guardian to allow third parties to use the content, and this may include re-distributing items of content on an individual or wholesale (i.e. as a content feed) basis. In the event that a trusted third party - such as a broadcaster or another newspaper - contacted us to express an interest in appropriately using GuardianWitness content - for example a particularly powerful image or video - we would endeavour, but would not be bound, to contact contributors, and this may include, according to circumstances, entering into a revenue sharing agreement. link

The Guardian, and Guardian Witness sponsors the mobile phone network EE, would also like to use Witness contributions for internal marketing campaigns,

We may use content incidentally in our own house advertising campaigns, for example to market GNM products and services. link

They would also like to sell ads against Witness contributions,

In the normal course of our business, advertising will appear across the GuardianWitness site. link

Secondly, about this thing called the Internet.

In 2006 the Guardian's own former digital guru Emily Bell slammed the National Union of Journalists for a proposed code of conduct for a scarily familiar sounding "Witness Contributors" code of conduct.

If the Canutes who wish the internet had never happened looked around, they would see dozens of services offering words and pictures on all manner of topics without a single professional or paid-for contribution, none of them traditional media organisations. link

In the eight years since that was written, there are slightly more than dozens of services allowing anyone to upload anything. And I suspect I'm still more likely to upload stuff to 1) a place where my friends are already and 2) to a place I believe won't try and make money out of me/advertise against me/use me for internal marketing campaigns.

Lastly, there's one other thing that grates slightly. It's about core journalism skills.

Over the last ten years I've trained hundreds of journalists in how to find stuff out using the Internet. One universal from that experience is that a 'they come to you' system is just not good enough. It's like swimming in a goldfish bowl when there's a bloody great lake on the other side of the window. There's more useful stuff in the lake.

I don't for one minute expect Guardian journalists to disregard that big lake, which makes me wonder how useful Guardian Witness will really be on both big and niche stories. It's often the honest, no axe to grind voices which yield the most authentic content and in 2013 finding those voices online is an essential journalism skill. Requesting submissions from a "community" might yield some of those voices, but it looks lazy and possibly ineffective and definitely more of a minefield of vested interests and large axes to grind.

You can sign up for Guardian Witness over here. Joanne Geary, who worked on the project, has a Q&A here. And here are some sleeping dogs.

A blast from a soupy past

I used to visit the Bun Mam stall in the picture above once per week for 5 or 6 years up until 2006. It was the single best soup I ever tasted in Vietnam. I've often wondered if the old lady, Ba Sau, was still there doling out her delicious muddy brown swamp. A few people have emailed over the years to ask where the stall is located. A few have even made it, and tried it, and liked it. However, I didn't have any photographic evidence of her continued existence until last week, when Brian Woo from Hong Kong contacted me in search of the soup.

And he went there. Unfortunately at first, he was too late and there was no sign of Madame Bun Mam.

"Found the bun rieu ladies but they were closed just hanging out. They told me to go tomorrow at 7am. No sign of the bun mam, but the whole street was empty as it was the afternoon. I'll update u when I get a chance to head there again."

The next morning, he tried again,

"Went to the morning market this morning to see if I could find the lady. I believe this should be her (see picture above) today she made bun cun cua, which was quite delicious. Everyone along the whole street had a bowl! The bun rieu lady was making pho today, stopped by to have a bowl after the bowl of bun cun cua, also good. Thanks again for the help"

So... she IS still there, hair a bit longer, pyjamas a bit faded - see above - and she still serves up soup, mornings only, down the same alleyway. However, on Brian's visit at least, she has changed tack from my day - she served Brian a Bánh canh cua, which from the photograph below, looks amazing.

And, for comparison purposes, here's the bowl of Bun Mam she used to serve back in the pre-Raphaelite era.

I am eager to get back to Vietnam soon, to try this soup and many other things again. The book publishing world moves at the pace of a crippled sloth, but you can be sure this stall will be one of the very stops when I do eventually get back to Saigon. In other good news, the Phổ stall oppostie the Bun Mam stall is still there and still doing a roaring trade.

And, here's how the stall used to look eight years ago (exactly the bloody same...)

Thanks to Brian for emailing me, bothering to seek these stalls out and sending me the photographs. Much appreciated.

The Guardian's citizen journalism boozer

There's a pub in Edinburgh where all the Hearts fans go to drink and natter before the match. It's the Hearts pub. Every football team has one. You'll never find a Hibs fan in the Hearts pub and you'll never find a Hearts fan in a Hibs pub.

One day, someone had the bright idea of builidng a new pub. One for all football fans of all teams. A place where they could all come together, drink and natter before the game, the owner was disappointed that no-one came.

The Guardian has just launched a user-generated content platform,

"(It) will allow people from around the world to submit their content directly to Guardian journalists" via One Man and His Blog

In other words, whenever there's a match on, The Guardian wants you to come to their pub. Not only do they want you to come to their pub, they want you to do homework too. Or, as they put it, to "encourage user content submission". They have weekly assigments for you. You can submit a story. And during "live news"

"Users will be alerted to news stories that are welcoming contributions with a GuardianWitness badge"

I'm not sure that's the kind of pub I'd like to drop by for a pre-match pint, but I might be alone on that.

The pub they're up against is called the Internet. It's a big pub, with many rooms, snugs, beer gardens, bars and stools. Most folk have a favourite haunt. Mine's very rowdy. It's called Twitter.

Now tell me, why should I switch pubs?

Update: more discussion over here and here. I particularly like this snidey, but I suspect realistic comment

"This appears to be an extremely elaborate way of saying "we now have an email address." link

Update: I added some more thoughts on this, specifically re: copyright, payment and on doing journalism online.

keeping in touch

When I first lived in Hanoi I had a regular Xe ôm driver. His name was Dương. He drove me on his ancient Honda 50cc all over the city over a period of months. I'd visted his home, had tea with his mother, we ocassionally shared Bia hơi together, he recommended street stalls for me and, most importantly, he knew my routine. I didn't need to book him, he always arrived on time, waiting there on the pavement ready to take me to work.

Then one day, he didn't. The day after he didn't show up, I moved house, my worked changed, my routine likewise. I never saw Dương again. I've no idea what happened to him and there was no way I'd ever find his home again down that rabbit warren he took me along in a part of town alien to me.

This is before mobile phones were commonplace in Vietnam, pagers never really caught on as they did in South Korea and Japan. The Internet was for the very, very select few in the government. In fact, in 1997, you could only have an exceptionally basic, and expensive, dial up email service at home. Email was limited to small messages. Anthing over a certain number of kilobytes was simply too large for the network to handle and it was rejected. As far as I remember, Internet for home users didn't exist until at least 2000.

I doubt there's any way I would lose touch with a regular Xe ôm driver these days. Even if I wanted to.

Photo taken by Nomad Tales and licensed under Creative Commons.

paperwork

I think I'm too messy a writer, make too many mistakes and alter too much as I go along to make working on paper my default option. Or maybe I just need to leave more space between each line? And use pencil? You do think slightly differently doing it this way. And the process of re-reading, editing and putting the words inside the computer probably makes the finished copy better. However, I'm yet to decisively swing one way or the other on this issue. The obvious benefit, of course, is that you don't get distracted by interesting web links on an always connected computer.

the famous ones

Wherever you go to eat in Vietnam, you will soon learn about the "famous places" for this that and the other Vietnamese dish. In my limited experience, these famous places often become famously shit, through sheer laziness, complacency and an overdose of arrogance. Three lazy, past their prime cases in point in Hanoi:

• Phở Xào Phú Mỹ,45B Phố Bát Đàn

• Chả cá Lã Vọng, 14 Phố Chả Cá

• Bún Chả Hàng Mành, 1 Phố Hàng Mành

I haven't been to Hanoi in ages and I'd love to be proven wrong on all of these. As far as I can tell, Hanoi (or nearby) is famous for six Vietnamese dishes:

• Phở

• Bún ốc

• Bún chả

• Bánh cuốn

• Chả cá Lã Vọng

• Bún đậu mắm tôm

Nailing a favourite "famous" Hanoi Phở is never going to be anything everyone agrees upon, but is there a designated "famous place" for Bún ốc, Bánh cuốn and Bún đậu mắm tôm? Are they past their prime too? Also, am I missing any other "famous" Hanoi dishes?

UPDATE: Just remembered... Bánh tôm Hồ Tây, Bún riêu (or is that Mekong?) and Nem chua are all Hanoian (I think...)

Digging up the Bun Cha

I was working on a short passage about a Bún chả encounter in the late nineties earlier this morning. I was reminded of a guide I wrote for myself and later distributed to friends and colleagues in Hanoi at the turn of the century (How old does that sound...) It was designed to help newbies in Hanoi choose where to go and eat. Here is the passage I wrote to introduce the ubiquitous Hanoi lunchtime marvel.

You’ll find Bún chả served all over Hanoi from 11 am - 2pm(ish) lunchtime. Barbecue grilled pork balls in a spicy fish sauce with a mountain of varied interesting greens and a plate of cold noodles all for around 5-8000 Dong. Having tried and tested in the region of 25 ++ different Bún chả in Hanoi here below are some of the addresses you might want to check out.

61 Ly Thai Tho just south of the junction with Lo Su you’ll find one of the more popularBun Cha hangouts.

20 Ta Hien street, near the Ngoc Quyen end. It’s a tiny little front room affair, fantastic Bún chả. One of the best sauces I have found in Hanoi.

Bottom of Hang Manh in the old quarter. This is the ‘famous’ one, but it’s not that good. In fact, this place is bollocks, compared to a lot of the street stalls knocking out the same stuff. If a Vietnamese friend recommends a Bún chả spot they invariably choose this one but the good days went a long time a ago.

Hang Da market, near Hang Da street in the old quarter also has a good Bún chả and many other interesting eating joints. Be warned this place is grubby in the extreme, you wouldn’t want to take a hot date here.

The best way to discover your fave Bún chả is to try a whole bunch of them. They are all slightly different and it’s all in the fish sauce. My personal favourite is a women sitting next to a tree on Phung Hung street. link

I wonder how many of these places still exist. I suspect the Lo Su and the Hang Manh joints continue to thrive, but who's come along since to battle with the big Bún chả guns in town? And are the Phung Hung twins still there?

This was my introduction to Hanoi newbies who might be interested in trying out some Vietnamese street food. I suspect the hygeine bit may have improved a tiny bit. I hear plastic gloves are commonplace these days, but there again...

Vietnamese people eat early, quickly and sometimes noisily. You should aim to get to the following places before 9pm, otherwise you could be disappointed. Also, realize that hygiene standards are invariably low and occasionally downright disgusting.

Lets face it, you’re in Vietnam for a long stretch you’ve gotta give the local tucker a fair crack of the whip. You might not become a total convert, but you might find a few tasty morsels along the way. Unfortunately, a lot of Expats leave after three years or so having never once tried the real deal i.e. street food.

Below you’ll find a few highlights on the street scene and a few indoor affairs too. I am a convert and therefore incredibly biased. link

Photo is mine and was actually taken in Saigon... at a very, very good place with the incredibly original name Bún Chả Hàng Mành Hà Nội.

not so much as lifted a finger

There's one small scene I'm thinking of writing for the book. It's about when I decided to give up my job as a teacher and miraculously transform myself into someone who sold words and sometimes pictures for a living. It was over a post-work snackette, some time at the turn of 20th century, in the place above that I came to that decision. The picture was taken on a return visit in 2006. Take a good look at it. Now watch the very short video below filmed in the same place in 2013. Seven years later and the place has not changed a jot. In truth, it probably hasn't changed for the last twenty years or more. What a glorious shithole. Great Bánh gối too.

Banh Goi - Hanoi from Duck and Roses on Vimeo.

Iksan market panorama

The northern market in Iksan in Korea

I like a good panoramic photograph. This one is of a market I visited, or at least strolled through, almost every day when I lived in the city of Iksan, South Korea. A rather embarassingly long time ago.