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TfL Blogger's Briefing - LIVE!
Live! (knobber) blogging from a sandwich friendly TfL Blogger's Briefing. Gonna see how many sarnies I can sneak out before last orders.
Refresh and scroll down for updates.
13:10
Yep, so I've beensummoned invited to a Blogger's Briefing at TfL's fancy HQ at St James. I'm sitting around a boardroom table with the various twitterati and corporate suits from TfL.
I'm a Cyclist - Get Me Out of Here!
Not quite sure why I've been invited. To make up the numbers as a sarnie eater? I blog about... cycling. I think I last caught the tube sometime in '98.
1998.
But TfL's remit also includes cycling, and so I'm hopeful of putting a spanner in the spokes with some pedal questions sometime in the session.
13:20
OK, so here's the deal: Richard Parry, TfL's Head of Strategy is doing the meet 'n greet thing. We've had a whirlwind tour of the tube network in ten minutes, being told of a ten year plan to transform the tube. I thought I heard this back in '98, and hence haven't caught a tube since.
Being a Blogger's Briefing, technology is keeping us all away from the sarnies. There's some TfL geeks with us (ooh - Macs!) who are about to show us some new TfL tools. I bet they're gonna be blog friendly. But what's in it for bloggers? A revenue stream?
Mmmm - we'll see.
Plenty of fighting talk about a 'historic chance to transform the tube, evolving the tube will enable Londoners and the historic challenge facing TfL with increased passengers.'
Hey - I have a solution: cycling...
Prawn sarnie on the go.
13:30
It's not quite on par with the historic shift from steam to diesel, but print is dead, online communication is the key, so said the Man from TfL. And here's me thinking it's all about making trains run on time.
Nice new website though.
13:35
'Business model for communication is going to be based around mobile devices.'
But my mobile doesn't work underground. Doh!
Here comes the techie presentation. The aim is to enhance all the old tools together. Nice, friendly female voice over in the online presentation. Sounds like an ad for Colgate.
Service boards for individual lines and stations. Google map mash ups ahoy. It all looks very flash. Can't see how the TfL boardroom presentation on the fancy iMac will match up with the reality of being stuck at Morden at midnight, waiting for the last tube.
13:40
A question from the floor (Londonist chap):
'Nice widgets, but as Diamond Geezer has pointed out, it doesn't include the overground or DLR.'
Or cycling.
Techie guy, and Head of Strategy have both seen dg's criticism. And they have failed to answer it.
'Tube is all important, blah blah blah bollocks.
13:45
'Widgets are hard to communicate to the general public.'
So why waste time building them, then?
iPhone is a priority for future use. Widgets on social network sites also being looked at.
Got me first Q in. Pretty dull about, all about customisable widgets. Thinking hard as to how I can convert a boardroom full of tubeanoraks experts into cyclists. A widget on your handlebar? It could perhaps keep count of how many knobber Petrol Heads cut you up each morning.
13:50
Interesting Q about how to make the TfL more of a social media site. 2.0 is all about people and how they interact with each other. The TfL site has 2.0 aspirations, but it deals in raw data.
Not much of a reply, but to be fair, there's not really an answer to be given. TfL is a very individual site from a user's experience. We don't talk to commuter's in the carriage, so why should we talk to each other online?
BINGO!
Got the cycling reference in! We mentioned the recent dancing bear look out for cyclists youtube vid.
Job done.
Can go home now...
14:00
Still lingering on about how to personalise the TfL site. Interesting points made about how unique personal touches offline (quirky tube announcements) are really appreciated. Why can't this be replicated online?
...cos geeks have no sense of humour.
14:10
All very tube centric, and as we know, the tube doesn't exactly reach out into the heartlands of South London. Taking things off track, so to speak... I mentioned the wonderful marketing presence when a tram carriage was placed outside Brixton Library, as a PR stunt ahead of the proposed Cross River Tram. The locals loved it, and we all looked forward to finally being connected with North London.
Whoops...
technorati: tfl blogger's briefing
| Tuesday 25 November, 2008 |
Live! (knobber) blogging from a sandwich friendly TfL Blogger's Briefing. Gonna see how many sarnies I can sneak out before last orders.
Refresh and scroll down for updates.
13:10
Yep, so I've been
I'm a Cyclist - Get Me Out of Here!
Not quite sure why I've been invited. To make up the numbers as a sarnie eater? I blog about... cycling. I think I last caught the tube sometime in '98.
1998.
But TfL's remit also includes cycling, and so I'm hopeful of putting a spanner in the spokes with some pedal questions sometime in the session.
13:20
OK, so here's the deal: Richard Parry, TfL's Head of Strategy is doing the meet 'n greet thing. We've had a whirlwind tour of the tube network in ten minutes, being told of a ten year plan to transform the tube. I thought I heard this back in '98, and hence haven't caught a tube since.
Being a Blogger's Briefing, technology is keeping us all away from the sarnies. There's some TfL geeks with us (ooh - Macs!) who are about to show us some new TfL tools. I bet they're gonna be blog friendly. But what's in it for bloggers? A revenue stream?
Mmmm - we'll see.
Plenty of fighting talk about a 'historic chance to transform the tube, evolving the tube will enable Londoners and the historic challenge facing TfL with increased passengers.'
Hey - I have a solution: cycling...
Prawn sarnie on the go.
13:30
It's not quite on par with the historic shift from steam to diesel, but print is dead, online communication is the key, so said the Man from TfL. And here's me thinking it's all about making trains run on time.
Nice new website though.
13:35
'Business model for communication is going to be based around mobile devices.'
But my mobile doesn't work underground. Doh!
Here comes the techie presentation. The aim is to enhance all the old tools together. Nice, friendly female voice over in the online presentation. Sounds like an ad for Colgate.
Service boards for individual lines and stations. Google map mash ups ahoy. It all looks very flash. Can't see how the TfL boardroom presentation on the fancy iMac will match up with the reality of being stuck at Morden at midnight, waiting for the last tube.
13:40
A question from the floor (Londonist chap):
'Nice widgets, but as Diamond Geezer has pointed out, it doesn't include the overground or DLR.'
Or cycling.
Techie guy, and Head of Strategy have both seen dg's criticism. And they have failed to answer it.
'Tube is all important, blah blah blah bollocks.
13:45
'Widgets are hard to communicate to the general public.'
So why waste time building them, then?
iPhone is a priority for future use. Widgets on social network sites also being looked at.
Got me first Q in. Pretty dull about, all about customisable widgets. Thinking hard as to how I can convert a boardroom full of tube
13:50
Interesting Q about how to make the TfL more of a social media site. 2.0 is all about people and how they interact with each other. The TfL site has 2.0 aspirations, but it deals in raw data.
Not much of a reply, but to be fair, there's not really an answer to be given. TfL is a very individual site from a user's experience. We don't talk to commuter's in the carriage, so why should we talk to each other online?
BINGO!
Got the cycling reference in! We mentioned the recent dancing bear look out for cyclists youtube vid.
Job done.
Can go home now...
14:00
Still lingering on about how to personalise the TfL site. Interesting points made about how unique personal touches offline (quirky tube announcements) are really appreciated. Why can't this be replicated online?
...cos geeks have no sense of humour.
14:10
All very tube centric, and as we know, the tube doesn't exactly reach out into the heartlands of South London. Taking things off track, so to speak... I mentioned the wonderful marketing presence when a tram carriage was placed outside Brixton Library, as a PR stunt ahead of the proposed Cross River Tram. The locals loved it, and we all looked forward to finally being connected with North London.
Whoops...
technorati: tfl blogger's briefing
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