Inside View from Ireland

Old Coke Nostalgia

Bernie Goldbach in Drogheda | Shot from Irisheyes

AS I APPROACHED a Bottle Bank in Drogheda, I decided to give myself a treat for walking two miles. It was a memorable occasion because I ended up with a glass bottle of Coke (see below).

I have never bought Coke in a glass bottle from a corner shop since moving to Ireland in 1994. I have never seen glass bottled Coke for sale to punters in shops. For months after moving to Ireland from Germany, I resisted buying Cole because it came only in plastic bottles. The same plastic bottles that sea gulls peck before getting their beaks trapped in the plastic. Not wanting to be complicit in the breakdown of a Pacific habitat, I tried to avoid plastic until I found a way to recycle it.

Today, I stocked up on a proper six pack of glass bottled Cole and it feels like a real win. See the 90 cent bottle snapped by my iTouch below the break.

Copyright for Citizens

Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel | Photo by Irisheyes

WHILE GRADING ACADEMIC WORK concerning copyright in Ireland, it's interesting to watch the debate around copyright in Germany restart in earnest, fueled in part by the the weekly newspaper Die Zeit's letter entitled “We are the Creators”.

The letter and the response it generated should be read by Irish Junior Minister Sean Sherlock because the letter marks the battleground of the claims citizens will make about their digital rights. The letter condemns the "profane theft" of intellectual property, characterised as a " great achievement of bourgeois freedom against the dependency of feudalism" and defends the role of the publishers and other intermediaries commercially exploiting copyrights, and decries those who would use the internet as an excuse for "stinginess and malice".

More than 3000 "creators" signed up to the cause.

The Most Powerful Women in Ireland

Bernie Goldbach using Saorview | Screenshot from Google Images

IF I WAS SELECTING the "most powerful woman in Ireland" I think she would be someone who makes things happen behind the scenes. Asking Google for the answer results in a lot of faces from outside Ireland--the same faces I see most often on my Saorview box.

Next month, the Irish branch of the Women’s Executive Network will honour 25 women at a ceremony where awards will be presented to recognise Irish women across five categories: corporate executives, public sector leaders, entrepreneurs, trailblazers and arts and culture. Company turnover, size of team, achievements, responsibility and influence on respective sectors will be among the criteria used to select the winners.

Zemanta Inside Typepad

Bernie Goldbach testing 11890 | Screenshot from my Typepad

AT THE END OF every academic year, I look back at where my virtual footsteps have taken me because it was the summer of 2003 that I walked into Typepad along with James Corbett and Keith Bohanna. This year, my Typepad footprints find me as I type my blog posts.

That's because Say Media have integrated Zemanta into the "compose" window of the online posting experience. I heard Michele Neylon talking about Zemanta on a Technology.ie podcast with Conn O Muineachain, then started using its plug-in. The plug-in generates recommended links for blog post, just like in the screenshot above--but in fairness, the recommended links are a lot more diverse than what this navel-gazing screenshot suggest. After a few short weeks of beta testing by Say Media across Typepad, users inserted thousands of Recommend Links into blog posts.

11890 With Helpful Maps

Bernie Goldbach in Cashel | Image of Lumia

WHEN I ASK 11890 directory assistance for a phone number, it's a 30 second transaction that now includes a map.

I've rang a few times from my mobile phone (in the photo) to see cross-check a few things, like the name of our college (it's recently changed) or the new phone numbers of businesses we like to use. The service is always fast, always accurate. I normally say something like, "Maura, could you text me a business phone number for Beva in Glanmire, County Cork?" The reaction is as fast as a person can type and rarely longer than 20 seconds. That's 20 seconds from the time I start to ask to the time a text arrives on my phone. And now, the text comes with a map that's more accurate than I get with Foursquare.

Sodshow for Young Gardeners

Bernie and Mia in Cashel | Photo snapped with Xperia Arc

INSPIRED BY THE SODSHOW, we've dropped seeds in pots standing on the kitchen windowsills and now we have a replanting job ahead.

Several times a day, we talk to our vegetable plants, asking them whether they've enough water or sun. We're empowered by Peter Donegan's rambling view of gardening in Ireland. And we're helped by the warm rays of sunshine hitting the kitchen extension for 12 hours every day. We're blessed with nearly 100 per cent germination from seeds. Young Mia recounts her experience in the audio and video clips below.

Adventures in Gardening

Aoife Kavanagh Takes the Fall

Bernie Goldbach in Cashel | Image of Sindo

THE DUST HASN'T SETTLED from the biggest mistake made this century by Ireland's national broadcaster. Today's Sunday papers continue their coverage of the official Broadcasting Association of Ireland report, released to coincide with the May Bank Holiday Weekend.

I doubt short-term public interest about what happened will subside because the sheer costs (libel payment and fine) will suck away a significant portion of money earned by RTE through licence fees. The settlements help redline the broadcaster's budget. And the Minister for Communication hasn't had his much-anticipated exchange of views with the RTE board, another place where there's likely to be blood on the carpet.

In the official report, the lead journalist in an episode of Prime Time Investigates, Aoife Kavanagh, comes under fire for several reasons. She relied on the primacy of the word-of-mouth testimony by people thousands of miles away, discounted the integrity of Father Kevin Reynolds as she accused him of fathering a child in Kenya, did not contenance Reynolds' offer to take a paternity test, and did not pass emails from solicitors to the RTE Legal Department. It didn't help that the Irish national broadcaster did not have a written framework for investigative journalism in place, thus ceding power to Kavanagh's journalistic instincts.

Investigative Journalism Standards