Skillset

On Monday we brought together a number of companies that went on a trade delegation to Beijing and Shanghai at the tale-end of the Games...

I visited The NET last year. Tucked away ina national print works in Docklands,they’re an educational charity thatprovides a real-life newsroom for pupils so they can be a journalist for the day...

Neil Garner is a professional trainer I have known (and respected) for over a decade. He used to train the trainees I looked after at the BBC - and was a perfect judge of character as well as a wonderful communicator, enthuser and sage...

I always find it fascinating to see how our reading habits are affected in an economic slowdown...

As promised, another guest blog - this time from Mike Kelt of Artem, another industry member of the Facilities Skills Council.   “Skills - is it time to define them? We all work in an industry that has, by and large, made no attempt to define the skills and competencies within it...

Today sees the start of a new series of guest blogs. It’s from David Peto, ex of Unit, now looking at something new. He also sits on the Facilities Skills Council...

Just a quick post to wish everyonea Happy New Year and to remind those involved in journals publishing to take part in the National Occupational Standards Review and Scoping to incorporate Journals Publishers...

Skillset has provided funding for aNational Occupational Standards Review and Scoping of Project to Incorporate Journals Publisherswhich is being project managed by The Publishing Training Centre in conjunction with the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers...

First off, I owe you an apology for my air silence. I’ve been away on holiday for a couple of weeks and then straight back into a frenzy of conferences. While I was away, the news for the publishing industry has been pretty grim...

Two links today - - one on a Soho Editors (and chums) seminar that I attended last week on the future (and present!) of digital workflow, and the other on news from BBC Post Production on the loss of nearly 200 jobs. I won’t talk too much about the content of the seminar - see this [..

As you know, Skillset works with and on behalf of your industry to support skills and training for people and businesses to ensure we maintain our world class position...

Yes - see earlier posts for background - but I am please to announce that we now have a fledgling group of industry leaders that will help shape Skillset’s work, help steer collaborative action, and be beacons in the industry for skills. Excellent news...

Last night saw me give a speech at MITA AGM - the “Moving Image Training Alliance” - a group of 30 or so professional training companies supporting the screen-based industry...

Simon Ferguson, Publishing Director from Reed Business Information Travel division presented an interesting session on ‘Chances in Second-Life.’ Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really got my head around Second Life and other virtual worlds (if you struggle as well, there’s a...

What do John Inverdale and East Riding of Yorkshire Council have in common? Don’t have a clue? Well, the answer is they both appeared as speakers at the DPA 2008 conference in Brighton last Thursday...

Last night, in a presentation at the Guildhall, Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize. The novel, The White Tiger, is Adiga’s first, is set in India and is a take on the extremes between those with wealth – and those with nothing – in Indian society...

As someone who cares about the future of the industry (which I know you do - you read this!)– and how training and education will play a part in this - I hope you will consider this request. I am looking to establish a group of leading industry figures which will direct and shape the work [..

The Book 2 Book site reports the launch of this new initiative – based on the Sainsbury’s Active Kids programme developed by the same agency – to encourage children to read, review and share books in return for a voucher to redeem at Waterstones.The articlelinks to a more detailed piece in...

Tuesday night was the annual graduation ceremony and Magazine Academy awards held by the Periodical Training Councilat The Lansdowne Club in the heart of Mayfair.Not one to turn down the offer of canapés and wine in a central London location, I jumped at the chance to have a look at the work of...

  Carrying on from my earlier report on the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers’ conference last week, is a brief summary of the session called ‘The Web’s Rich Tapestry’. I figured this was going to be one of those mind-bending, thought-numbing sessions...

  Here’s the first of a few short reports on the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP for ease of reference) conference I attended last week...

The shroud of secrecy has been lifted! Want to see a real life, studio developed, commercially released game’s, game design document. Now is your chance...

On the beach in Brighton reflecting on the morning session, some really interesting talks so far, and there has been no haranguing, just plain old co-operation and understanding from all the speakers whether they’re from education or industry...

  With Beijing just around the corner, my thoughts turn to our own time in the spotlight. One of my jobs at Skillset is to make sure that the creative media industry is competition fit to make the most of the opportunities when the greatest show on earth rolls into East London...

Last week saw Tim Berners-Lee (that’s right, he who ‘made’ the Web) talk at NESTA on ‘The Future of the Web’...

NESTA today announced a £450k war chest to help foster innovation in the games industry...

Phew, what a night - 250 odd souls down in the vaults on the hottest day of the year networking their hearts out. Yes, it’s that time of year again when students come out of their 3 year long chrysalis that is university, blinking into the lights of the onrushing animation industry...

Nope, this is nothing to do with Barbara Woodhouse (those of you who are old enough to remember her) or even One Man and His Dog...

Last week I received an invitation to attend a ‘Cultural Diversity in Publishing’ round-table from The Bookseller...

Blogging from the train today (thank you national express free wi-fi) and just needing to note a piece in today’s Guardian...

The full line up of speakers has been announced for next week’s industry get together in Newcastle, and it’s an impressive list...

Still looking for a job, and the Interactive Media, Computer Games and Animation Adminstrator role didn’t tickle your fancy? Have you considered applying for the Publishing Co-ordinator vacancy that we now have? As regular readers will realise, I’m the new kid on the block...