Let's fix The Spoke

banquo

Every year, you pay in advance with your registration fee the running costs of The Spoke. Some of us think that it has failed in the hands of those who have managed it thus far, and that it needs a complete overhaul.

If you think The Spoke is fine, and that those who have slaved over it in the past are earning the money you pay them, that an SU 'insider' who claims to have "slaved over articles" and sees being its editor as ''serving time'' has your interests at heart, will renew The Spoke, overhaul the website, make the SU online forum public for suggestions, start fresh with an intelligent and well defined newspaper layout, publish bus and train timetables as they're updated every month, publish bargain alerts and job ads from Maynooth and nearby towns, give readers something decent to put on their bare dorm walls, or even acknowledge our 3,500 commuters with genuine 'Commuter Section', then you should vote for somebody else.

But if you think we're right, that the editor of The Spoke should explore what a student wants from their university newspaper, and put it together in a practical, common sense way, then I ask for your vote on election day.

My name is Robert Munnelly. I'm running for VP of Communications and Development.

I'm in 3BMus. For the last 2 years, as an adult literacy tutor in Coolock, I learned how powerful to a person a new skill can be. As a co-editor and regular contributor to the music magazine the ""]Midland Music Guide", I got a real lesson in managing a professional publication, and shared with my colleagues the ambition that any publication can be made a thing of envy.

Our manifesto is a living document, growing with each good idea. These are some of the features you'll see when, if elected, I will renew The Spoke.

---

Your World:

• University news
• Local news
• Not only Student union news, but also student news from outside the Union

---

Studies and College:

• A section to let regular students publish their good ideas for the college. Should the college have power stations for mobiles and mp3 players? Let everyone hear your suggestion. Nobody knows better than students how the college can adapt to their work flow better, and The Spoke can be a new platform to voice our innovations and suggestions

• Publish monthly "How To" sections that really benefit students. Did you know that you can renew a library book online? Ever heard of Google Documents? How many 1st year mature students seize up at the thought of writing an essay? Every month we will publish these and other useful tutorials

• List useful resources that only some students have heard of, and lecturers have never heard of. Google Books, Scholar and Documents. Sibelius for music students. We'll list the best books and tutorial websites for all the subjects you bring to our attention

---

Money and work:

• Job Ads. Every month before we go to the press, we'll send a scout to Maynooth, Leixlip, Clane, Celbridge and all neighbour towns to look for 'Staff Wanted' ads. We'll scan newspapers and websites for jobs posted, and every job we find we'll bring to you in The Spoke

• Bargain Alerts. As with we will with jobs, we'll scout out and print for you the bargains in Tesco and Dunnes, stationary deals in Easons, the best thesis printing prices, and every bargain from every store in Maynooth.

• A student ''Buy and Sell'' section for books, notes, grinds, iPods, and everything reasonable

• For Post-Graduate students, we'll post all the news and details of fairs, seminars and open days we can get our hands on

• A section where law students can offer advice your work-related disputes, and answer questions

---

Student Life:

• Recipes for lazy people. Recipes to impress the girlfriend. Recipes tailored for athletes. Recipes for those who want to lose weight healthily

• A pull-out poster for your bare dorm wall every month

• For the 3,500 students who commute, you'll have a special Commuter Section, full of trivia, puzzles, crosswords - anything to keep you amused on the Calcutta Express

• Bus and Train timetables, updated every month

• News and reviews of films, bands, events

• Competitions

• Gonzo journalism, and a much fun stuff as we can get our grubby little hands on

---

Transparency:

• Tell us how we're doing. Each month I'll blog showing what we earned and what we spent. The decisions we made and didn't make. I'll make the SU forum open to everyone with a NUIM username and password and you can let us know what you do and don't like, what you think should be included and what should be scrapped

• Wider distribution will play a part in The Spoke

• My real world experience has taught me that change costs money. To this end, I’ll be reinvesting my first month’s wages back into The Spoke to pay for all the changes we need

----

A Useful website:

134 members on Facebook, 536 on Bebo, and a useless website that nobody knows about – this has been the SU’s vision for the world.
As VP Comms, I will completely overhaul the SU website and internet presence with an RSS feed, a public bulletin board, and practical wisdom.

----

Let's fix The Spoke.

I am of course open to all suggestions for features.

In the meantime I want to thank all of you for your time, for your suggestions, your encouragement, and for your honest belief that we can really make this office work harder for those it serves. And I look forward to continuing our conversation in the weeks to come.

And a special thanks to Lolth for his permission to post here.

These went up this morning.

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=45847614029&topic=6508

Bebo:http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=8495966172

Let’s Fix the Spoke.

Thank you.

Holsten

Nice post!

Some great ideas there too.

banquo

Holsten wrote: »

Some great ideas there too.

Thank you Holsten. Please feel free to add your own.

Vote and they'll happen. There's no other way.

Rozabeez

I dunnooo... Eoin Byrne is seeming a lot cooler since the removal of the 'tash.



Best of luck Banquo, I'll sit back and watch a little before making up my mind.

Norrdeth

Exellent!
Good manifesto, my vote is for new spoke!

Ostrom

Change it back to good ol' bog roll newspaper and you have my support

Rozabeez

No more glossy paper, we're in a recession!

Ostrom

Rozabeez wrote: »

No more glossy paper, we're in a recession!

Back to the good old days of the yellow pages paper

banquo

It will be a newspaper.

We're working really really hard on this. If you've any ideas or want to be part of the team for the new Spoke then join us on facebook or bebo, or PM me.

Thanks.

redenemyjoe

Where do I sign?!

brianthebard

Its all been promised before. The first issue will be good (perhaps) and then reality will hit and you'll find out how hard it is to do a paper, and how hard it is to get any submissions never mind quality ones. But I'll let you find that out for yourself.

banquo

Brian,

Believe me, I know how hard it is to get submissions, and quality ones at that. But a good editor can revise bad language into a good article - that's what I did at the MMG, and that's what I'll do at The Spoke.

*Rob

Aldebaran

Yes we can!

banquo

Heh. Though cliched, I applaud the sentiment.

PrivateEye

I freaked a little in the thread on the canteen workers, but I actually think your ideas for The Spoke are very good mate. It needs a mega-revamp and the current magazine is falling behind what I consider topclass student journalism from both DCU and the great unwashed out in Belfield. Student journalism can be very good if it remains independent, doesn't become merely a 'Heres what the S.U/N.U.I Bosses did this week' rundown.

Both Vincent Browne and Flann O' Brien began their writing days with student magazines. I've picked up a few student magazines/newspapers from around Europe through different Lib.Soc/Anarchist societies and the standards seem very high compared to at home truthfully. A diversity of opinion is essential, and its important the issues remain relevant to the student body- even beond the walls of their own campus. If I wanted a magazine with Obama on the front, I'd buy Time. Whereas the UCD paper has pushed the President out there on issues of college fianances before, we have the President of the U.S on the front of our paper, which is irrelevant at best to us as students.

At the minute, something on:
*Claiming social welfare for the first time if you're just out of work, how to deal with the loss of your income etc.

*Students in Europe who are protesting similar education cuts etc. to here, an interview for example.

Would be interesting.

http://www.universityobserver.ie/section/news/
^The best student paper in Ireland (that I've read!) at the minute.

You've a bit of ambition for it mate, best of luck. I think R.Duffys done a good job with the magazine in so far as is possible without any radical change, and I don't think The Spoke as is is terrible. It just needs new direction. Some features of it, like the Canteen Cor. are actually fantastic and worth picking up a copy for. Theres nothing stopping me submitting articles to the paper as is, so I don't want to insult anyone who does submit pieces.


**People who've been around longer than me: Was there another student newspaper? If so...what happened? and to banquo...would you not consider starting another publication altogether?

banquo

PrivateEye wrote: »

to banquo...would you not consider starting another publication altogether?

PrivateEye,

We considered this, and we figured that if the demand was there for an NUIM publication built on the fundamentals that The Spoke was missing, then that publication had might as well be The Spoke itself. A new newspaper would almost certainly need to charge to pay for itself, when we already pay for The Spoke out of our registration fee.

LightningBolt

• Job Ads. Every month before we go to the press, we'll send a scout to Maynooth, Leixlip, Clane, Celbridge and all neighbour towns to look for 'Staff Wanted' ads. We'll scan newspapers and websites for jobs posted, and every job we find we'll bring to you in The Spoke

I think most of what you've said is spot on. However I'd leave out the jobs section on a print format. If you're doing a one month lead in you're gonna have outdated jobs. If possible stick em up online, there's a guy here on boards who advertises student jobs. Maybe look to have them posted there.

Hand_Of_Steel

I'll leave aside the fact that you completely ignore 50% of the portfolio you are running for, (which I presume means that there will be no campaigns if you are elected) and offer you a piece of advice.
If you want to make a real change to the spoke, then outsource its production. Its the production that takes up the most time, as it is a very technical job with strict criterion that have to be met. It requires somebody with technical ability and skill to produce a paper that is both technically acceptable and aesthetically pleasing, skills that most students in NUIM do not have and do not learn in their course, and the in job training(aka the adobe creative suit in a day) doesn't really help. Journalism Does Not Equal Publications. You cannot expect the people that follow after you to have the skills you might have, or learned. Make the move that will streamline The Spoke well into the future.
Move the production would also mean that you have a quality product and you free up time to produce even better campaigns (maybe you should look into them. Kind of important. Might look a bit foolish at hustings).
And remember, the position is for communications, not editor. Don't limit yourself to The Spoke. And don't be afraid to redefine the position by creating new ways of communication

and a critism

I’ll be reinvesting my first month’s wages back into The Spoke to pay for all the changes we need"
This is redicilus enough to make me not vote for you.

Ostrom

If you follow through on this, the college will thank you. I'm sorry to say that I have heard every promise going over the last five years, so I hope you do.

Also, I recommend getting in touch with DCU. They have an active society, (I know they have a dedicated journalism degree, but many of the contributors are from different faculties and courses).

They run it like a proper newsroom with sub-editors and proper sponsorship, and publish good critical pieces.

No harm having a word with them, I had some of them this semester and they are a great bunch

banquo

LightningBolt wrote: »

I think most of what you've said is spot on. However I'd leave out the jobs section on a print format. If you're doing a one month lead in you're gonna have outdated jobs. If possible stick em up online, there's a guy here on boards who advertises student jobs. Maybe look to have them posted there.

These and other features will be part of the SU's online presence. We hope to make it a go-to place for strictly student oriented jobs, ads, etc.

banquo

efla wrote: »

Change it back to good ol' bog roll newspaper and you have my support

Our new Spoke newspaper will be printed on recycled - and recyclable! - paper.

banquo

We now have a blog, at letsfixthespoke.blogspot.com.

More ideas to come, and you'll find them there, bebo and on facebook.

*Rob

*Tripper*

Banquo don't take this to personally but that blog was written terribly. Your not going to be successful in you campaign for comms if you don't write more clearly and concisely.

Effluo

Hurrah!

The spoke right now is best left unheard....
And i would welcome any kind of change, I believe we should offer our support to anyone who shows the inititive to change this paper. We should offer support rather than say how difficult it will be to change it.

GodSpeed Robert "Obama" Munnelly.
Seriously though you would have my vote if indeed I knew how to vote!

banquo

Voting day for this an all other positions is 25th Feb (I'm sure someone from the SU will post the details here)

Edit:

Actually, they probably won't. I'll put up a link here to the NUIMSE.com election page when it comes to election time.

banquo

Effluo wrote: »

Hurrah!

The spoke right now is best left unheard....
And i would welcome any kind of change, I believe we should offer our support to anyone who shows the inititive to change this paper. We should offer support rather than say how difficult it will be to change it.

GodSpeed Robert "Obama" Munnelly.
Seriously though you would have my vote if indeed I knew how to vote!

Thank you, Effluo. It means a lot to me that there are people out there who agree that an award-winning university deserves an award-winning newspaper.

cython

Some good ideas there alright, but I don't think there's much that we haven't been promised before, and then had disappear once the Exec got into office, or once the VP C&D realised how much it would take to deliver on every promise. In fact some of those appeared in the first couple of issues of the Spoke in some years, and then disappeared.

Call me jaded/cynical/whatever, but I'd like to see a bit more of an implementation plan before you'd win my vote. Candidates promising the earth, without fully thinking out the delivery, while it has gotten people elected in the past, has also resulted in people's low opinion of the SU, at least in part.

LeixlipRed

I'd rather listen to the Radiohead song electioneering than pay attention to some of the guff in this thread. Also, I can't vote anymore. Ignore this post...

conf101

I admire your desire to improve the spoke but as has already been said alot of this stuff has been promised before and then once the vp's get into office it doesn't happen! Also I know from previous elections that being overly critical of the current spoke/vp c&d doesn't sit too well with alot of students, particularly ones that tend to vote in elections. I'm not suggesting that you shower praise where it's undeserving but just be careful what you say.

heartwork93

I'd like to see more of a political input into the spoke. The articles on the US presidential election is all good on a global scale but I'd like to see more Irish issues in there.

And I'd like to see both sides of the story. Might I suggest recruiting two political analysts, one left wing, one right wing, each with a broad understanding of the spectrum.
Each month they would write small, easy to read, debate inspired articles on their opposing opinions on topics like the recession, government corruption, Northern Ireland, etc. Each topic would be chosen in light of recent events, so as to draw more attention.
A poll can be held online (bebo) over which article people preferred, and the results are displayed in the next month's newspaper.
And it can be given a real hardcore debating theme, like a head-to-head boxing match poster. Both of the writers would have their own visual banner or something. I dunno. Could give in a bit of an exciting feel to it, even if it's just to draw people's heads away from mind-numbing reality television.
During the boom, people's belly's were full, but their minds were empty. Now the recession has arrived people might actually take an interest in this government again.

Just my two pennies.



On an entirely different note, how about making an ad for The Spoke and put it on Youtube? Its' kind of sad to see no professional videos of Maynooth on the 'tube.

theredletter

You're ideas for the Spoke seem good but you are totally forgetting the other half of your job which is development. The fact that nothing regarding development is in your manifesto worries me. The Comms and Dev Officer has to do more than act as a communications man, but help out at various committess (including Union Council).

I'm open to voting for you as I haven't made my mind up as of yet, so try to satisfy what your position is (look in the constitution if you have to) before you campaign.

And you won't get any good articles. Rewriting them entirely is the only way you'll get good writers in Maynooth. Media studies students are the closest thing to journalists, but they don't do any actual text journalism in their course.

That month's wage deal sounds desperate to be honest. If you want to go down that road, I'd suggest giving out a sample Spoke (get it printed yourself) with an original title and have your manifesto in it. Just a thought.

Good luck.

banquo

Redletter (and others),

I see the point you're making, and you're right to make it. Our manifesto for The Spoke is just that - for The Spoke.

Let me address your concerns in order:

1) Development.

I'm aware that most of the VP's time is attending events. Everyone says we need to overhaul the class rep system, but nobody seems to have any good ideas. I'm not gonna bullsh1t you and say I've some magic solution, or that "I'll fix the class rep system" but not mention any details. I'm open to ideas.

Regarding campaigns, I don't want to announce a bunch of ill-conceived campaigns for the sake of it. I'm still deciding what to go with. I'll give you an example.

Suicide. It's a big deal, we all know it. But it's different for boys and girls. I didn't see anything in previous mental health weeks that targeted or addressed the real issues behind either, especially young male suicide. So you'll see some improvements there.

Things that students know and look forward to - things we know that work, like Shag Week - will still happen.

In addition, the following:

*SU events will be advertised 2 weeks in advance, minimum.
*Revamp the noticeboard system, and install more noticeboards.
*Lobby for the PACR and ARTS block PCs to turn off at 10:50pm instead of just ten.
*Lobby for normal plugins and updated browsers (I'm an Iron user myself) on all college computers.
*Instead of having 3 cards (student and 2 types of printing cards), I'll lobby for a single student card that can be used for printing in library and arts block.

2) Good writers.

I'll tell you the stories of two of my friends.

One has been writing for a Dublin based music magazine for over a year, and is a sub-editor of the interviews section of www.cluas.com. The other has worked for the sports section of The Western People (writing weekly and sub-editing) for over two years. Both aspire to succeed as journalists, but neither will write for The Spoke. "I wouldn't write for that piece of crap", said one, and "take no steps backwards" cautioned the other. Their words, not mine.

I'll be honest. I'm a prose snob. They're good writers.

It seems we both want students to get involved in their university newspaper. Let's make ethos the incentive. How? I believe the best start is with a professional look.

As sans said to serif, "Evolve already" - I make no apologies for being a typophile

We'll also get students involved by turning it into a newspaper that makes students say 'That's really useful, I didn't know that', and look forward to the next issue.

3) The month's wage.

This will pay for a decent web designer, amongst other things. If it turns out to be a silly idea, then I'm only happy to keep the cash. But if we want to introduce something that improves communication or development but don't have the cash, then this will help.

4) The sample Spoke.

Yeah, I'm still undecided about the finer details of the format. For the body font I'm thinking News 702 (think International Herald Tribune and Frankfurt Allemaigne), with 1.4pt leading and a decent gutter. But I've a thesis to do too

I was talking to Leona Nally - former great editor of The Spoke - and she assures me that I can use a mac for inDesign if I'm elected, which is fantastic.

By this time next week you'll find my full manifesto posted around campus.

I'm happy to answer any further questions and concerns.

banquo

heartwork93 wrote: »

I'd like to see more of a political input into the spoke. The articles on the US presidential election is all good on a global scale but I'd like to see more Irish issues in there.

And I'd like to see both sides of the story. Might I suggest recruiting two political analysts, one left wing, one right wing, each with a broad understanding of the spectrum.
Each month they would write small, easy to read, debate inspired articles on their opposing opinions on topics like the recession, government corruption, Northern Ireland, etc. Each topic would be chosen in light of recent events, so as to draw more attention.
A poll can be held online (bebo) over which article people preferred, and the results are displayed in the next month's newspaper.
And it can be given a real hardcore debating theme, like a head-to-head boxing match poster. Both of the writers would have their own visual banner or something. I dunno. Could give in a bit of an exciting feel to it, even if it's just to draw people's heads away from mind-numbing reality television.
During the boom, people's belly's were full, but their minds were empty. Now the recession has arrived people might actually take an interest in this government again.

All good ideas. If I win, it's in.

LittleKitty

have to say, like the manifessto. its clever and well written, but it seems to be all about the spoke. Surely the VP comms and Dev is a bit more then the publication. what about class reps? class rep attendance is at an all time low, You will probably have noticed that if your a rep yourself. what are you going to do about it?
I dont see why it is a good idea to put down the person you are running against ether. Its not a very fair thing. afaik, the current vp comms is the editor of the spoke and eoin byrne is finance officer, so i dont think it is his "turd".
As for the campaign on suicide, I think thats a brilliant idea, its really something that needs to talked about and services provided for. Dont know how you can sell it to the student body, but fair play to you for tackleing it.

banquo

How do, LittleKitty If elected, I will see to it that you will no longer have to sleep in a drawer.

You've raised some good points, and I'm only to happen to address them.

LittleKitty wrote: »

what about class reps? class rep attendance is at an all time low, You will probably have noticed that if your a rep yourself. what are you going to do about it?

Straightforward issues are the biggest problems tbh. BMus has no class rep, for example, because no one ever came to our class and said 'There's such things as class reps, you need one, who's up for it?'

We also need to ask why it's at an all time low. I think it's at an all time low for the same reason The Spoke is - because of how little we've come to expect. My little brother is first year rep in DIT, and they had a rep party weekend down in Galway last October. Think he'll ever miss a meeting?

LittleKitty wrote: »

I dont see why it is a good idea to put down the person you are running against ether. Its not a very fair thing. afaik, the current vp comms is the editor of the spoke and eoin byrne is finance officer, so i dont think it is his "turd".

Because I don't think he'll fix The Spoke, or the class rep system, or run a campaign that really explores what students want and need. Simple as that. From what I hear he's been a first class ents officer, and I respect him for it. But it wasn't until I read his manifesto that I decided to run for the position.

In his manifesto he cites his recent experience as an editor for The Spoke as what he 'brings to the table', so to speak.

By 'can't polish a turd' I meant that the fundamentals of The Spoke have to change, and that it won't become a decent publication with tweaks and small changes my opponent proposes. And if someone is running with a lightweight manifesto - short on details and lacking all ambition for the university - then I honestly think it's perfectly fair to call them on it.

He's not a bad guy, I don't mean to put him down. If it appears that way then I'll certainly remove that line from the manifesto.

LittleKitty wrote: »

As for the campaign on suicide, I think thats a brilliant idea, its really something that needs to talked about and services provided for. Dont know how you can sell it to the student body, but fair play to you for tackleing it.

I'm working on the male side of things. If you would like to help out in a big way then I'm open to ideas about how to address depression and suicide amongst girls and women. I think it'd be irresponsible for me (a male) to do it.

Finally, the reason that the manifesto is all about The Spoke is because it's the main area where my opponent and I differ. Whoever is elected will have to spend loads of time attending gigs and events, etc, but we have radical differences in policy when it comes to ambition for The Spoke and how seriously we take the campaigns.

For development, we need to fix some of the stupid things:

*SU events will be advertised 2 weeks in advance, minimum - not a week late, as with the Comedy Soc fiasco.
*Revamp the noticeboard system, and install more noticeboards.
*Lobby to be able to print from your own laptops in the library
*Lobby for the PACR and ARTS block PCs to turn off at 10:50pm instead of just ten.
*Lobby for normal plugins and updated browsers (I'm an Iron user myself) on all college computers.
*Instead of having 3 cards (student and 2 types of printing cards), I'll lobby for a single student card that can be used for printing in library and arts block.

In the interest of fairness, the other guy's full manifesto is HERE

I've been too busy in the past to go out as much as I - or my girlfriend, also in college here - would have liked to. And if we're going to really push for these and other changes then then we need every single vote we can get.

Thanks LittleKitty

*Rob Munnelly

Hynzie

banquo wrote: »

How do, LittleKitty

For development, we need to fix some of the stupid things:

*SU events will be advertised 2 weeks in advance, minimum - not a week late, as with the Comedy Soc fiasco.
*Revamp the noticeboard system, and install more noticeboards.
*Lobby to be able to print from your own laptops in the library
*Lobby for the PACR and ARTS block PCs to turn off at 10:50pm instead of just ten.
*Lobby for normal plugins and updated browsers (I'm an Iron user myself) on all college computers.
*Instead of having 3 cards (student and 2 types of printing cards), I'll lobby for a single student card that can be used for printing in library and arts block.

These seem to me the things we need to change first. Its stupid that these are still problems and that the other guy hasn't even metioned them in his manifesto. Does he not go to the same college we do?

Great to see practical wisdom prevailing at last. You've got my vote.

LittleKitty

banquo wrote: »

Straightforward issues are the biggest problems tbh. BMus has no class rep, for example, because no one ever came to our class and said 'There's such things as class reps, you need one, who's up for it?'

We also need to ask why it's at an all time low. I think it's at an all time low for the same reason The Spoke is - because of how little we've come to expect. My little brother is first year rep in DIT, and they had a rep party weekend down in Galway last October. Think he'll ever miss a meeting?

The class rep problem is a straight forward problem. With no class reps, theres no proper link to the student body. With no student body to support you, the SU become ineffective. In the past nobody came to my classes and asked who wants to be a rep, I got a form from the SU, like was advertised. I think ,uch of the reason it is at an all time low is the huge amount of people commuting to college and in many cases the amount of pressure for first years to compete, I know for may doing things like psycology the pressure is massive, and for things like science 3 hour block labs are so draining. I agree though that officers should go to classes and get reps, but in many cases time is an issue.
Although to be honest, that Rep Party thing is a genius idea.
As for the spoke being at an all time low, I wouldnt say that, I have seen it a hell of a lot worse.

cython

banquo wrote: »

For development, we need to fix some of the stupid things:

*SU events will be advertised 2 weeks in advance, minimum - not a week late, as with the Comedy Soc fiasco.
*Revamp the noticeboard system, and install more noticeboards.

Promised to death at this stage. Any idea on where you're going to put the noticeboards? Because that would be more concrete than the previous promises, and might lend some weight/credence to it

*Lobby to be able to print from your own laptops in the library

Not trying to be cynical here, but you will very likely just be lobbying, and nothing more. The computer centre want to keep student laptops as separate from their own kit as possible

*Lobby for the PACR and ARTS block PCs to turn off at 10:50pm instead of just ten.

Most feasible of the computer ideas, and not a bad one.

*Lobby for normal plugins and updated browsers (I'm an Iron user myself) on all college computers.

Not a bad idea, but define "normal plugins"? I'd call IE-tab for firefox a normal plugin in my use, but most people wouldn't. That's why they're plugins, and not core functionality. As for the browsers, well you might get additional ones, but only if you can demonstrate that there is a wide enough user base to warrant it. Otherwise everyone with a minority preference will want theirs installed too. I'm not sure what you mean by "updated" though. As in that the installations are always running the latest version? Or do you simply regard Iron as more up to date than Firefox

*Instead of having 3 cards (student and 2 types of printing cards), I'll lobby for a single student card that can be used for printing in library and arts block.

Not a bad idea either, but I'm not sure about attainability. As an example, the Library and the SU use the same sort of photocopying cards, but to the best of my knowledge, cards from either place can't be used in the other. Would it not be a good start to see about rectifying that? It would be a simple initial step

A lot of your promises and/or proposed lobbies strike me as quite naive. It's all well and good to ask and lobby for all these things, but realistically speaking only a certain amount can be attained, and I would have a lot more faith in a candidate with some appreciation of what's involved in his proposals, than one who seems to blindly and naively promise such things. If nothing else, it might go towards getting one concerted lobby fulfilled, rather than running loads of unattainable lobbies.

banquo

Interenet Explorer 6 is not the latest version, and both it and Firefox are way too slow sending PDFs to the printer. So we can install Chrome, which in my experience is lightning fast at it.

Regarding the printing cards, I know for a fact that the cards with the chip are costing the college money because people don't hang on to them. It's dead easy to put a printing chip into a student card.

Regarding naivete, I'm aware of what the job entails - especially after spending an afternoon with Leona Nally. I'm an inDesign and typography nerd, so I won't need any on the job training.

I agree with you Cython that some of these things will be difficult to achieve. But challenging as these things are it's the smallness of our expectations that bothers me the most.

And regarding things having been 'promised to death,' - if you want to see them, come help us out. Because it's the only way it's gonna happen.

Twigster

Taken From another thread...

banquo wrote: »

I hate this place.

I'm not joking. I do music and the standard is a bunch of crap. I feel totally taken in by the prospectus.

In 3 years I have learned nothing. Not from not paying attention, I mean they're still telling us to "remember to include the *3rd* of the chord, that's very important..."

I shall never return. Even though I'll still be living in Maynooth I won't take the shortcut to town through the college.

A terrible place.

If you hate the place so much why are you so interested in getting elected.

ScissorPaperRock

Twigster wrote: »

Taken From another thread...



If you hate the place so much why are you so interested in getting elected.

Yeah!

r3nu4l

Twigster wrote: »

Taken From another thread...

If you hate the place so much why are you so interested in getting elected.

Link.

I know you'll tell us that you want to be elected because you are frustrated with the way NUIM works and you want to effect real change. I'm sure too that some gullible eejits will believe you :pac:

As for your ideas for the Spoke. They do sound very promising. I like them. The problem is that I heard some very similar ideas every year between 1992 and 2004. I spent many years at NUIM (student and staff) and as long as there has been a student rag (there was once two competing newspapers!!), there have been people saying they could do it better. When they took over, they did make some changes but nothing amazing.

What funding is in place to make these changes?
You mentioned using InDesign, how familiar are you or the production staff with the software?
How familiar are you and your staff with design and layout?
Who is doing the printing?
What will it cost?
What are the timelines for each issue?
Are they realistic?

I ask because I'm an Editorial Director at a MedCmms agency and I know that it takes talent to make a newsletter/newspaper come good. It can be done but on a part-time basis it can be very time consuming and costly.

Most of my questions are rhetorical but you do need to make sure you have those basic answers and some back-up plans for when things go badly wrong...as they often do

Either way good luck with:
a) explaining why you should be elected when you hate NUIM
b) making real and effective change

banquo

And we're off!

r3nu4l wrote: »

Link.
As for your ideas for the Spoke. They do sound very promising. I like them. The problem is that I heard some very similar ideas every year between 1992 and 2004. I spent many years at NUIM (student and staff) and as long as there has been a student rag (there was once two competing newspapers!!), there have been people saying they could do it better. When they took over, they did make some changes but nothing amazing.

The biggest problem is the lack of involvement from students. I'll tell you the stories of two of my friends.

One has been writing for a Dublin based music magasine for over a year, and is a sub-editor of the interviews section of www.cluas.com. The other has worked for the sports section of The Western People (writing weekly and sub-editing) for over two years. Both aspire to succeed as journalists, but neither will write for The Spoke. "I wouldn't write for that piece of crap", said one, and "take no steps backwards" cautioned the other. Their words, not mine.

It seems we both want students to get involved in their university newspaper. Let's make ethos the incentive. How? I believe the best start is with a professional look.

As sans said to serif, "Evolve already" - I make no apologies for being a typophile

We'll also get students involved by turning it into a newspaper that makes students say 'That's really useful, I didn't know that', and look forward to the next issue.

r3nu4l wrote: »

Link.
What funding is in place to make these changes?
You mentioned using InDesign, how familiar are you or the production staff with the software?
How familiar are you and your staff with design and layout?
Who is doing the printing?
What will it cost?
What are the timelines for each issue?
Are they realistic?

1) Funding

Almost none of the changes requires extra cash. The only part that might cost anything extra is outsourcing the website (I have some skills, as you can tell from my blog), but it wouldn't hurt to get someone real in.

That's the main reason I said I'll give my first month's wages back. I don't really need the cash from this job, I earn plenty already between teaching advanced music theory and writing.

Also, it'll be a newspaper, which is cheaper again. Furthermore, it'll be monthly instead of fortnightly. With a fortnightly paper, it gets filled up with crap IMHO.

2) I don't know how familiar the production staff are, but I know my way around it very well.

3) Design and Layout.

For The Spoke, I'm dabbling with the idea of using News 702 as the main body text, and a decent gutter and leading. Der Frankfurter Allemaigne uses a similar layout and it is a gorgeous newspaper. Even if (like me) you don't speak German, it's still a pleasure to look at.

r3nu4l wrote: »

Link.
I ask because I'm an Editorial Director at a MedCmms agency and I know that it takes talent to make a newsletter/newspaper come good. It can be done but on a part-time basis it can be very time consuming and costly.

And a part time basis is what this job is. You spend so much of your time running around looking after ents that you don't get nearly as much time as you'd like to work on the Mag. But because I'm a bit of an inDesign wiz/nerd it won'y be nearly as compromising for me to put it together in a practical, commonsense way as it would for somebody learning as they go along. Hit the ground running, as they say.

When I started with the MMG it was a new fortnightly magazine, and the deadlines were murder but we always got it out on time. It now has a circulation of nearly 30,000.

r3nu4l wrote: »

Link.
Most of my questions are rhetorical but you do need to make sure you have those basic answers and some back-up plans for when things go badly wrong...as they often do

Oh, things can go very wrong. We hired this sub editor for MMG who would just delete all surplus submissions when it went to print, even if they could have been used in the next issue. *Rage*

r3nu4l wrote: »

Link.
Either way good luck with:
a) explaining why you should be elected when you hate NUIM
b) making real and effective change

I don't hate everything, just the Music Department for its painfully low expectations. I would call almost every student I know here my friend, but friends are honest with each other. I've been a student here for three years and I've found something I can fix.

I think it's a shame that these promises and promises like them have been made so many times before to no avail. I have no illusions about this. Implementing this manifesto is not difficult when you know what you're doing. I'm not promising these things in an armchair "I could do that better" kinda way.

So if you think that the job should go to someone who:

A) Knows the software
Does it professionally in a real-world-knows-they-can't-be-lazy-not-Eircom way
c) Has listed all the realistic changes they and others think students deserve after paying for it

Then I ask for your vote.

In the interest of balance, the other guy's manifesto is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47111332171&ref=mf

And thanks for the encouragement

Twigster

banquo wrote: »

I don't hate everything, just the Music Department for its painfully low expectations.

That's a very big turnaround from "I hate this place" and also "I wouldn't take a shortcut through the place".

Even if it is only the music department you detest, how can you justify people voting for you as VP communications when you are basicly saying that you did not communicate your sentiments accurately, I just think that would be an interesting concept, a VP communications who can't communicate.

Just in case you think this is a personal vendetta against yourself, I do think you have the better manifesto than the other dude, but I didn't catch him on the internet broadcasting that he hated the place.

cython

That's the main reason I said I'll give my first month's wages back. I don't really need the cash from this job, I earn plenty already between teaching advanced music theory and writing.

Ok, I have a big problem with this! I personally know 2 people very well who have done this job in the past (lived with one of them while he was in office), and they barely had the time to get all of the VP duties covered, never mind trying to do more on the side as an extra earner. If you continue on with that, I can see the job suffering, and if you don't, then the wages will become an issue quickly enough

I have other things that didn't jump out of that post as strongly, but I don't have the time to go into them. This just screamed though

Pen1987

Slightly butting-in here but I feel its warranted.

As someone who edits a college newspaper for a college far smaller than NUIM I'm telling you that you're highly unlikely to be able to achieve that big a revamp of The Spoke in the space of a year. Even if you managed it in 3 years you'd be doing well.

I'll be honest, you're right The Spoke is fairly bad (many of my friends would be in NUIM and involved in the unions and I make it my business to read all the other student publications so get TS quite often). But as far as I know it's a one-man-show and that one man is running it as an aside to he own studies. Or has he taken a year out to be VP Comms? Even so, he role is not specifically "Editor of The Spoke". Correct me if I'm wrong.

You cited DCU's paper as an example. Yes, it's an excellent paper but there's a staff of almost 30 working on it, the layout and design team alone is 5-strong as far as I know. How big is your team going to be?

Keep in mind, The Spoke is a monthly - or at least it will be if you're elected, no?

DCU's paper is bi-monthly (I think, definitely not more regular than monthly anyway). *breath* Are you saying you want to produce something monthly with a skeleton staff and 0 actual pure journalism students that will be of the same or almost the same standard that DCU are producing only every second month with 35 staff many of whom are journalism students or studying in course very closely related to the field of newspaper journalism?

Sorry mate, if you are, you're completely underestimating how much work will be involved. Even collating that "jobs vacancies" thing you mentioned will take far more work than you expect. It's not the 2-hours-of-ringing-around-businesses-in-a-few-towns job that you might expect it to be.

You say you've worked in professional publications before, so have I and believe me, professional media work and working in the student media are two utterly different things.

To produce a decent magazine that's not choc-full of adverts every month with a semi decent layout and design and so OK content you'd need 10 full-time (non-studying/year out) students, or 35 part-time and 3 full-time. That's not even taking into account a website or the forum that you're suggesting. The website itself would require a specific part-time person who is highly, highly dedicated or half the time of a full-time staffer (meaning you'd need more part-time staff) it's not a simple as "stick it into wordpress and schedule to be posted at midnight".

banquo

cython wrote: »

Ok, I have a big problem with this! I personally know 2 people very well who have done this job in the past (lived with one of them while he was in office), and they barely had the time to get all of the VP duties covered, never mind trying to do more on the side as an extra earner.

I see what your saying about not being dedicated, but I work one just day a week and it pays my rent, food and hobbies.

If it did begin to interfere with the job, then I'd drop it and pick it up again when out of office.

I won't be writing for anyone else if I get it either.

Pen1987 wrote:

to produce something monthly with a skeleton staff and 0 actual pure journalism students

Better than a fortnightly paper with a skeleton staff from someone with no real world experience (that I know of) IMHO

Also, even though we don't have a journalism course, we do have some serious journalists who happen to be students here who'd love to work with The Spoke but won't touch it as it is. And that's what we have to change first.

At the very least, we're going to try. It takes only an afternoon to stroll around the different businesses in Maynooth to get the info on jobs and sales. The Buy-and-Sell section will be an online entity and we'll print it as-is on the day every month.

And though the job is not just 'Editor of The Spoke', it's one of the few points where my opponent and I differ. Most of the time we'll be running around attending events. For the development side of things, I've outlined some of the things we'll try to fix.

twigster wrote:

That's a very big turnaround from "I hate this place" and also "I wouldn't take a shortcut through the place".

Even if it is only the music department you detest, how can you justify people voting for you as VP communications when you are basicly saying that you did not communicate your sentiments accurately, I just think that would be an interesting concept, a VP communications who can't communicate.

Just in case you think this is a personal vendetta against yourself, I do think you have the better manifesto than the other dude, but I didn't catch him on the internet broadcasting that he hated the place.

Talk about an old general fighting yesterday's war.

You know what I hated about the place Twigster? Low expectations.

You think if I really hated this place that I'd be running under the banner of ""Let's Fix"? I've got a pretty good CV as it is.

I had to pay for first year (e7,200) and food and rent every year since. That meant working full time 35 hours a week (5 days) in Tesco, and saturdays teaching and sundays playing piano in churches. Because I couldn't hand up that many assignments, I had to pass most of my 1st and 2nd year modules by exam only. For this reason I couldn't take as big a role in SU politics as I would have liked but still in three years I've taken every opportunity I had to fix things. Maybe you've seen my thread on moodle: https://moodle.nuim.ie/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=15474

What have you done? Point out to me one achievement or one good idea. What do you think could be improved? How would you do it?

But those questions are irrelevant, because it seems to me that you would rather argue on the internet than share an idea. Maybe you think our 7,000+ students will somehow benefit when nobody even tries to improve things. You can try as hard as you like to make a better past but in the end that's just nostalgia, not foresight.

And as much as I'd love to spend time responding to a poster who appeared on boards.ie 21 days before the election and spent half his time digging up my old posts, and who's first post was one attacking me - the offending one has since also been posted on my facebook page within minutes of being posted here, nice agenda dude - and try to bring these ideas down rather than lifting the college up, I have a newspaper to make decent for those who pay for it, a class rep system to fix, and a campaign to win to make sure it all happens.

So if you want to help, come help.

Pen1987

Fairly selective quoting there.

Even producing a magazine once a month is a big undertaking with a team of experienced organised journalism students. That's without taking into account the skeleton staff or the fact none of them would be journalism students.

You might think that the "serious journalists" in NUIM would love to work for The Spoke but would they? What does it give them? It hardly has a good reputation with employers, I wouldn't put it on my CV if I was applying for a reporting job right now, put it that way. Changing a future employers perception of your experience is a far longer undertaking than changing the The Spoke. Even then they wouldn't even be able to put "Editor of The New Revitalised Super Spoke" on the page, career-wise a "serious journalist" in NUIM looking for something impressive for their CV would be far better off launching a competitor than joining The Spoke with its average repuation in the media (and in NUIM).

I really don't think you realise just how outlandish what you're suggesting is - if you've to stick to that twice-monthly schedule (which is probable because you don't own the publication) it completely crazy.

Anyway, best of luck with it.

Hynzie

banquo wrote: »

a poster who appeared on boards.ie 21 days before the election and spent half his time digging up my old posts, and who's first post was one attacking me - the offending one has since also been posted on my facebook page within minutes of being posted here

Whow man! i checked out the post your facebook page and its weirdly similar to the one here.

Twigster, whatever credibility you had in this conversation is now completely gone. In my opinion people like you are whats wrong with this college. You have nothing meaningful to add so you just go around stirring sh1t. You said that banquo had a better manifesto so why are you attacking him personally?

Lets be honest Maynooth has a'lot of problems so why wouldn't you want someone who is dissatisfied with the place? Would you rather another SU insider who'l collect a pay check thats comprised of OUR MONEY all the while fixing nothing. Have you ever read the spoke?? Ive been a student here for three years, and iv'e never been satisfied with the spoke or the SU for that matter. Why do I feel like most of the SU officials are using there positions to get bar ex tickets instead of improving OUR college? Why when I read the spoke do I have to read about some SU writers night out in the roost or some crap. Most of all WHY AM I PAYING FOR THIS?

I don't care if Banquo doesn't like Maynooth. All I care about is that his manifesto is far superior to the other guys, and thats why hes getting my vote. But Twigster, if you want to read about how drunk some SU official got in the roost last Thursday night or some similar crap continue to focus on the small negatives instead of the huge positives of this campaign.

Twigster

banquo wrote: »

You know what I hated about the place Twigster? Low expectations.


What have you done? Point out to me one achievement or one good idea. What do you think could be improved? How would you do it?

I have a newspaper to make decent for those who pay for it, a class rep system to fix, and a campaign to win to make sure it all happens.

Hynzie wrote: »

Twigster, whatever credibility you had in this conversation is now completely gone.

I spent 6 years in maynooth and loved the place. I am no longer there. In that time I was involved with clubs societies and the students union as an exec. That is why i take offence to someone saying that they hate the place but still wanting to take the extra year there cos it'll look good on a CV. Tell me this, is the spoke a voluntary newspaper, can people volunteer to work on the paper? I think yes. Then why havnt you been working to improve the paper all along, and if involved with the spoke what efforts have you made? What have you been involved in within the SU? I know a lot of people who had to work through college but still managed to get involved.

I have made no personal attacks on anyone here, I have attacked statements made by you in a public arena, it is the same as what would happen anyone running for election for any position, what you say gets scrutinised. And yes I did only become a member here after I had read through a couple of threads, but only to point out the idiocy of your posts. If you do somehow manage to get elected, you will be criticised all round by people who think you are not doing a good job, will you be able to handle that or will you try to dismantle their arguments by saying, "sure you're only new here your opinion can't be right". As for your facebook page, I was not the one to post on that, is it possible that there are other people on Boards that are in Maynooth?

Beau

Robert you got my vote.

You always hear successful people say that when they started off people always told them the couldn't do it. Go for it man, I really hope you can do it.

You came into one of my lectures the other day, you spoke well but you didn't say who you were again at the end. I'd say people forgot your name after only hearing it once!