Author: Patricia Barrett

  • When the levee breaks, go with the flow

    When the levee breaks, go with the flow

    When you’re a digital journalist, be prepared to work anywhere. And anywhere can be a lecture theatre in a local college when floodwaters inch up an incline towards your broadcasting station and threaten to swamp it. “It was the most unorthodox thing I’ve experienced,” said Amanda Connolly, referring to the makeshift newsroom she and other…

  • Fast Forward

    Fast Forward

    From the observation deck above one of the rinks in the Western Fair Sports Complex they look like small boys. They seem to move slowly, as though they’re breaking in new skates. Down on the bench, though, where you can feel the cold bite of the ice and watch them zip by, it’s a different…

  • Facebook: a substitute for personal service

    Facebook: a substitute for personal service

    Using Facebook to tell your elusive spouse you’ve started divorce proceedings is not about to become the standard method of serving documents, but it’s slowly becoming part of the legal repertoire. “This is the latest evidence that social media is maturing beyond its adolescent, selfies-and-breakfast-pics days,” said Carmi Levy, journalist and technology analyst expert living…

  • London gets set to really clean up

    London gets set to really clean up

    Imagine picking up soggy cigarette butts people carelessly flick to the ground and making a tally of each one. Some Londoners make a habit of it. And they’re willing to collect and count more than just butts. Plastic bags, bottle caps, coffee cups and soda cans also form part of the fun. Each year, they participate in…