Duncan Stephen

Article — 8 March 2009 — 988 words

Blogging and the future of journalism

Current affairs — Media — Personal — Technology

This week I helped out Peter John Meiklem on a story for the Sunday Herald about the future of journalism. Amid all the job losses in the Scottish media, the piece looks at whether bloggers can step up to the plate and begin to supplant traditional media outlets. My view has long been that blogging […]

Article — 20 February 2009 — 1,090 words

Putting the social into social bookmarking

Technology

Recently, Twitter has very much gone mainstream (at least in the UK). Even for a while before that, Twitter has been becoming more than just a microblogging service. It is certainly about a lot more than the famous prompt, “What are you doing?”, suggests. Twitter is used by different people for a wide variety of […]

Article — 10 February 2009 — 882 words

Social ladder

Business — Personal — Technology

One of the problems with social networking sites is that not everyone is on the same one. Thankfully I don’t find myself having to login to MySpace any more. But I would drop Bebo at a moment’s notice if I could get away with it. Unfortunately, a lot of my friends — particularly those from […]

Article — 31 January 2009 — 820 words

The Designers Republic

Business — Culture — Music

The other day I learnt from my brother that the graphic design company The Designers Republic went out of business earlier this month. My interest in graphic design is not particularly heavy. But the interest I do have in it has all stemmed from my exposure to the work of The Designers Republic. Their work […]

Article — 17 January 2009 — 955 words

Woolworths: Final thoughts and wrapping up

Business — Current affairs

Work: Woolworths

First of all, apologies to anyone who became sick of Woolworths when I published eight posts in a row about it. Anyway, it was good to get it all off my chest, and is at least cheaper than seeing a therapist. When I started writing this series, I thought I was going to end up […]

Article — 15 January 2009 — 1,319 words

Spare part

Business — Current affairs — Personal — Technology

I see that the BBC’s iPM blog is asking for the human stories behind the current unemployment figures. Well, I am a human face of two recent news stories. As readers are no doubt sick of reading by now, one of those stories was the loss of around 27,000 jobs at Woolworths. The other is […]

Article — 14 January 2009 — 1,234 words

The nasty side of human nature

Business — Personal — Social science — Society

Work: Woolworths

The final month or so of working at Woolworths was without doubt the strangest. It was certainly an experience. The bright new posters, along with the masses of media publicity surrounding the problems Woolworths faced, attracted a different kind of customer. As friendly Woolies regulars browsed the aisles, the vultures started circling alongside them. I […]

Article — 13 January 2009 — 993 words

The beginning of the end

Business — Economics — Society

Work: Woolworths

On 5 November, a poster appeared in the staff area at Woolworths. “Remember remember the 5th of November”, it proclaimed. The copy went on to outline how Woolworths would celebrate 100 years on Britian’s High Streets on 5 November 2009, and to look out for the celebrations the company would be having throughout the year. […]

Article — 12 January 2009 — 1,056 words

Identity crisis

Business — Media — Personal — Society

Work: Woolworths

One widespread criticism of Woolworths was that its stores were in bad nick. There’s no question that a lot of buildings were old and hadn’t really been looked after properly. The labyrinthine stockrooms of the Leith store had to be seen to be believed! But I never saw Woolworths stores as particularly drab. What perhaps […]

Article — 11 January 2009 — 1,157 words

The blunder of Woolworths

Business — Personal — Society

Work: Woolworths

By the time I started working for Woolworths, the company was pushing its in-store ordering system big time. In Summer 2006, the Big Red Book was launched to encourage customers to make use of the ordering facility. As sales assistants, we were always encouraged to offer to order any items that weren’t in stock. Unfortunately, […]

Article — 10 January 2009 — 1,194 words

It wasn’t just the credit crunch

Business — Personal — Society

Work: Woolworths

One question that many of my friends have asked me over the past couple of months is, did I see it coming? For many, it was a shock that an institution like Woolworths could even be in mild difficulty, never mind on the brink of going out of business. But the honest answer to their […]

Article — 8 January 2009 — 1,282 words

Woolworths: Childhood memories and adult gripes

Business — Personal — Society

Work: Woolworths

I have felt very sad about the demise of Woolworths ever since the business began to unravel in front of my eyes around two months ago. I was not sad so much because of my job — I was planning on leaving after the Christmas period anyway. I was just sad to see Woolies go […]