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For this week’s internet column, I chatted to Richard Clark of jpeg.org about the jpeg issue - he does think some people *do* need to worry about it, if they have large collections of images. Museums with web sites, photo libraries, all sorts. I’ve got about 2,000 images on gilest.org. Does that count as a large number, I wonder?

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Richard Clark, chairman of the UK committee of the Joint Photographic Experts Group (www.jpeg.org) said that much of the blame lay with the way patents are handled in the US.

“The patent situation is a US generated problem - they allowed much more to be patented in the US but up until now, this sort of patent is much more difficult to enforce in Europe,” he said.

“Sadly, the UK seems to be one of the countries trying to push for a European regime which is closer to that in the US than at present.

“Initially, I am sure patent owners will try and get large payouts from the major suppliers - digital camera manuafacturers or browser software producers (such as Microsoft with Internet Explorer). Indirectly of course, these costs will eventually be passed on to the end consumer.”

But should ordinary people, who post jpeg images on their web sites, worry for the time being?

Richard Clark thinks not.

“I suppose users with very large collections of images - for example, training organisations or museums, may need to be concerned.

“Legal cases to enforce patents are very expensive, and at least in Europe, used generally a last resort. However unless the public express their concern over the increasing effect of, and greed by, patent holding companies, I cannot see the situation changing for the better.

“In my opinion very unlikely to be directly affected, except by an increase in cost of products using jpegs.”

Not that long ago, I wondered whether someone could come up with a simpler way of weblogging

I got an email from Shawn Holwegner about his Rollator PHP script, which lets you create a pretty decent weblog-style page with a simple “admin” link that lets you do everything - create new items, edit old ones, and so on.

Here’s what Shawn told me:

–/

I just happened to stumble upon your page where you’re pontificating upon the complexities of weblogging.

I must say, it’s refreshing to see that kind train of thought - I’ve run into the same issue, myself!

Finding no user-friendly alternative; I’ve opted to toss my own (poor) hat into the ring with ‘Rollator’, an oddly named little PHP script that is comfortable as a simple logger, yet may be extended quite simply with the addition of include files (Or rather, adding a filename to the config).

I don’t have the means to host logs for others, but I’ve tossed the code up as GPL - feel free to give it a run,  it requires a pretty simple SQL table setup, and best of all, there’s basically nothing to do but enter text. The latest testing revision contains HTMLArea 3 support, so GUI text entry and HTML can even be hidden from all but the most savvy users. Pre-rolled entry types create single-page entries, or ‘normal’ news entries. A full contextual search function is available, with archive functions.

/–

Sounds pretty simple to me.

Journalists all have their own preferences and methods when it comes to interviewing people. Anyone who has read any of my WriteTheWeb stories will have noticed that I’m a regular user of email as a means of interviewing people, but I’m aware that this has its drawbacks, and that there are many journos who don’t approve.

Cory Doctorow has just posted some comments about email interviews, and why he doesn’t like doing them, and I can understand all of his objections. I wouldn’t agree, though, that there’s no room for interaction between interviewer and interviewee, but it’s true that finding that interaction is harder by email.

That’s partly why I did my last interview by QuickTopic. OK, so I was interviewing the guy who built QuickTopic, which gave me the idea, but having done it, I think I’ll be using that method again.

It’s better than email because it’s far closer to being a conversation. But, as you can interact with any QuickTopic page via email, it retains the convenience of email as a medium for communication.

Cory advocates face-to-face interviews and of course, that’s by far the best way to do it. But I still think electronic interviews, conducted by mail or by QuickTopic, are a decent alternative, especially when the interviewer and interviewee are on different continents, and even more so when the interviewer is an unpaid volunteer juggling his writing with caring for a baby.

Defensive? Moi?

At least, I think that’s what this is. I’m feeling a bit depressed about the state of my professional work, weighed down with the thought that everything I write is, at best, mediocre.

Combined with this is a struggle to write anything at all. Let me say it now for all aspiring writers and novelists: the romantic idea that you can complete your masterpiece while looking after a baby is *just an idea*. The reality - that BABIES EAT TIME - means that finding the opportunity to sit down and write anything of a meaningful length is almost impossible.

As I type these words Barney is rolling on the floor at my feet, blowing raspberries and making grunting noises. It’s OK for him, that’s a productive use of his time. It’s OK for me, too, because when he’s in this mood I can leave him there for quite a while (as long as 30 minutes) while I type.

Writer’s block is bad when all you can do is sit and look at the screen. It’s worse when, having stared at the screen for a long time, you have to get up with a sigh and go through another round of fresh nappies and spoon feeding. I love my son, I love him to bits, and he means more to me than anything I’ve ever written. But I do wish I could write something too.

It dawned on me like a rock squashing a snail that part of my problem is the pervasive presence of the internet in my daily routine. I find it very hard not to use any spare five minutes to go online and check my mail, and this is one thing that stops me from writing. Picking up the computer usually necessitates checking mail. The two just go together. Mail checked, reading it necessitates clicking a few URLs to see what’s there, and reading stuff. Before I know it, the spare time I had has vanished, and Barney needs me again.

I need to get into some new habits.

1. Pick up the computer and *write*. In a room with no telephone point. Resist the urge to read email. Don’t browse. “I’ve read the internet; it’s rubbish.”

2. Enjoy every moment of my baby’s waking life. When he’s asleep, do other stuff.

3. Write so much that I can afford to throw words away. This is something of a new approach for me. As a journalist at a news wire service like PA, I had to churn out thousands of words every day and almost all of them went straight out on the wire. They all had to be good enough (which is not the same as good, is it?) to be used in that way. It became so ingrained in me that I still write that way, choosing words and phrases and ideas that will be sufficiently OK to be understandable, not necessarily taking the time to devote more thought to the process and choose the best ones. With more words to choose from, I can afford to ditch the less interesting ones and only make public the ones I think are the best.

4. Stop thinking in terms of “writer’s block.” I find myself under enormous pressures in other parts of my life at the moment, and it all seems to gobble up parts of my brain that I used to be able to rely on for inspiration. But I think it would be good to find some way of separating that real-life dullness off from the creative part. How nice it would be to switch from one to the other, like lanes on a motorway.

5. Finding some work would be a good thing, too.