The website, FairToAgencyWorkers.org, features news stories, a video channel, labour research reports, documents and resources, and messages of support. Visitors can also register their own support and request legal advice directly through the site.

FairToAgencyWorkers.org is available in 18 different languages, and also offers an RSS feed and Twitter account to enable supporters to follow the campaign on their own terms.

I therefore feel I’m in a good position to write about music in Manchester, and a blog is the best way to do so. Launched in late January 2009, the Hey! Manchester music blog features profiles, news, previews and multimedia – including embedded videos and audio. I also ask artists to contribute unreleased tracks and answers to questions that I pose.

Within a few days of launching the site began gaining subscribers via RSS, email and Twitter, and was featured as the Manchester Evening News’ blog of the week.

These followed similar sessions in October 2007 and January 2008, though this time we also ventured out into the sticks: namely Gorton and Crumpsall libraries.

The first session, at Manchester Digital Development Agency’s Portland Street office, was a ‘blog lab’ where we tackled specific queries from a small group of Manchester bloggers – from how to raise awareness to which platform to use.

For the other two-hour sessions, entitled ‘blogging for beginners’, we presented an overview of blogging. This included everything from selecting a name and subject, applying an appropriate writing style and rights issues, through to registering domains, incorporating visual elements and tips on how to boost readership.

The second half offered the those present the chance to set up or work on existing blogs with our support and advice.

I’m a musician, but not classically trained, so hardly a day goes by when I don’t discover something new about the genre – a real perk of the job. Plus, a lot of my favourite artists fall loosely into the classical sphere: Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Clint Mansell, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Hauschka and Amiina, to name a few.

As a feature writer, I tend to do profile pieces and in-depth guides, particularly on music’s evolving relationship with technology and innovation. Here are a few samples on Muso’s online arm, Musolife.com, which I’m also editor of:

Composing for computer games
Chris horkan asks if video games are killing off the film music stars – and creating opportunities in the process

Denis Patkovic
The German accordionist tells Chris Horkan why he’s intent on establishing his instrument in the classical discipline

The Met: Live in HD
The success of The Met: Live in HD is inspiring opera companies and fans alike. Chris Horkan catches up with the person who conceived it

Christopher Nupen
From Du Prè and Barenboim to Milstein and Perlman, Christopher Nupen has worked with – and befriended – the greats. Chris Horkan meets him

Instant concert recordings
It’s now possible to sell live concert recordings before the audience has even left the building. Chris Horkan discovers how

SliceThePie.com
A website is offering musicians the chance to raise £15,000 in eight weeks. Chris Horkan wonders if the deal’s too good to be true

The University of Leeds
Leeds has a reputation for clubbing and festivals, but is its classical music scene quite so glittering? Chris Horkan visits the University of Leeds

Last.fm
Chris Horkan logs on to Last.fm and discovers how music can be sociable

Second Life
Chris Horkan finds out how musicians are discovering a whole new world of opportunities through online phenomenon Second Life

Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has already won over Canada. Now, he tells Chris Horkan, it’s Europe’s turn

I designed the logo and then built the website, which I continue to develop with the addition of tools such as polls and mailing lists.

The resulting website has so far received coverage in Metro newspaper and on Manchester Confidential, plus on several literature websites and blogs. By the end of its first week, RainyCityStories.com had attracted 7,000 page views and 20 submissions from the public – with the best now being added on a weekly basis. Kate and I are jointly responsible for selecting and editing this work.

Further commissions are planned for 2009, plus literature events and workshops.

How-Do.co.uk

The website – which offers news, opinion, features and resources – attracts tens of thousands of visits per month. It has spawned several regional initiatives including the How-Do Media 100, Top 100 Marketers, Top 100 Brands and the How-Do Awards, which debuted at Old Trafford in April 2008.

My involvement with How-Do began before the site’s launch. I previously worked with Nick at the Enquirer – building, developing and editing its website on a tiny budget – and in January 2007 he invited me to get involved with this new concept.

Using my content management systems expertise, I built the website to Nick’s specification and it launched two months later. I continue to develop it.

Since its launch, the website has seen remarkable traffic growth, with it now receiving hundreds of thousands of visits and several million page views each month. It has expanded to offer a T-shirt range and a book, Halfwit Nation, which was published in October 2008.

My involvement with TheDailyMash.co.uk began in December 2006 – I built an initial website and then redesigned it the following year.

While Mancubist.co.uk is by no means a comprehensive website, it gives me a place to dump all the random Manchester-related knowledge I digest. Content therefore varies but recurring themes are music, visual arts, literature, technology, history and media.

The site has received good support over the past couple of years, with over 400 RSS subscribers, over 200 email subscribers and dozens of Twitter followers. It is over three quarters of the way to its millionth view. Mancubist.co.uk has been shortlisted for the Manchester Blog Awards for three consecutive years, scooping Best Arts and Culture Blog in 2007.

Here’s what people have said about it:

‘Art, music, tech, media, and photos of clubbers outside rainy nightclubs’ – The Guardian

‘Rock-solid local arts and culture blog… a one-stop shop for the discerning Mancunian’ – CityLife

‘We don’t have a Manchesterist yet, although Mancubist does a good job all on his own’ – Londonist

‘An inspiration for local journalism’ – The Daily

‘Finally, a decent Manchester digest’ – Magic-Paws, StumbleUpon

‘Great Manchester miscellany’ – Newfred

‘Easily the most comprehensive list of interesting stuff going on in Mancheste’” – Ioannis’s Studio

Virtually here
Chris Horkan describes how Manchester has gained a second life

Bloggers aren’t anal, are they?
Chris Horkan checks out the city’s blogging scene in the week of the Manchester Blog Awards