The Surgery

Tune-in to your local ABC Radio National today at 5:55 P.M. to hear me rant about indefinite articles and the letter ‘h’.

In this installment about the demise of the English language, I get angry about people who use an “an” in front of words with a pronounced letter ‘h’: an horrendous, an horrific and an horrible practice I’m sure you’ll agree.

ABC Melbourne: 621 kHz AM. Follow this link for other ABC stations in your area. Many thanks to ABC producer Sue Clark for the opportunity to rant on Perspective.

Is there money to be made from online market research surveys?

I was having this discussion a few days ago with a colleague, and thought I’d share a few observations.

On Tech Talk Radio in May (Episode 20-2007) I talked about two online survey organisations which I’d had dealings with.

The first, emailcash Australia, awards points to account holders. Points are accrued by clicking on sponsored links, participating in surveys and buying goods and services from Reward Partners. After you accrue a certain number of points, these can be redeemed for cash. For example, after accruing 3,000 points I was able to cash these points for $30.00. By providing your electronic transfer details to emailcash Australia, they put the money straight into your bank account of choice.

The second organisation, Pureprofile, awards real dollars to account holders. Again, money is accrued by clicking on sponsored links and answering surveys. You can log in at any time to see your balance, and once your balance is over a certain amount, you can have this transferred to a real-world bank account.

As it so happens, I opted to receive a $50.00 balance from Pureprofile just last week. It was quite a painless process and the money arrived in my bank account within a few days. Here’s a bank statement with a previous payment from Pureprofile:

Some observations about online market research organisations:

• Yes, believe it or not, they do actually pay!

• By logging in, answering surveys and clicking links every day, it’s taking me about 6 months to get a $50.00 payout from both organisations. Whether this is on-par, ahead or behind other users, I don’t really know.

• I’ve never actually had to buy anything in order to qualify to receive cash. Clicking on links and answering anonymous surveys is all that has been required.

• The most personal information I’ve been asked is my age, gender, postcode, employment status and marital status. I’ve never been asked my name or address in an anonymous survey. (From memory you are required to provide your name and some additional personal information when you setup an account.)

• I initially setup two independent email addresses, solely for use by the marketing organisations and for receiving mail and notifications. I’ve never received any unsolicited email to either address.

• Is 3 minutes a day, clicking on links, worth the pocket money? I’ll let you make your own decision. My advice would be, it’s good pocket money, but don’t give up your day job.

Dr Ron.

(p.s. I have no affiliation with, or interest in, either organisation, other than as a customer.)

At last!

It seemed like an eternity but at last we’ve moved out of the old Neighborhood House in Burwood, to the new custom-built studio complex in the Box Hill Town Hall.

This facility has been built by audio engineers and will reflect well on the quality of programmes that are produced at 3WBC, for several reasons:

• No more squeaky chairs or noisy microphone stands;
• Better acoustics with sound-proofing and carpeted floors - no cicadas in the background during summer!!;
• A separate edit suite for off-air production;
• Noisy equipment racks have been moved out of the studio into their own equipment room;
• Better lighting; and
• Brand new mixing desks, CD players, headphones and other audio equipment.

There’s a nice big window too, so people walking past can watch what’s happening in the main studio.

Andrew’s given the 3WBC website a timely spruce-up as well.

Well done to everyone who’s been involved in the move from Burwood, it was worth the wait and will certainly reflect well on the quality of the station’s programming.

The old studio (RIP). The TTR crew used to bring along their own mixing desk and audio equipment (foreground) each week to accommodate extra guests and panelists.