The NIB of it - or 'Off to the bunker!'

There - I offer two witty titles. Today started rather slowly. I was hoping to do a telephone interview with a Dutch lady about the future of journal articles, she said she'd contact me later but never did. Our team of writers - about eight of us - had the weekly editorial meeting at 10.30 where everyone reported on progress and ideas. People get around - within the next week people are going to Kampala, Copenhagen and Oxford, and even I was asked if I would go to a morning conference tomorrow on higher education and enterprise at the Royal Institution, speakers including David Willetts plus a few others with impressive job titles - I accepted of course, although unfortunately it clashed with the press briefing for the Science Festival. Then at 11.37, there were cries of "oh...." as the lights died and all the computer screens went black. We waited, started talking, there was no sign of power being restored. Someone shouted "Off to the bunker!". It transpired this was not entirely a joke; TLS does rent emergency office space to continue operations on a reduced scale if their offices are put out of action for an extended period.

I realised how completely the modern office is dependent on electricity, not just to write (or type), but to read; the printer is little used and most things are found and read onscreen. Soon people were looking at their phones, checking Twitter, texting friends locally to see how extensive the power cut was (not very) - battery power and radio now the only link into the digital world. Gradually people drifted off for an early lunch or to find out what was going on, including me. But within an hour power was restored and we were back at our screens - for a few minutes until the fire alarm went off, to general amusement, and we all trooped down to gather in the leafy surroundings of Red Lion Square. Here I had a very interesting chat to the book editor (who incidentally does not edit books, but organises the book reviews). False alarm, linked probably to the power outage, and at last back to work. I spent the afternoon writing two NIB (News In Brief) articles, and did a telephone interview with someone from a publishing company who, after a complicated exchange of emails with their colleague, rang me from a hotel room in Japan. A NIB article is just 90 words, which is quite a challenge when the source is usually a press release of several hundred words. As Mark Twain wrote, "If I'd had more time, I'd have written a shorter letter".