12/10 Nick Booth's blog

Nick Booth's blog         Behind the mask of a hyperlocal blogger, Ian from Tenbury Wells December 8, 2010 at 4:28 PM   The Tenbury blog serves a modest potential audience: the market town of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire with a population of 3,796. One of those is the blogger himself, who chooses to write anonymously. "At first there was great interest in who was behind the blog, and most people thought it was someone else," he says. "Once the 'secret' was out then most people found out it was me," added Ian Little. Why the secrecy? It wasn't really anything sinister, just a sense that his identity might get in the way. "I decided not to blog under my name as the stories weren't about me but were an eclectic collection of my own random thoughts and concerns. Some subjects, brought to my attention by other residents who feel the blog is a good conduit for communication." Market Street toilets closed: Image courtesy Tenbury Blog Ian has been blogging since early 2007 after he decided he needed an outlet to talk about his local community. One of the advantages of living in such a small community is that word has spread throughout the area - the blog has been mentioned by local newspapers but also picked up on by several other people who hold important positions in the town. "My view is it's better that everyone is informed and discussing any given subject rather than being kept in the dark. I often blog on decisions made by the Town Council, this is because they are not very good at communicating themselves and they publish the minutes of their meeting many weeks after the meeting has taken place. "I try to be quick and accurate. During severe weather events I know that many people will log on to see if I have reported. During the last flood BBC News visited the blog every hour. I know the blog is read by people at various universities, local newspapers and even the House of Commons. Many of the local town, district & county councillors also read it but I don't know how frequently. "I get feedback from people thanking me for the coverage as they feel the blog is likely to be more accurate than the larger news organisations." He also Tweets stories as they break to make the process even quicker, but what Ian does can be simply put down to talking to people and making sure he knows what's going on. "The community is quite small so usually I have a reasonable idea what is happening. I do belong to a number of groups and attend a lot of meetings. People also point me in the direction of possible stories or point other people in my direction; I talk to anyone and everyone. "The PR company working for Tesco identified the blog as a valid local media site and send me press releases about the proposed development. This has led to some people feeling that I 'work for Tesco' as I am able to publish the press releases on average 24 hours ahead of the traditional press." This kind of access can be what helps hyperlocal blogs to thrive. Ian urges other people to blog about their own communities and is pleased to get comments from readers saying that the site also works as a social history of the area. What better resource for the community?         Cold weather and hyperlocal bloggers December 4, 2010 at 5:08 PM   Cold weather and snow are a great example of how citizens blogging at a hyperlocal level are helping to guide their neighbours on what to do and what they need to be aware of. One of the finest examples of this is Mappa Mercia's gritting map which covers Birmingham, Solihull and Walsall and shows which are the highest priority roads for gritting services so that you can plan your journey. The people who pull together information to feed into the map also blog about its development, talking about how they've collaborated with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to update the map data, and the map was reported on by BBC WM. It's also a great illustration of how bloggers can use technology to source information from organisations and from each other, as they are hoping to add data for more areas to the map. And elsewhere, neighbourhoods are publishing maps specific to their local area, such as this one on the Bournville Village blog. Bournville road gritting map, as found at http://bournvillevillage.com/more-gritty-bournville/ This idea of people sharing information for the wider good is at the heart of hyperlocal blogging, whether it's a case of holding local council services to account, spreading council messages further throughout the community, or passing on advice - such as this post on the Tenbury Wells blog which offers tips on clearing snow from outside your house, or a blog in Stoke which redirected statements from the local fire service. There's an immediacy to what hyperlocal bloggers do which doesn't just help connect citizens with helpful resources - by pulling together important links like in this post at the B31 blog - but also each other. At MyTunstall, local people were encouraged to band together to help clear roads and pathways to make it easier for everyone to travel around. And it's not just about the roads... hyperlocal blogs are covering school closures and also rubbish plans with the Tamworth blog having a good example of bloggers letting people know when their bins are going to be collected. All of this points towards valuable communication between people in their neighbourhoods, and a really useful resource for people who want to know what's happening near them at a time of such bad weather conditions.         A Little Bit of Stone - hyperlocal blogs, digital reporting and civic pride December 3, 2010 at 8:23 PM   A good hyperlocal blog doesn't just serve a community, it serves the people who write it. It will often unlock a greater sense of civic pride in the bloggers as well as the people living in the community they blog about. Since setting up A Little Bit of Stone for the Staffordshire town, that's certainly been the case for Jamie Summerfield. Image by A Little Bit of Stone - http://www.flickr.com/photos/53117099@N08/ "Through doing the blog I've met so many other people and found out so much more about the town, and what's going on, that it's deepened my passion for Stone," says Jamie. A former journalist himself, he likens running the blog to the traditional process of reporting on a patch, where he finds out about stories and leads by talking to people in the town. From his first post about blue recycling bins in August through to the end of November he's posted 188 diferent stories about a town of 14,000 folk. Jamie concentrates on bringing original content to local people, with coverage of flagship local events such as the food and drink festival proving particularly popular. "It sounds very noble," adds Jamie, "but I just want a site with lots of information, lots of events and lots of news, and it's totally community based." Jamie also has a strong presence on Facebook, where he has been very active recently in giving snow updates and reports on which schools in the area have been closed due to the wintry weather conditions. Sourcing opinions as well as photos from local citizens it's a blizzard of local bulletins with the community at its heart. To hear more of Jamie's thoughts on A Little Bit of Stone and how he operates the site, you can listen to him below.             This email was sent to asad.ali2.mirjat@blogger.com. Delivered by Feed My Inbox PO Box 682532 Franklin, TN 37068 Account Login Unsubscribe Here