Philip John

Category: Hyperlocal

  • More House of Commons exposure for The Lichfield Blog

    Whilst discussing his vision for local TV during a House of Commons debate on the future of local media [& video], Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries Ed Vaizey mentioned The Lichfield Blog and it’s efforts in the local media landscape. In response to a request from West Bromwich East MP, Tom…

  • Content creators are the ones moving journalism forward

    A while ago I spoke at the news:rewired conference organised by Journalism.co.uk about The Lichfield Blog and hyperlocal in general. The panel I was on got around to the whole ‘citizen journalist’ debate and who is or isn’t a journalist. I made the point (one I feel strongly about) that many hyperlocal bloggers do not…

  • Local media predictions for 2010

    Hah, look at me giving my predictions for local media. What the hell do I know about local media?! Anyway, at news:rewired Heather Christie jumped on me (metaphorically, not physically – that would have been weird) and asked me my local media predicitons for 2010, along with panel-mates Sarah Hartley of Guardian Local and Joanna…

  • New hyperlocal WordPress plugin: OpeningTimes.co.uk

    I received a tweet the other day from the wonderful Andy Mabbett. It read; http://opening-times.co.uk/ is very #hyperlocal oriented. They’re on Twitter: @opening_times / @willperrin @getgood (widget, @philipjohn ?) So I toddled over to the Opening Times web site and had a gander, found some XML there and thought to myself, Hmm that’ll only take…

  • OpenAustralia plugin for WordPress

    I’m delighted that after my release last week of my TheyWorkForYou.com plugin for WordPress, Henare Degan has created an adaptation which provides the same functionality but using OpenAustralia, an Australian version of TheyWorkForyou.com. You can download the plugin from Henare’s github, just click on “download” at the top and select “ZIP” then follow these instructions…

  • GroupsNearYou.com WordPress plugin

    This is the last one this week, I promise. For Talk About Local I have just developed a WordPress plugin using the GroupsNearYou.com site. The plugin creates a simple widget which shows the groups in your area, based on a postcode that you provide. I made a demo video and wrote instructions on how to…

  • WriteToThem.com WordPress plugin

    As if the TheyWorkForYou.com plugin wasn’t enough I’ve also created a plugin for WriteToThem.com as well! The plugin adds a new widget which your blog readers can use to get in touch with their politicians from councillors to MEPs. There’s a demo video and instructions on how to set up over on the Talk About…

  • TheyWorkForYou.com WordPress plugin

    As part of some work for Talk About Local I have just developed a WordPress plugin using the TheyWorkForYou.com API. For this first version the plugin creates a single widget which shows the latest activity for your MP. I hope to add more in the future and if you have any suggestions, please add them…

  • MA Online Journalism: Law for bloggers and journalists with Paul Bradshaw

    Warning: this is a long post, get yourself a cuppa before you start…. Last week I popped along to the Coffee Lounge in Brum for one of Paul Bradshaw‘s open MA Online Journalism sessions. This one was about the law & blogging, something I obviously need to be aware of with The Lichfield Blog. As…