Philip John

  • Do you work or achieve?

    I’m a thinker and most of my best thinking happens in the shower (must be the lather). This morning, after waking up early and spending a couple of hours catching up with some reading links I’d saved for later, I found myself in the shower at about 9:30am. That’s not uncommon on an average day…

  • Video: Amateur photographer arrested & how we now have to arm ourselves against the Police

    via guardian.co.uk This video demonstrates how easy it is to be arrested for doing something that most people would consider a completely innocent activity; that of taking photographs in public. It especially resonates with me having been on outings for The Lichfield Blog where either I or semi-professional photographer, Nick Brickett have taken photos of…

  • My comments on the POWER 2010 Pledge

    I’ve just signed up the POWER 2010 Pledge, having voted on the specific issues I feel are important to me. It is not a requirement that you agree with all of the 5 priorities voted for as the most important by the majority of those who have participated, but just that you agree with the…

  • Getting clever with digital advertising is they key to making online pay for local media…

    BookArmy – though it avoids saying so – is an offshoot of Harper Collins. The two enterprises point in completely different directions. As it was explained to me, the point of BookArmy is to get as many avid book readers engaged as possible and learn as much as possible about their likes and dislikes. At…

  • 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…