Philip John

Tag: Hyperlocal

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Defamation – Case Law: Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd

    Held, dismissing the appeal, that since it was of the highest public importance that a democratically elected governmental body should be open to uninhibited public criticism, and since the threat of civil actions for defamation would place an undesirable fetter on the freedom to express such criticism, it would be contrary to the public interest…

  • Hyperlocal: Give me your ideas, I’ll (try and) make it happen.

    Some of you may be aware that I’ve begun writing a WordPress plugin using OpenlyLocal. It’s not the only thing I’m working on though, and I have lots of ideas. However, I know that there’s plenty of hyperlocals out there that probably have their own ideas of what would make their life easier, or just…

  • Getting serious about hyperlocal, part 3: Money, money, money!

    Parts 2 and 3 of this series covered legal issues and journalism. Now I’m going to cover that big elephant in the room: money. Much (most, all?) of the hyperlocal efforts at the moment are voluntary, passion-driven projects. Many I’m sure cost only time; it’s easy enough to run a site on WordPress.com for free…

  • Getting serious about hyperlocal, part 2: Journalism

    While the conversation continues around legal issues, burning issue number two in my mind is the quality of hyperlocal content. I’m very fortunate that at the helm of The Lichfield Blog is former journalist and current journalism lecturer, Ross Hawkes. I’ve learnt a lot from Ross, mainly that as hyperlocal looks to play a part…

  • Getting serious about hyperlocal, part 1: Legal issues

    More and more as things progress with The Lichfield Blog it’s becoming apparent to me that hyperlocal has a real part to play in the changing local media landscape. So it’s time to get serious and look at what we need to do if we’re to make a serious contribution to local media. There are…

  • Why I don’t think journalists need business skills

    There’s tons of talk around hyperlocal and local media at the moment and some of it is about the kind of skills journalists need*. Not being a journalist, I’m looking at it from a business perspective. We have a good system with The Lichfield Blog. Ross is the journalist, that’s what he does – he…