I started this blog because i am passionate about the potential of ultra local publishing to empower and build communities. In August i put together some slides that made a more or less coherent pitch. And after much cursing at Slideshare (and the Theme i am using here) the slides are at the link below. [...]
Archive for September 5, 2008
Parwich.org – great rural community site in Derbyshire
Although I live now in London’s Kings Cross i spent 18 years in remote countryside so I was delighted to find this gem of a rural community site after a tip from Simon Berry. Parwich.org is community run site for four villages. unusually it has a commercial element with sponsorship by local businesses. The ads [...]
Keep it local, simple, earthy – the dog sh*t agenda
Political folk have a slightly comtemptuous phrase for local street issues – the ‘dog shit agenda’. “What are you going to do about the dog shit on my street?” etc. This sort of thing really matters to peopleprobably more than Georgian geopolitics or the Bank of England monthly inflation report. There is a wonderful discussion [...]
Local campaigning online
Almost every community has a campaign on the go – they define and unite communities like nothing else. Both positive and negative campaigns unite more than they polarise, whether raising money for a childrens playground or campaigning against a noisy pub . And all campaigns need a voice – online publishing is by far the [...]
Local history
Writing about local history brings out all sorts of people you just wouldn’t expect. Every time I write a history piece at least one person with local links i have never heard of before contacts me out of the blue, either adding in their own perspective because they were there or asking about relative. This [...]