The dialogue on ultra or hyperlocal publishing around this site has led me to create a proposal to help active citizens create ultra or hyperlocal sites about their neighbourhood/community/locality.  The proposal is about skills, not technology platforms and has the working title ‘Talk About Local’.  I have been driven by my own experience in Kings Cross and inspired by wonderful community resources we have discussed on this site such as Parwich, Digbeth and Formby.

Talk About Local intends to train thousands of people who don’t have a voice to find a powerful online expression for their neighbourhoods, even if they can’t use the internet today. The project will create a legacy of independent community sites across the country, owned, mainstreamed and updated by ordinary local people as a volunteer effort.

Talk About Local will train several thousand people in 150 disadvantaged places in England to set up locality/community/neighbourhood based websites.  The project will use UK online centres as its delivery backbone.  Talk About Local will catalyse an online resource and community for people publishing neighbourhood or community websites, so that people can help each other.

Talk About Local is about giving people skills and empowering communities.  The project will empower active citizens who already have a burning need to communicate as they campaign for cleaner streets, better schools, activities for young people or put on local arts or organise a village fete.  Talk About Local will give these citizens the basic skills to communicate online more effectively and at less cost than using traditional means.  By networking citizens together, they will be able support each other in their local activism, as well as on technical publishing issues.  This will lead to stronger more effective community action.

Talk About Local is not about building new technology platforms. The project will train people to use powerful but easy to use free platforms such as Typepad, WordPress, Blogger, YouTube, Face Book discussion forums etc. Talk About Local will be sustainable as it aims to train people who already volunteer their time to use free platforms.

Talk About Local will be a not for profit organisation, possibly a charity in the medium term.  It intends to raise money to spend on training, it is not a commercial, revenue raising model.

The aims of the project will only be delivered through partnership.  Talk About Local intends to partner with the UK online centres network of 6,000 centres in the most deprived parts of England that exist to give people the skills and confidence to use the internet.  We are open to approaches from other partners, we are talking to media organisations, regional development bodies and technology companies.

Talk About Local is working with 4IP, the innovation arm of the UK public service broadcaster Channel 4 to bring a partnership together.  The Chief Executive of Channel 4 referred to the project in a speech at this link.  If you wish to partner this project we’d love to here from you contact me via tal@cankfarm.com

Good example here of a local freesheet that went web only some years ago, the Villager in Doncaster:

‘The Villager is a community newspaper which up until February 2003 was delivered free to 20,000 homes in the villages listed above once a month. In 2002 it launched this website offering both printed and electronic versions. Since 2003 when the paper version retired, the website became the only way to read the paper.’

‘Although the printed paper was run as a commercial venture, paid for by the advertisers, it was also a community voice, allowing members of the community to air their views, pass on news, and to promote things of interest.’

It’s good to see the work of the paper continuing online – there is an archive of about 2,000 articles – and a steady rate of new publishing, with a little online advertising.  I wonder how many freesheets will end up like this as we run through the down turn.

Sean Brady has a great Typepad based site in Formby, Lancashire/Sefton that is rather better than mainstream blogs by elected representatives.  The content really nails what ultralocal or hyperlocal should be about.  I liked a lot this post where Sean uses embedded video to make a point about a dangerous spot for cyclists – the video adds something that a simple written paragraph just can’t get across.  There is some good stuff on allotments here and here.  

This sort of reporting adds an extra dimension to the role of the elected representative at Britain’s most local tier – the parish council.  The conventional press simply doesn’t cover the issues Sean reports and it allows his electors to keep up with what he is doing in their name.

Design-wise,  the site is fresh, has a nice clean design and integrates a google maps plug in, Twitter and Vimeo.  Given that blogging is often (wrongly) seen as an activity for trendy young things, it is refeshing to note that Sean is retired.