Quite a few hyperlocal sites got started to fill a gap left by the papers, radio, TV and trad. journalists.   Some hyperlocal people have strong views about what they perceive as a failure of journalism and a need to step into a gap.

Things have gone full circle: some hyperlocal sites are doing so well that I am now getting queries about how journalists can ‘help’ hyperlocal sites from folk who are journalists or manage papers.

This will cause much spluttering and indignation from people who set up hyperlocal sites due to what they perceive as a failure of journalism locally.  As someone who was personally monstered by a tabloid I empathise.  But if i have got over it, you can so bear with me.  Look at Lichfield to see what a journalist can do when they get to creating a hyperlocal site.

So if you run or contribute to a hyperlocal website, forum etc imagine waking up one day to find a nice shiny shrink-wrapped journalist on your doorstep with passable modern media skills and all the classic attributes a journalist should have (I said ‘imagine’ not all journalists are NOWesque in the same way not all hyperlocal bloggers are foaming mad Sid Nutters).  And imagine that journalist is yours for say a day a week or can work with a herd of local blogs over the week.    What would you do with them?

Here’s my starter for ten on what i would do with a free journalist in say Kings Cross:

add capacity – we have a great volunteer team but we are mostly busy in the day time. There are loads of things i would like followed up with some persistent phone wrangling during office hours.

bit more bite – there are quite  few issues in a rough area I am loath to follow up for fear of upsetting neighbours (one of my volunteer contributors had 14 windows broken in a planning dispute by someone with an air rifle).  Would be nice to have someone at arms length to tackle more difficult stuff.

court and crime reporting – in general any specialist reporting where contempt and special rules apply.

town hall stuff – there is so much guff coming out of the town hall it is hard to keep up.  Volunteers just can’t go to all the meetings we have a life to lead.  PitsnPots in Stoke-On-Trent demonstrates that you can have a whole site just devoted to the council.  This isn’t just a capacity issue there are lots of special skills required here that I kind of assume a well trained journo will have or could bring from their parent – keeping track of big property developments, understanding the budget, declarations of interest, expenses, procurement etc

skills transfer – i can write ok but no one has ever shown me any basic tips for writing to get attention without being sensationalist and the basics of libel etc

build links – if the bins are being emptied badly in Midford as well as Little Snoring at the other end of the county is there a bigger picture from sticking the blogs together?  And in general just network things together a bit.

broker relationships to syndicate local content – i like it when the paper reuses my stuff, as long as they ask, which they do.  I publish it so that people can read it.  But it is childish that they don’t give me a link.  I don’t kid myself that they make any money from my stuff so i don’t expect to be paid.  Might be nice though if the local rag makes a donation to a local charity say for young people every time they lift a piece.

What would you do? Moderation is on.

I’m delighted that Mike Rawlins of PitsnPots and Nicky Getgood of Digbeth is Good have agreed to join the TAL team full time joining me and Clare White who has been working on the project part time.  Mike, Nicky and Clare are some of the best hyperlocal talent around and TAL gives them the opportunity to transfer their skills to communities across the country.    I shall ensure they have time to continue with their existing sites.

Some wonderful people applied to work with the project and I am sorry we couldn’t take on more.  I am also touched that people are volunteering to help left right and centre – maybe we should create some sort of hyperlocal corps to match offers with need.  We shall also be funding further freelance work like Jon Bounds’ marvellous Brum and Stoke-On-Trent aggregators.

We start work as a core team in early August, which allows us to get the show on the road with pilot TAL sessions in the West Midlands, before delivering a robust national product later this year with our partner UK online centres.  We now we have capacity to get the hyperlocal alliance project underway. And as ever we continue to develop partnerships with all sorts of organisations, more on that soon.  As ever, thanks to our sponsors 4IP, Screen West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands – their funding has created two new social media jobs in the West Midlands.

There’s some great innovation out there in hyperlocal publishing in both content and technology.  Talk About Local wants to showcase and support that innovation.  So we have created hyperlocal labs (actually it’s just a web page with some bright ideas on it…) and our first project goes live today.

As our first project Jon Bounds has created a customisable hyperlocal news aggregator for Birmingham’s local sites.  You can read about the pipes based aggregator here and Jon explains how you can do it for your area.

Other small projects will follow over the coming months – any bright ideas, or if you have seen anything good send it in to info@talkaboutlocal.org