For untutored online adventurers like myself, Google has always been the gateway to exciting things. I always wanted to publish my own writing and when I was growing up it involved carving out a career in journalism. That’s a load of work experience, a degree, a load more work experience and then, if you’re very lucky, landing a job where you’ll actually be able to write something you’re vaguely interested in (I did manage to do so for a few years before packing it in to try and earn a living a little closer than 250 miles from home). Blogging tools cut out all those years of toil in one fell swoop. All you need is time, computer access and you are your own editor.

Google’s LocalGov day was a great insight into how the engineers use their own tools. For the hyperlocal blogger this is really useful. I don’t know who you are or what you want to do, but chances are a few of these powerful tools will help you do it really easily – and, of course, for free.

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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