Hyperlocal.co.uk Forum: Forum: General Discussion - Recent Posts

hyperlocalrob on "How will you cover the General Election?"

hyperlocalrob — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:54:54 +0000

There will be a General Election within the next 4 months or so, and for me, like many local site publishers, this will be the first opportunity to give local coverage to an election campaign. In some areas there are council elections on the same day too. I can only imagine there will be a huge increase in the amount of stuff to publish from the various candidates' campaigns. So I thought I would start this post as a space to share ideas, thoughts and questions that may arise from covering an election campaign. Online Q&A It seems fairly logical to approach candidates and ask if they will take part in questioning. What's best - live chat format or by email? Same questions to all candidates or different? This also creates an opportunity for readers to get involved in submitting questions? Real life hustings An idea I had was to try and organise a proper, real life hustings between the candidates. This would be a real local service and be a great offline profile raiser for a site too. Could be expensive though, and will need a competent person to run proceedings. Would provide a lot of content for a site and creates opportunity for video / audio content too. Impartiality What, if any, issues surrounding impartiality will affect hyperlocal publishers? Extremists We all remember the controversy that surrounded Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC Question Time. If you are reporting on the campaigns of local candidates, will you also include candidates with extreme or controversial views? Advertising Will local political parties prove to be useful advertisers at the time of an election, and should you start soliciting ads soon? Or better not to alienate readers and steer clear of political ads? Election night Would you goto the election night count itself (if it is indeed on election night - apparently many places are trying to opt for the following day this time)? Got any thoughts of your own on these topics, or additional ideas and questions to do with covering an election?

helenewilliams on "Hyperlocals re-publishing council info, snow disruptions"

helenewilliams — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:35:10 +0000

That does sound very useful to me! Thanks, Helen

James Hatts on "Hyperlocals re-publishing council info, snow disruptions"

James Hatts — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:25:12 +0000

We've been retweeting council tweets - but as we have 4000+ followers and the council has c800 this is more useful than it sounds

helenewilliams on "Hyperlocals re-publishing council info, snow disruptions"

helenewilliams — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:39:36 +0000

Hi I am looking for examples of how hyperlocals are using council feeds and data, and spreading the word about service disruptions. Do any local sites automatically republish any council information? E.g. embed jobs feed, news feed, do any mash-ups. In the severe weather, are any hyperlocals publishing disruption information? Retweeting council tweets? Spreading the word to residents in any other way? Feeding anything back to the council? Thanks in anticipation!

philipjohn on "New Directory of Hyperlocal websites"

philipjohn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:18:28 +0000

Would be great if Matt (Wardman) could provide this list in an open data format that you could consume for your map!

philipjohn on "Court Reports"

philipjohn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:17:11 +0000

I've been told they provided an agenda each morning. It may be possible to get it via e-mail, so I'd check with the courts themselves what they provide.

hyperlocalrob on "New Directory of Hyperlocal websites"

hyperlocalrob — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:07:56 +0000

There's a new directory of local blogs, local websites, local aggregators and local networks at <a href="http://www.nutshell.org.uk" rel="nofollow">www.nutshell.org.uk</a> If you run a local website you can submit it through a feedback form.

RayFromManchester on "West Seattle Blog"

RayFromManchester — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:41:03 +0000

Here is an interview with the owner of a profitable hyperlocal site, West Seattle Blog which I thought was quite interesting.............. <a href="http://blog.angelaconnor.com/2008/12/26/building-community-around-neighborhood-news-an-interview-with-tracy-record-of-west-seattle-blog-part-1-of-2/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.angelaconnor.com/2008/12/26/building-community-around-neighborhood-news-an-interview-with-tracy-record-of-west-seattle-blog-part-1-of-2/</a> <a href="http://blog.angelaconnor.com/2008/01/01/monetizing-neighborhood-news-more-from-tracy-record-of-west-seattle-blog-part-2-of-2/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.angelaconnor.com/2008/01/01/monetizing-neighborhood-news-more-from-tracy-record-of-west-seattle-blog-part-2-of-2/</a>

hyperlocalrob on "Court Reports"

hyperlocalrob — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:08:25 +0000

Good question, John. I was actually thinking myself about going down to the court every once in a while to pull up a chair and just see what's happening and look out for anything juicey. If a feed existed, it would be super useful!

upthejunction on "Court Reports"

upthejunction — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:51:01 +0000

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a feed of local magistrate court reports at all? What I'd like to do is to filter such a feed for entries relating to a particular town/village and use the results in my news section.