James Thornett The views and opinions expressed here are my own and not those of the BBC, my employer.
Posts Tagged ‘local’
The Nuneaton Guide – My new website
After moving from Birmingham to Nuneaton earlier this year I’ve decided to test out a new local website experiment, moving on from BirminghamB29 to launch The Nuneaton Guide. I work with local web content and location services for the BBC (although this website is entirely separate and in no way associated with the BBC) so [...]
Location Business Summit – Day 2
No blogging this morning as I was busy presenting a view of location services at the BBC and then speaking on a panel discussion. Thoroughly enjoyable, and the best panel discussion yet according to @uphamb. Follow #locbiz f you want a rundown of events so far. Now back to sitting, watching, listening and blogging. Joel [...]
Thoughts on Local Social Summit 2009
Last week I attended the first Local Social Summit in London – a day aimed at exploring the space where local content meets social media with attendees from a range of start-ups, directories, media companies, advertisers and media owners. If you’re interested in any of this type of stuff then all of the days presentations [...]
The Perfect local Media Company in 2014
Tomorrow’s Local Social Summit ’09 in London promises to be an interesting and thought provoking day. I’m speaking in a panel discussion on Local Content & Monetisation although coming from the BBC angle my focus will be more on local content and social opportunities rather than commercial monetisation. Some key questions I’d like to discuss [...]
Guardian Local due for 2010 launch
The Guardian have announced a move into the provision of local news on the web in 2010 with the launch of Guardian Local in three UK cities.Sarah Hartley, the Guardian local launch editor said: “While researching developments at the grassroots of community journalism, I’ve been impressed by the range and depth of coverage from local [...]
The future of local media is, erm, regional?!?
The Future of Local Media conference in Salford took place today, the same day that Ofcom released it’s response to a Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) consultation on delivering TV news in the nations and regions. Ofcom also released a research report on Local and Regional Media in the UK. Thus Stewart Purvis, [...]
Microsoft to partner with local newspapers for MSN Local News Map
Microsoft, through their MSN Local portal, are hoping to provide local news on a map, in partnership with local newspapers across the UK. Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, said: “We are hoping to take feeds from local newspapers and tag every piece of information to a map. Hyper-local news online has never been more [...]
Northcliffe Local People media briefing
Northcliffe explain the launch of Local People “a network of websites for people to get together and discuss the issues affecting their communities“.
Birmingham Local Blogs Wire
Following my recent post on Will Perrin’s Talk About Local initiative, Jon Bounds has pushed ahead and created a Birmingham Local Blogs Wire by feeding a selection of blogs about Birmingham through Yahoo! Pipes. You can read all about the thinking behind the Birmingham Blog Wire here. Robin Hamman (@cybersoc) and I spent many an [...]
Northcliffe launches community sites for local people
Another attempt to provide local communities with a voice online has recently been piloted by Northcliffe Media in South West England. From journalism.co.uk Northcliffe and its digital arm Associated Northcliffe Digital have begun the roll-out of its ambitious plans for a network of hyperlocal websites. The new platforms will be evenly distributed between areas with [...]
4iP funds local community website project
Talk About Local is aiming to “empower 3,000 people directly in 150 places across nine English regions with a focus on the most disadvantaged areas.” by offering free advice, training materials and support to anyone who wants give their community a voice online. Run by Will Perrin, the project is starting up in the West [...]
BBC Trust rejects local video proposals
The BBC Trust confirmed today that it has refused permission for a planned BBC Local Video service after concluding its public value test (PVT) into the proposals. Diane Coyle, BBC Trustee and Chairman of the Strategic Approvals Committee, said: “The Trust is committed to improving regional and local services from the BBC for licence fee [...]
BBC Trust says No to BBC Local Video
The regional and local newspapers of the UK had an early Christmas present today with the announcement from the BBC Trust that it has rejected proposals from the BBC for adding video content to its network of local websites.(Disclaimer: I am involved in this proposal as part of my day job at the BBC.) After [...]
Everyblock experiments with council meeting minutes
Tom Loosemore recently posted about the ability to search video footage from House of Commons debates on theyworkforyou.com, pointing out that: The accessibility and searchability of the web transforms our ability to hold our elected representatives to account for their actions in Parliament. Now hyper-local news mapping site Everyblock has launched in two new US [...]
Media coverage of the BBC Local Video PVT
Here is an updating list (thanks to the miracle that is del.icio.us) of links to media coverage of the BBC‘s application to provide a local video service on bbc.co.uk. (Disclaimer: I am involved in this application as part of my day job at the BBC.) The PVT began on 24th June 2008. my del.icio.us
BBC Trust begins public value test into local video proposal
The BBC Trust has today started its public value test (PVT) of the BBC’s local video proposal. (Disclaimer: I am involved in this proposal as part of my day job at the BBC.) The Trust has published BBC management’s application as well as supporting documents, a service description and a full timetable for the PVT. [...]
Huffington Post goes local
From Media Guardian article – Huffington Post starts local news push. The Huffington Post is planning to expand into local news across the US, founder Arianna Huffington said last night, beginning with a site edited for the community of Chicago. Huffington said the Chicago site would aggregate news, sports, crime, arts and business news from [...]
Lessons learned from hyperlocal
While we are on the subject of news becoming ‘more local’, here’s an interesting post from Rob Curley on the experience of running the hyperlocal project LoudounExtra.com, developed by Washington Post Newsweek International. “…I thought the two biggest problems with LoudounExtra.com were poor integration of the site with washingtonpost.com and not enough outreach into the [...]
Northcliffe re-vamps local websites with geo-coding on stories
Northcliffe Media have begun geo-coding stories produced on their “thisis” websites as the group prepares to introduce geographical targeting on the “next generation” of local news websites. The 10 remodeled sites, including thisiscornwall.co.uk, are part of the plans to re-vamp the 55 existing sites and to add 35 new regional websites under Northcliffe’s ‘thisis’ brand, [...]
