Hundreds of local bloggers – including South Leeds Life – descended on Birmingham yesterday to discuss all things hyperlocal at the Talk About Local 2012 Unconference.
What’s hyperlocal and what’s Talk About Local I hear both our readers cry!
Well, firstly hyperlocal is an online news or content service pertaining to a town, postcode or other small geographical area – South Leeds Life is a good example of this.
And Talk About Local is an organisation which helps people find a powerful online voice for their community that they own and run – it helps them set up their own hyperlocal blogs, among other things.
TAL 12 was an incredible day, as ever. Topics including possible funding opportunities from Nesta and the University of Lancashire’s Made project, innovations like Media Trust’s newsnet project all took centre stage in the main room.
Really exciting were the plans for a national Hyperlocal Alliance – a site for bloggers to get together and share experiences, ideas and work together. An informal association where bloggers can start to present themselves as a coherent group, tackling issues like local accountability together. South Leeds Life has just applied to join.
I wish I could have attended the sessions on neighbourhood plans and how to i9nvolve more people in your blog. Media law and reporting crime was also covered
For more information, follow the #tal12 live blog and there’s a nice compilation of #tal12 links, tweets, pix videos and more over on N0tice. John Popham has posted lots of videos on his Bambuser channel.
A hyperlocal handbook offering guidance for bloggers can be found here.
If you’re interested in blogging in south Leeds, either in setting up your own blog or contributing to South Leeds Life, why not drop us a line? We can offer all the help and support you need, including writing, video and photography. It couldn’t be easier! Email us at southleedslife@gmnail.com.
