Video: Amateur photographer arrested & how we now have to arm ourselves against the Police via guardian.co.uk This video demonstrates how easy it is to be arrested for doing something that most people would consider a completely innocent activity; that of taking photographs in public. It especially resonates with me having been on outings for The Lichfield Blog where either I or semi-professional photographer, Nick Brickett have taken photos of public events much like the one Bob Patefield was photographing. He obviously has a good understanding of some of the powers the Police have. The most shocking to me were the statements he made as he was led away to the...

My comments on the POWER 2010 Pledge I’ve just signed up the POWER 2010 Pledge, having voted on the specific issues I feel are important to me. It is not a requirement that you agree with all of the 5 priorities voted for as the most important by the majority of those who have participated, but just that you agree with the majority. I do agree with the majority but I wanted to share the comments I added when I signed up to the Pledge. I support the POWER Pledge because it represents a true grassroots desire from the people of Britain to change politics in this country. It gives Government the opportunity...

Getting clever with digital advertising is they key to making online pay for local media… BookArmy – though it avoids saying so – is an offshoot of Harper Collins. The two enterprises point in completely different directions. As it was explained to me, the point of BookArmy is to get as many avid book readers engaged as possible and learn as much as possible about their likes and dislikes. At some point in the future (the theory goes) publishers will no longer need to spend a fortune on marketing Max Hastings’ next book by lavishing money on Waterstones or in print. They will go to BookArmy and say “We know you have a database of the 80,000 people...

Local media predictions for 2010 Hah, look at me giving my predictions for local media. What the hell do I know about local media?! Anyway, at news:rewired Heather Christie jumped on me (metaphorically, not physically – that would have been weird) and asked me my local media predicitons for 2010, along with panel-mates Sarah Hartley of Guardian Local and Joanna Geary of Times Online. The sound didn’t turn out well so I thought I’d post my predictions here for all to read. Hyperlocal will find it’s business model. That’s right, folks you heard it here… again, probably. If...

New hyperlocal Wordpress plugin: OpeningTimes.co.uk I received a tweet the other day from the wonderful Andy Mabbett. It read; http://opening-times.co.uk/ is very #hyperlocal oriented. They’re on Twitter: @opening_times / @willperrin @getgood (widget, @philipjohn ?) So I toddled over to the Opening Times web site and had a gander, found some XML there and thought to myself, Hmm that’ll only take five minutes. It took twenty but I created a very simple widget for Wordpress that displays search results for an area you specify. Here’s a screenshot: A screenshot of the opening times widget You can download it now...

OpenAustralia plugin for Wordpress I’m delighted that after my release last week of my TheyWorkForYou.com plugin for Wordpress, Henare Degan has created an adaptation which provides the same functionality but using OpenAustralia, an Australian version of TheyWorkForyou.com. You can download the plugin from Henare’s github, just click on “download” at the top and select “ZIP” then follow these instructions on how to install it. Hopefully as I build more features onto my TheyWorkForYou plugin, Henare and I can apply them to the OpenAustralia one too. Fantastic!

GroupsNearYou.com Wordpress plugin This is the last one this week, I promise. For Talk About Local I have just developed a Wordpress plugin using the GroupsNearYou.com site. The plugin creates a simple widget which shows the groups in your area, based on a postcode that you provide. I made a demo video and wrote instructions on how to set the plugin up which have been posted over on the Talk About Local blog, as well as instructions on installing the plugin. All that’s left to do now is download the plugin (ZIP).

WriteToThem.com Wordpress plugin As if the TheyWorkForYou.com plugin wasn’t enough I’ve also created a plugin for WriteToThem.com as well! The plugin adds a new widget which your blog readers can use to get in touch with their politicians from councillors to MEPs. There’s a demo video and instructions on how to set up over on the Talk About Local blog. You can download the plugin now and subscribe for future updates.

TheyWorkForYou.com Wordpress plugin As part of some work for Talk About Local I have just developed a Wordpress plugin using the TheyWorkForYou.com API. For this first version the plugin creates a single widget which shows the latest activity for your MP. I hope to add more in the future and if you have any suggestions, please add them to the comments below. I made a demo video and wrote instructions on how to set the plugin up which have been posted over on the Talk About Local blog, as well as instructions on installing the plugin. All that’s left to do now is download the plugin (ZIP).

links for 2009-12-03 Why blogs can be better than traditional news http://bit.ly/8D22YU – with compliments to @paulbradshaw (tags: Gravity Andbwell Twitter)