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)

links for 2009-12-01 Starting your news website: A checklist for students and mid-career beginners (tags: hyperlocal tips advice journalism) Post-Newspaper Media Wars: Small-Town News Blogs | Newsweek Business | Newsweek.com (tags: hyperlocal journalism media newspapers localmedia reading) If the NUJ aren’t very, very careful, they will find history condemning them to the same fate as the NUM – the National Union of Monks » Out With A Bang (tags: reading thelichfieldblog mentions rickwaghorn nuj journalism nationalunionofjournalists murdoch) Headlines and Deadlines: Why a local...

MA Online Journalism: Law for bloggers and journalists with Paul Bradshaw Warning: this is a long post, get yourself a cuppa before you start…. Last week I popped along to the Coffee Lounge in Brum for one of Paul Bradshaw’s open MA Online Journalism sessions. This one was about the law & blogging, something I obviously need to be aware of with The Lichfield Blog. As a publisher myself you’ll probably find more of that angle to these notes. Before I try and turn my 6-pages of notes into blog post form I’m going to re-iterate Paul’s disclaimers; I am not a lawyer, so the following does not constitute legal advice...

Defamation – Case Law: Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd Held, dismissing the appeal, that since it was of the highest public importance that a democratically elected governmental body should be open to uninhibited public criticism, and since the threat of civil actions for defamation would place an undesirable fetter on the freedom to express such criticism, it would be contrary to the public interest for institutions of central or local government to have any right at common law to maintain an action for damages for defamation; and that, accordingly, the plaintiff was not entitled to bring an action for libel against the defendants,...

Hyperlocal: Give me your ideas, I’ll (try and) make it happen. Some of you may be aware that I’ve begun writing a Wordpress plugin using OpenlyLocal. It’s not the only thing I’m working on though, and I have lots of ideas. However, I know that there’s plenty of hyperlocals out there that probably have their own ideas of what would make their life easier, or just more interesting. So I’m asking: what tools do you want for your hyperlocal? Try and think about the things that you don’t find it so easy doing as well as the ‘wouldn’t it be cool if…’ ideas. Here are some of mine; OpenlyLocal...

Getting serious about hyperlocal, part 3: Money, money, money! Parts 2 and 3 of this series covered legal issues and journalism. Now I’m going to cover that big elephant in the room: money. Much (most, all?) of the hyperlocal efforts at the moment are voluntary, passion-driven projects. Many I’m sure cost only time; it’s easy enough to run a site on Wordpress.com for free for example. However, plenty are paying for web hosting, travel, equipment and more. And while most hyperlocals aren’t for-profit ventures, it’s far better for them to be not-for-profit than anything else. So how do they achieve this? Here...

My (disappointing) correspondence with Michael Cashman MEP over Mandelson’s 3 strikes policy With today’s announcement of the Digital Economy Bill containing the dreaded three strikes policy I thought I’d share my disappointing correspondence with Michael Cashman MEP. I first wrote to him with; Dear Michael Cashman, I’m biased as my career is based entirely on the web, but Mandelson’s plans to implement disconnection without trial for those accused of copyright infringement over the internet is seriously disturbing. The internet is so crucial to communication in the 21st century that to disconnect people without a ruthless exploration of...

Getting serious about hyperlocal, part 2: Journalism While the conversation continues around legal issues, burning issue number two in my mind is the quality of hyperlocal content. I’m very fortunate that at the helm of The Lichfield Blog is former journalist and current journalism lecturer, Ross Hawkes. I’ve learnt a lot from Ross, mainly that as hyperlocal looks to play a part in local media, it needs to be underpinned by that traditional role of the local journalist. Knowing legally what can and can’t be reported, ensuring that coverage is, as far as possible, un-biased and that those involved in a story are...