Sunday, 05 October 2008

Hyperlocal, ultralocal, local online, whichever

Further to my last, and previous - more reflections on the theme of local 2.0 from William Perrin on Ultra Local Voice and from David Wilcox.

5 Oct 2008 18:03:22 | Information and communication, Mobility and change, Neighbourhood relations

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Local 2.0 workshop I ran a workshop today on 'Local online' for Simon Grice's mashup* event - not exactly designed as I only got the call to facilitate a couple of days beforehand. In fact what was more of a challenge was being slightly unfamiliar with the language and issues that the system builders, content providers and media companies represented around the room are working with on a daily basis. But I took along my local-social-interaction credentials, flashed a few pictures to stimulate some thinking about communication at local level, and away we went. William Perrin kindly stepped up with some thought-provoking slides about the King's Cross Environment site, and we started to get some buzz. In terms of getting a neighbourhood information site going, he offered this as a key lesson: 'You've got to find the activists who have the burning need to communicate. It's hard but it's not that hard.' In discussion it was immediately striking that although they thought they hadn't come to discuss this, people had lots to say about 'community'. I'm interested in this theme because (as mentioned a couple weeks ago) I see a contrast between two groups looking at the unrealised potential of local online. There are the systems folk who are waiting for whatever 'local' is to break out at commercially-rewarding levels. Plenty of ambitious investment going on there. Then there are the policymakers, sociologists, thinktankers and practitioners who've been waiting for the apparent potential of neighbourhood online networks to contribute to community cohesion and social capital. They're watching the same door, but they might not both recognise whatever eventually walks through it. Simon and I busked a workshop exercise to surface the issues. There were about 50 participants and they thought the key issues were these: definitions of local ownership of systems monetisation moderation of discussion and content marketing local trade news and broadcast media engagement, awareness and audience. Then it got interesting, because no-one, all afternoon, went to the table designated for discussion of 'moderation' (where issues of trust had also been assigned). And only with some persuasive effort did I manage to get anyone to talk about ownership. Geographical scale, understandably, popped up as an issue in several groups. 'Monetisation' (which as I understand it is not to be confused with the conversion of lilyponds to expensive impressionist artworks), marketing, media, and engagement of users were the best-sellers. Well of course, that's what folk came for. But at the end of it I found it hard to believe that any of the companies represented, large or small, has a commercial model that will deliver sustainable local online communication with an acceptable framework of ownership, in sufficient density to help compensate for the current inadequacy of communication channels at local level. I won't mind being proved wrong, but I begin to suspect we will not be able to crank this up to the next level without engaging the public sector (local government and the housing sector).
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Like a light going on Earlier this year I worked with Linda Constable on a pilot project with four library services in England, using the 'living library' process. Living library, pioneered in Denmark, allows someone to 'borrow' a person for a conversation, to explore their experience or interests and to understand other backgrounds and cultures. The project sought to develop a community development model, taking advantage of the trusted place of libraries in the public realm. Among the participants was Harry, a World War 2 veteran about 90 years old. He was in his early twenties when he found himself stranded with his brother on the beaches of Dunkirk. One of the people who 'borrowed' Harry for a chat told us how insightful it was to hear him talk about events: 'Like a light going on’. The project was funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and involved Bournemouth, Bradford, Kent and Staffordshire library services. The report is now available here. Previously: The hands in conversation

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