Local Blogging Birmingham

About Brum - Words, Pictures And Sounds From The UK's Second City

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:36:20 +0100

About Brum - Words, Pictures And Sounds From The UK's Second City:

A blog about Birmingham that ham as a whole that started in 2007 and has popped back on my radar with the first in a series of podcasts. With the city-wide focus it’s not “ultra local” but does have a good trial-and-error heritage to it. Worth keeping tabs on.

My Jewellery Quarter

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:40:59 +0100

My Jewellery Quarter:

Tumblr blog for ther Jewellery Quarter, an area with a mix of light industry, commercial and residential. Complements the @myjq Twitter only with more pics and videos.

Nice example of using very a couple of very simple tools to point to news and interesting things about an area.

(Oh, and this one is not by Jon Bounds!)

Be Vocal

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:43:08 +0100

Be Vocal:

“A site about social media for social good in Birmingham and using the internet to turn public data into something useful.” New blog from Nick Booth aka Podnosh. Looks to be more a resource for local blogs than a local blog in itself. One to watch.

Acocks Green Focus Group

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:34:48 +0100

Acocks Green Focus Group:

And another Acocks Green blog. They come in threes it seems. This one is for “a Conservation and Re-Design Group” and whoever is running this has really gotten their teeth into it. It ticks pretty much all the boxes. Good conversational style, opinionated but welcoming other opinions, links to sources for further reading, and above all has a tangible sense of the place about it. Whereas the neighbourhood forum blog could be about anywhere (not to criticize it - it’s only just started) this one is definitely about somewhere specific. Top stuff.

I am AG

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:27:51 +0100

I am AG:

Another Acock’s Green blog, this one is independent and run by Nicola Toms. A slightly faltering start and I suspect Nicola is finding her feet and voice. Maybe looking at her own experience of the area and detailing some of the minutiae might help. Paint a picture of the page with words, that sort of thing.

Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:20:00 +0100

Acocks Green Neighbourhood Forum:

New blog set up at one of Nick’s social media surgeries run by Ged Hughes for the local neighbourhood forum. Early days but the more formal style is evident and understandable for a blog that has to be the voice of a team of people and represent / talk to a diverse community. I think the key here is to present the facts in a neutral way and encourage discussion and debate in the comments.

Über Brum

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:22:45 +0100

Über Brum:

A “street style” blog containing photos of stylish people taken in the street. It claims to be Birmingham’s first but Spaghetti Junction Style has been around for a while. Still, the concept is interesting from our perspective. While it’s a superficial, borderline elitist thing (“The aim is to find the beautiful people of Brum” makes me want to hurl) it is, ultimately, about people. A lot of blogs about a place tend to miss out the people, or at least not put them at the forefront. Here there might not be much commentary about the place (other than “people from here look like this”) but there’s plenty of humanity.

Of course there’s also a fantastic systemic bias here. This is not representative of the city at all, being photos of people who hang out in places the blogger(s) hang out. And that’s not necessarily a problem since trying to represent the entirety of a city the size of Birmingham would be impossible for one blog.

Is it a “local blog” by my definition? Possibly not. Does it have lessons a local blog could learn from and implement (alongside other style of blogging)? Certainly.

Birmingham Live!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:43:59 +0100

Birmingham Live!:

This has reviews and photos from music gigs in Birminghamand I’m really including because it’s just on that annoying cusp of how I’m defining “local blogs” for this blog. Yes, it’s about a specific place and yes, it’s by and for a tangible community within that space but it’s quite distinct from a blog about a neighbourhood. But if I don’t include it then I’d have to let Created in Birmingham, Spaghetti Gazetti and The Stirrer go, except they’re the sort of blogs that could be applied to a much more localised area. Could lessons from Birmingham Live! be applied to Selly Oak or Kingstanding? I’m not sure.

Of course sites like this are essential as part of a healthy online sphere for a city which feed into and feed from the local blogs. I’m not excluding them because they’re not relevant to Birmingham - just that they don’t fit my (arbitrary, evolving) criteria.

Fantastic blog, though. Lovely photos.

It's Grim Up North Brum

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:37:23 +0100

It's Grim Up North Brum:

Another of Jon Bounds’ Brum Tumblrs in the same vein as The Kings Heathen and welovemoseley. Suffers because most people in what passes for the Birmingham blogging scene come from South Birmingham and the two might as well be different countries. But it’s there and if someone wanted to develop it I’m sure Jon would be interested.

Moseley Exchange

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:35:12 +0100

Moseley Exchange:

Blog for a coworking space in Moseley which opens next month. Plans to cover the space and relevant stuff from the surrounding area.

Birmingham, B29

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:26:11 +0100

Birmingham, B29:

A blog about the B29 postcode district which mainly covers Selly Oak, Selly Park and Weoley Castle, area synonymous with Birmingham Uni students despite normal people living there too. More of the recent posts are by Charlie Pinder with Michael Grimes having just joined. It was started by James Thornett who seems to have taken a bit of back seat, which is fine. That’s what a group blog is all about. Spread the load and get more voices out there.

Looking a bit deeper (not living in B29 this is the first time I’ve read the blog) there’s some in depth stuff in here looking at the elections, MP’s and councilors expenses, broadband internet speeds and the demolition of a lovely old building, chock full of well researched links and opinion. Great stuff.

brumblr

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:11:20 +0100

brumblr:

A Tumblr for Birmingham run by Jon Bounds with many contributors. Conceptual parent of We Love Moseley and The Kings Heathen.

Castle Bromwich Community Website - Blog

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:04:08 +0100

Castle Bromwich Community Website - Blog:

First time I’ve seen this. Activity from Feb to March this year then nothing. Content generally long pieces, sometimes reposted from elsewhere. Could probably do with an intervention as not much needed to get it on track (assuming the will is there).

Eye on Moseley

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:00:56 +0100

Eye on Moseley:

Humourous funny blog written with a sense of humour about Moseley. They say laughter can bring a community together. I wonder…

My Jewellery Quarter (MyJQ) on Twitter

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:55:00 +0100

My Jewellery Quarter (MyJQ) on Twitter:

It’s a blog about the Jewellery Quarter. Yes, it’s on Twitter but it does everything a blog need to. Links to news, a bit of commentary, regularly updated. All in 140 characters or less.

(Sorry, including the phrase “all in 140 characters or less” is mandatory when writing about someone using Twitter for something other than that which Twitter is usually used for and I wouldn’t want to get kicked out of the union.)

Deirdre Alden's Blog

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:13:55 +0100

Deirdre Alden's Blog:

Alden is the Conservative candiate for the Edgbaston constituency and uses her blog as part of this campaign. What this means is when you filter out the political grandstanding (and there’s a lot) you get a pretty comprehensive news service for Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne and Quinton. And a whole lot of cheezy photos.

Spaghetti Gazetti

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:39:00 +0100

Spaghetti Gazetti:

Edited by Pete Millington and covering pretty much everything. I have a problem with this site. When I get sent to it (usually by Birmingham: It’s Not Shit) I find it fantastic. Then I scroll down and get information overload. Too much stuff and not enough focus.

But that’s me. At the very least this is a great clearing house for news about the city, particularly stuff that might not be considered cool or interesting enough for all the hipster blogs. Y’know, the sort of blogs wankers like me like. And, I’d suspect, the sort of news that the mainstream press would either ignore or bury.

Warrants further study (he said condescendingly)

The Stirrer - NEWS THAT MATTERS, CAMPAIGNS THAT COUNT FOR BIRMINGHAM, THE BLACK COUNTRY AND BEYOND

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:29:56 +0100

The Stirrer - NEWS THAT MATTERS, CAMPAIGNS THAT COUNT FOR BIRMINGHAM, THE BLACK COUNTRY AND BEYOND:

Not my favourite site and I and find the forum to be really annoying, but it works and has done for a long time. Run by Adrian Goldberg in a tabloid style. There’s a place for this sort of site and, despite myself, I cite it often as an interesting case study, particularly how the forum feeds the news section with leads.

Digbeth is Good

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:26:50 +0100

Digbeth is Good:

Blog covering Digbeth, an inner city area of Birmingham currently suffering from a severe case of the regenerations. Symptoms include schizophrenia and susceptibility to artists. Also has lots of old man pubs.

Nicky Getgood runs this blog which has been cited by people in rather high places as a damn good example of a local blog. I set her up with the Wordpress installation (“CiB style”) but that’s all the credit I can take.

Created in Birmingham | Linking up Birmingham’s Artistic and Creative Communities

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:22:44 +0100

Created in Birmingham | Linking up Birmingham’s Artistic and Creative Communities:

One of mine. Started Jan 2007 half as an idea about blogging a city that wasn’t London or New York and half as an exercise in convincing the creative and artistic communities in Birmingham that they needed to embrace this newfangled blogging stuff. And along the way to connect people who weren’t already connected. Oh, and to show you could have a damn useful website using free software and a free design - you just need to pay for content. And some other stuff. Had more aims that it’s had editors and it’s onto number four. (I left in April 2008)

Created in me and Stef Lewandownski. Funded, until recently, by Creative Republic through the City Council for a bit (though I don’t think they knew it) and then the Art Council. Edited by Chris Unitt for a while, then Kate Spragg and now Adrienne Frances. Figuring out who owns this baby is part of the fun.

When I talk about “doing a CiB”, this is what I’m referring to.