Hyperlocal News Sites

Link to April 13 New York Times article, "News Without Newspapers".

Excerpt: If your local newspaper shuts down, what will take the place of its coverage? Perhaps a package of information about your neighborhood, or even your block, assembled by a computer.

A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists.

The sites, like EveryBlock, Outside.in, Placeblogger, and Patch, collect links to articles and blogs and often supplement them with data from local governments and other sources.

What I discovered:

EveryBlock's coverage is currently limited to the following cities: Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Washington DC.

Outside.in gives me local (Middleton) coverage. Just added it to my bloglines account.

At first glance, Placeblogger is just confusing. (No time now to figure it out.)

Patch currently covers 3 New Jersey communities: South Orange, Millburn, and Maplewood.

Going Against the Grain

Link to April 17 cnet news post, "Blu-ray sales nearly double from a year ago".

Sam Wood, the Answer Man

Western Technical College Library, La Crosse

Link to April 16 La Crosse Tribune article, "The answer man: Reference librarian’s work is all Q & A".

Excerpt: Wood became a reference librarian six years ago. Since he started working at Western’s library reference desk in February, he has fielded 218 questions and tracked them based on the subject and time they take.

“It’s a means to justify our existence,” he said.

Questions ranged from the diabetes rates of inner-city youth to the location of the restrooms. Some questions take Wood an hour, others 10 seconds.

But most questions are reference-related and those are his favorites.

"That's the nice thing about being a reference librarian, you get to learn all the time,” he said.