This post from Jeff Jarvis reminded me that I've been thinking of starting a local blog for many years. We live in an interesting area, there'd be stuff to write about. And every time I think, yes, I'll get on with it, I realise that writing about my neighbourhood worries me deeply. Because the people and shops and cafes are going to notice that you're writing about them, and if you're in any way critical they'll know and glare at you, and you're going to feel really bad. I would anyway. And doing it anonymously would be even worse and hugely destabilising to any real community. There's a difference between slagging off a restaurant you don't intend to go back to and walking past the same place every day. Even if you decided not to be critical you could easily be misunderstood, misinterpreted, not delighted enough or otherwise disliked.
Which made me wonder whether local blogging just might not work so well in the UK. We're clearly very keen to talk about our neighbours, but maybe not so much right in front of their faces. Maybe we need the license of being a 'professional journalist' to stand behind. Perhaps that explains the lack of local blogging that Lloyd noticed. So if hyperlocalism is going to work in the UK maybe it needs to be aggregated rather than authored (somehow, I'm not really sure what I mean by that) or it needs some imprimatur of professionalism that says "I'm just doing my job".
Anyway.