We’ve been through the process to retrieve it as Twitter suggests we could still get it back. However, that’s not a certainty and I won’t hold my breath.

It seems we’re popular enough that other variations of Lichfield Blog have already been snapped up. As Ross has said, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – so thanks to those people(!)

A while ago I snapped up @Lichfield and handed it over to Lichfield District Council’s tourism team who subsequently changed to @VisitLichfield leaving @Lichfield to be snapped up by someone who hasn’t even used it!

So I’d like to try and obtain @Lichfield instead. It’d be a great account to use and we could really use it well to promote everything that’s going on!

Here’s what I’d like you to do to help;

1. Follow @Lichfield – this will send the owner an e-mail so if there’s lots of us that means lots of e-mails!
2. Send a tweet to them, asking them to donate the account and linking to this blog post.

Please don’t retweet each other doing it – send your own, individual tweet as it’s the most sure fire way to make sure the owner gets lots of tweets! Oh and be polite!

Lastly, if you’re the owner and you’re reading this – pretty please could The Lichfield Blog have the account? Hopefully you’re reading this because you’ve seen the support we have locally but just in case, see our about page for what we are & do. If you’re willing to pass it on please e-mail me at phil@thelichfieldblog.co.uk

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This morning, after waking up early and spending a couple of hours catching up with some reading links I’d saved for later, I found myself in the shower at about 9:30am. That’s not uncommon on an average day for me.

My friends often rib me about getting up late because I don’t have a ‘proper job’ which is fair enough, ’cause most of them are slaves to the 9-5 routine. However, I do often continue working well into the evening, often finishing around 8 or 9pm at night (mainly when I force myself to stop!)

It’s another part of my life that invites well mannered ridicule.

But this morning it made me think about ‘work’. Most people think of work as that thing they have to do every day. The job that wakes them up at an hour they’d rather not see, forces them to don a suit and tie, make sandwiches for lunch (possibly to be eaten while still chained to their desk) and trawl through the hell of the commuter traffic.

That’s all very negative, I know, but so often people moan about having to go to work, having to go in on a Monday or shouting about how glad they are about the weekend, or even home time, arriving.

Now I know I’m very lucky – I love my job and quickly obtained my (then) ideal job aged 18 and have spent the last 7 years moving onwards and upwards all the time. I’ve taken the plunge to work for myself and as I approach the end of my third full year I’m realising just how different my approach to ‘work’ is.

See, in the shower this morning I thought about how most people look at work – that drain on their life, a necessary evil. And then I thought about how I look at work – an opportunity, a chance to achieve my goals in life, to better myself and become all that I ever want to be.

Recently, I went to Tenerife. I went there to stay with a friend who’s just moved out there for a while. He’s someone who, as well as being a good friend, I look up to. He spent nearly three years working his arse off earning very little to reach the point he is now at. He’s working for himself, earning a six-figure salary and living on the Canary Islands. He’s thinking of going to Argentina next.

On my second day there I updated my Facebook to;

Philip John is already having an amazing time…I’ve only just been here 24 hours! Now sitting pool side in shorts wearing my “Armani” sunglasses that I got for €5, thinking you ‘suits’ doin 9-5 sayin’ “wish I could live somewhere hot & sunny” should get your finger out & JFDI ’cause cost of living is ridiculous here & you don’t need to know Spanish, it’s hot and amazing and [my friend] has got it bang on.

It was a pretty spur of the moment update but the sentiment is still true. All too often we say “I wish…” or “if only…” but the thing about that is the only barrier, the only thing holding us back, are ourselves.

I’d decided by the time I hit puberty that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. At 23 I considered myself just that. Sure, I’d had lucky breaks but then again, all I’d done was carried on doing what made me happy and remained determined that I could one day achieve my aim. I didn’t make excuses as to why I couldn’t, or shouldn’t do it, I just fucking did it.

You may be wondering why this sounds a bit like a 25-year old telling you to get off your arse and chase your dreams and I can see why (especially if you’re older than 25) but I find it so disappointing when I see or hear people miserable about their lives, especially work.

I have a motto;

If it ain’t right, fix it. If you can’t fix it, get rid of it.

Now I’ve not always applied that very well to my own life (as some who know me will gladly testify) but I still stick by it as a good rule of thumb. If you’re not satisfied in an area of your life, figure out what you can do to make it better and JFDI! If you run out of ideas/options/whatever then get rid. Quick disclaimer here: don’t take that as meaning you can do anything stupid (read: illegal, immoral) – use your common sense.

If you sit on your backside and complain then you only have yourself to blame for your level of happiness (or lack of it).

So, do you work or do you achieve? Do you stick to the status quo or go out there and do something? Do you wear a suit or sit by the pool with your laptop topping up your tan?

I know which I’d rather do…

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Pic: Jason Scragz

A wise ogre once told a donkey, “Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.”

I’d like to add a third to the ‘things with layers list’; online news.

While the news industry is going through all this change I’m making sense of it by comparing it to onions. The way I see it, there are several layers;

• Local bloggers
• Hyperlocal news providers
• Local newspapers
• Regional TV news
• National news providers

I’ve separated bloggers and hyperlocal for a very important reason – bloggers are the very first layer of the news onion. I’m referring to those who are blogging about their sports club, social club, voluntary group or grievances. These are generally those active in the community simply shouting about what they do, or commenting on the community around them, they help to feed the local media with stories. The best example has to be the excellent Parwich.org.

The hyperlocal layer is the first level of active news reporting – covering everything that goes on in that area. This is where I place sites like Pits ‘n’ Pots, Bournville Village and The Lichfield Blog – all sites with a professional journalist behind them (not that it’s a requirement!). These sites report what’s happening in the community but also wider issues like politics, education, justice and health.

Local newspapers I then see as covering a similar but sometimes wider area. These are publications like the Birmingham Mail, The Sentinel and Lichfield Mercury. These feed off both the bloggers and the hyperlocals, covering some of the community activity as well as the issues concerning that community but they also report on a larger area, covering some regional issues for example.

Then you have the regional TV news which covers the big stories of the day for a wider area than the regional newspapers will look at. And finally national news providers, such as The Guardian, BBC and ITN who report what’s relevant nationally but also the occasional local-level story which goes big (a great recent example is the Staffordshire Hoard).

Right, that isn’t exactly ground-breaking (mind you, neither is the next bit..) so here’s why it matters: It’s not dis-similar from a food chain. Each of the layers of the news onion feed off each other. National news feeds off regional news, regional off local, local off hyperlocal and hyperlocal off community.

So in this time of evolving media (not new vs. old) it’s important that we learn to share. Hyperlocals need to understand that they will be feeding off their community.

I think it’s also important for existing media, such as local newspapers to acknowledge hyperlocal and community bloggers as a source of news and work with them. Newspapers, I feel, could benefit a great deal from the passion that can be found in bloggers – afterall, we’re all in the same sinking ship. Rather than climbing over each other we should help each other into the lifeboat.

Okay, I’ve used two analogies – a good time to stop. Thoughts are very welcome in the comments below.

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The U.S. is again making progress in this area, by launching Apps.gov (hat-tip to Dave Briggs) which is making cloud-computing and social media services available to all federal agencies.

Potentially, this could have a knock on impact on a couple of fronts. Hopefully, this will help prove the case for cloud-computing and social media to the commercial sector and increase up take of this next generation of IT.

I’d also like to see this replicated over here in the UK, encouraging local authorities to shake off the shackles of oppression forced on them by their IT consultants and outsourcers.

When we spoke about the e-petitions system Nicky Getgood mentioned The Rainbow in Digbeth which, faced with a noise abatement order, managed to get over 2,500 people to join a Facebook group in support. The local authority wouldn’t accept this as a form of petition, which I can understand as it’s hard to verify. However, I suggested that it needs to be as easy if not easier for people to sign a recognised petition as it is to join a Facebook group.

So with the US government pushing tools like Facebook to federal agencies is there now a case for government at all levels to build things like Facebook and Twitter apps that allow people to engage on their platform of choice?

Thanks to Pez I get a DM reminding me to put my bin out. How about a Facebook app that does the same thing for those not on Twitter? Or a Facebook app that shows me planning applications in my area as part of my news feed?

There are more possibilities that will come to me after another cuppa but that’s a start.

David Stuart suggested at LSMC that we shouldn’t make it easier for people to do things like sign petitions. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from Daily Mail polls?

So is giving local authorities that freedom really a good thing? And while we’re all going on about digital engagement, is this level of digital engagement a good idea, or giving a voice to those ‘busy-bodies’, or another why for government to provide a good service to citizens?

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The Lichfield Blog banner up at Fuse Acoustic '09

I never thought I’d be looking at stats showing an average of 11,000 visitors each month (equivalent to over 10% of Lichfield District’s population* and a third of the circulation of leading print weekly, the Lichfield Mercury). Nor did I imagine it would spur such cool things as Lichfield Social Media Cafe and Lichfield Social Media Surgeries (both still in planning). I would have laughed if you’d have told me I’d be live-streaming local artists at Lichfield’s Fuse Festival. A look of disbelief would accompany the thought of our MP, Mike Fabricant advertising on the site.

I knew we’d do lots of very cool things with it – as seems to be customary now my brain buzzed with ideas for exciting developments as soon as I saw it. I’m taken aback by the way things have played out though.

When I first started working freelance in November 2007 my aim was to be a leader in my industry. The heavy involvement in The Lichfield Blog and the recognition it’s seen has proven to me that I’m starting to achieve that.

That recognition has seen a massive boost over the past few weeks for two big reasons. The first is securing Michael Fabricant MP as an advertiser on the blog. He was our third advertiser and (we think) the first MP to advertise on a hyperlocal media site. Rick Waghorn of Addiply (the ad system we use) took the opportunity to shout about it that very afternoon at NewsInnovation London. I saw the tweets rolling in and I could barely contain my elation at having made such an impact.

Second reason, and the inspiration for this post, is that today Lichfield District Council have (after I sent them a cheeky tweet) changed their “Local Newspapers” section to “Local Media” and included The Lichfield Blog. They’re even syndicating us! I’m still undecided as to whether to check the other 353 local government district web sites to see if Lichfield is the only one to do so…

Both of these also come after what I consider to be a huge compliment from Birmingham Mail who recently started syndicating us along with our friends, Tamworth Blog and local blogger, Brownhill’s Bob. I call this traditional and new media meeting and getting along nicely – aka a sneak peak into the future of local media.

I know this is just the start though. All this has been achieved with the only expenditure being less than £100 and the time of a small team of dedicated and passionate volunteers (I say only, but it takes a lot of time). With the extra help and support we’re hoping to get as part of our future plans it’s obvious to me that The Lichfield Blog is going to move on leaps and bounds.

I can’t wait!

* based on data from the Office for National Statistics.

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I’m really proud to be part of something that has such a switched on and engaged little team behind it.

It was especially gratifying to watch as the story of a fire in one of Lichfield’s pubs quickly made it onto the blog just 3 hours after the initial call to the emergency services. Obviously we were lucky to have one of our team walk past at the right moment with a camera phone – a photo quickly made it’s way on to Twitter and a few tweets later the post was up.

The blog’s creator, Ross, made a call to the fire service about the incident and learned that no-one else had picked up on the story yet. It seemed we had beaten the local media. Having seen other, more high-profile, stories break on Twitter that doesn’t surprise me but it did make me think about all this “newspapers are dead” talk.

The blog has a few hundred visitors now, which is great, but it’s never going to kill the newspapers in Lichfield. I wouldn’t want it to either – there are plenty of people throughout the world, not just in Lichfield, who like to read a paper.

So the question isn’t, “are newspapers going to die?”, but rather “how can newspapers use citizen journalism?”

A good example is the Pancake Race in Lichfield. Nick Brickett has been providing photography for The Lichfield Blog, his first assignment being the traditional Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race. His photos of the event made their way onto the Express & Star web site (ironically, as I write this, said web site is down!)

This could be the way journalism is going. Another great example is Channel 4 News (who my Twitter followers will know full well I admire).

Their coverage of the Schiphol plane crash was very much driven by Twitter. I sat in front of Tweetdeck and watched it all unfold in front of my eyes, from them picking up the story, contacting an eye witness to putting a Twit on the lunch time news. It was a first for them and possibly for journalism in the UK.

Krishnan Guru-Murphy of Channel 4 News says that Twitter is “just another way of finding people and talking“.

I suspect some journalists will treat services like Twitter and citizen journalism in general as a threat rather than an asset. I’ve heard of publications shutting down because they just can’t sustain themselves for much longer (obviously the ‘crunch’ doesn’t help) but instead of shutting down, I believe they should adapt and grow with the times.

And let’s face it, it’s cheaper to do it online!

Do you think the internet is a threat to traditional media, or should traditional media adapt and embrace services like Twitter as sources for news?

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In fact, it turns out the new fees are almost identical to PayPal’s fees.

Plenty of sellers have been complaining about the move but is it a deliberate attempt by Google to get rid of them?

The previous fees were very, very low and along with the free processing offer based on AdWords spend, Google Checkout was a very attractive alternative to the well-established PayPal.

Could this all have been a ruse to get testers for Checkout, though? It’s possible that Google was simply entering in at such a low price to deliberately get thousands of e-commerce sites on board to test the waters.

Now they’ve decided they don’t want to be in the market afterall they’re deliberately matching PayPal’s prices knowing that PayPal is a better service. It becomes a no-brainer for Checkout customers to switch to PayPal or another service.

So, nonsensical pricing structure, or deliberate exit strategy?

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When my Dad – a sufferer of Pick’s Disease – was still living at home, there was always concern about whether he was remembering to take the many tablets he was prescribed.

There were many times where he’d be trying to figure out which day it was and therefore which partition he should open on his very handy seven-day pill dispenser.

Now, though, forgetting to take pills might not be a problem any longer, thanks to advancements in technology.

GigaOm has gone through a bunch of biotech offerings, including an edible microchip that sends a signal to a sensor placed on the skin to indicate that it is being digested.

I bet Jonah wouldn’t mind one of those microchips!

The actual implementation of such technology probably has a lot of factors to consider but it could be hugely useful to Dementia sufferers like my Dad.

Imagine, by mid-morning, having a text message saying “Looks like your Dad forgot his Aricept today. Better check that out.”

Ten minutes later, the pill is being swallowed and doing it’s job.

Brilliant.

Image courtesy of geishaboy500

I was walking past Lichfield police station today, watching their grubby Union Jack flapping around in the wind and I wondered why the Lichfield District Council building just down the road didn’t also have a Union Jack proudly waving around.

In fact, why don’t all Government buildings have a Union Jack?

I’m kind of a nationalist - in the sense that I like to feel like I’m part of something, like I belong – but not in the defensive ‘screw everyone else, let’s be completely independent’ sense.

One of my favourite phrases is “no involvement, no commitment” because I think applies to so many things. I’m of the mind that a greater sense of nationality (similar to what the U.S. seems to have) would help society to function more cohesively. Maybe flying the flag is one part of that.

What do you think? Does nationalism matter? Should Government buildings fly the flag? Do you fly the flag?

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There is one problem, though. They’ve announced that sites including CNN, Facebook and MySpace won’t work correctly. Users of the browser will have to choose to view these sites in “Compatibility View”. That sounds painful. It smacks of the “cancel or allow” ‘safety‘ feature in Vista.

It’s great that Microsoft are finally supporting standards. It’s long overdue and it should give the many standards ignorant web developers in the world a good kick up the arse.

Can you hear the “but” coming?

BUT… what are users going to do when, after upgrading to IE8, their favourite sites stop working? Some won’t even know there are alternative browsers and will think it’s a problem with their PC. Cue lots of restarts, calls to broadband providers and flicking through the Yellow Pages.

Though admirable, could Microsoft’s harsh line just frustrate IE users and web developers? Could this move fuel more browser-switching?

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