Most of the startups and networks focused on hyperlocal or community news and information try to be as open as possible, but Nextdoor is taking the exact opposite approach and making the barrier to entry for users as high as it can. Read more »
Hyperlocal used to be a popular buzzword in media circles, but NBC says it has shut down one of the pioneers of the genre — data-driven startup EveryBlock — because it wasn’t a good fit with its core strengths. Read more at paidContent »
The Guardian is trialling a new community publishing platform that’s based on where you are — a sort of Wordpress meets Craigslist meets Everyblock. But can it make hyperlocal work? The company’s director of digital strategy tells us what it means. Read more »
One of the themes running through many of the projects that won this year’s $5-million Knight News Challenge for media startups is the idea that data — and the ability to filter and make sense of it — can be a powerful tool for digital journalism. Read more »
Real estate website Trulia is set to roll out a new feature that will allow users to view crime statistics for 50 metro areas in the U.S. The new feature, launching in June, is a major exercise in real-time big data processing. Read more »
Hyper-local site EveryBlock started out as an automated news aggregator, pulling in feeds based on specific locations. But founder Adrian Holovaty says he has realized that data is nothing without human interaction, and so the site has relaunched with more of a focus on community. Read more »
Programmers can compete with journalists if they like, but they’d be wise to instead arm journalists with the power of their programming. Reporters and editors shouldn’t need to know how to code web apps any more than they should know how to create word processing apps ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
