Topic Suggestion: Making London Local

[M@]

This was suggested to me by Hugh. How about a session looking at the
slightly larger picture than a particular neighbourhood?

What London-wide communities already exist online?
Are they top-down (i.e. run by a large organisation) or bottom-up (run
by community members), and what are the advantages/disadvantages of
both?
What functions do they serve?
How can we get important stories/campaigns from the hyperlocal level
out to a wider London audience online?

Hugh - chip in if you were thinking of other angles.

Would this be of interest to people? I'm happy to lead a session if
so.
Matt (editor of Londonist.com)

[Hugh Flouch]

Thanks Matt.

My thoughts on this are that in village cities like London, local isn't
always straightforward. Thinking London-wide is sometimes critical to
understanding the local context and vice versa. So building that symbiosis
into a healthy collaborative relationship between London-wide and
neighbourhood level seemed to me to offer real potential. On a more
practical day-to-day level there's also intelligence and story sharing. Is
there a way we can do this that adds more than. Ideally, what would
neighbourhood sites like from sites like the Londonist and vice versa?

That's the sort of territory I had in mind. Any other thoughts?