Posted by jessdrkn on January 19, 2010
Location: Seattle 
Focus: “Daily news for Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood”; information categories include Events, Restaurants, Forum, Classified, Coupons, Video, Wire
Started: May 2007
Staff: Kate and Corey Bergman, founders of comunity news network Next Door Media
Funding: advertising; part of Next Door Media community news and advertising network. Next Door Media network of neighborhood sites include MyBallard.com, Phinneywood.com, QueenAnneView.com, MagnoliaVoice.com, and FremontUniverse.com. The group partners with the Seattle Times in a content-sharing deal
Site: myballard.com
From About:
We’re Kate and Cory Bergman… a Scandinavian couple who started MyBallard.com in December of 2007. We both have long resumes in journalism — Kate works at KING 5 News and Cory at msnbc.com — and we noticed Ballard lacked a daily news source and community forum. My Ballard soon became the neighborhood’s most popular news site, even winning a community service award from the Ballard District Council.As My Ballard grew, we started a company called Next Door Media and expanded to nearby neighborhoods: PhinneyWood.com for Phinney Ridge and Greenwood, MagnoliaVoice.com in Magnolia, FremontUniverse.com in Fremont and QueenAnneView.com in Queen Anne. All of our blogs are written by folks who live in the neighborhood.
The biggest surprise has been the enormous role that all of our readers play in helping us cover the neighborhood. Unlike traditional news sites, My Ballard is powered by the community, not us. So if you see something interesting in the neighborhood, please let us know. New store? Road construction? Land use issue? Accident? Lost pet? Drop us a tip at tips@myballard.com.
Sample posts: “Lane closures on Ballard and Fremont bridges”; “Demolition crews to level Sunset Bowl tomorrow”; “Kids bounce to exhaustion at Loyal Heights CC”; “Radio Shack robbed at gunpoint”; “Borrowing changes ahead at library
Posted in Washington state | Tagged: advertising, Ballard, hyperlocal news, Next Door Media, seattle, Seattle Times collaboration, washington | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jessdrkn on January 18, 2010
Location: Seattle 
Focus: “A news blog for Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood”; information categories include Events, Restaurants, Forum, Coupons
Started: September 2008
Staff: 1 editor, Thea Chard, a former journalist
Funding: advertising; part of Next Door Media community news and advertising network. Next Door Media network of neighborhood sites include MyBallard.com, Phinneywood.com, QueenAnneView.com, MagnoliaVoice.com, and FremontUniverse.com. Also see MyGreenLake.com independent news site covering a Seattle neighborhood, but no affiliated with Next Door Media. The group partners in a content-sharing deal with the Seattle Times
From About:
Queen Anne View is a community site dedicated to news and events in the neighborhood. Edited by Thea Chard, a journalist who lives right here in the neighborhood, Queen Anne View is dedicated to covering community stories and promoting neighborhood events often ignored by the struggling mainstream press.
…QueenAnneView.com is part of Next Door Media, an innovative publishing company in North Seattle dedicated to finding a new sustainable, community-powered model of local journalism in the neighborhoods where we live.
Sample stories: “Cat adopt-a-thon at All Best Pet Care today”; “20+ McClure students suspended for cyberbullying” story from KING 5 television station; “Community police academy looking for applicants”; “Queen Anne family in Tanzania share stories of multi-culturalism, holidays in the sun & life abroad”; “Kinnear Park project planning meeting tonight”
Posted in Washington state | Tagged: seattle, washington, hyperlocal news, advertising, Next Door Media, Seattle Times collaboration, Queen Anne View | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jessdrkn on January 18, 2010
Location: Seattle 
Focus: “A news blog for Phinney Ridge and Greenwood neighbhorhoods”; “Whatever you call it, we cover it”; news categories include Events, Food & Drink, Forum
Started: July 2008
Staff: 2 — husband and wife team Dale Steinke, who also works at Seattle’s KING 5 TV station as a web producer, and Doree Armstrong, a freelance writer.
Funding: advertising; part of Next Door Media community news and advertising network. Next Door Media network of neighborhood sites include MyBallard.com, Phinneywood.com, QueenAnneView.com, MagnoliaVoice.com, and FremontUniverse.com. Also see MyGreenLake.com independent news site covering a Seattle neighborhood, but no affiliated with Next Door Media
Site: phinneywood.com
From About:
While most Seattle neighborhoods cling tightly to their own identities, North Seattle’s Greenwood and Phinney Ridge neighborhoods also celebrate what brings them together.
…Both neighborhoods are experiencing growing pains, from new condominium complexes to long-time stores moving or going out of business due to rising rents. And that means residents are becoming more involved in their communities, wanting to have a say in what this new urban village will look like.
That’s the idea behind PhinneyWood.com. It’s a daily news blog that’s designed to be a community resource — a place where you can learn about the changes in your neighborhood and discuss the issues that are important in Phinney and Greenwood.
Sample stories: “Reduced bus service on MLK day”; “Couth Buzzard Espresso Buono welcomes crowds at grand opening”; “Police searching for armed robbery suspect at 85th Street”; “Is this your bike?” a call for claiming an abandoned bicycle in the neighborhood; “Phinney, Greenwood businesses win Home Street Banker ‘Good Neighbor’ awards
Posted in Washington state | Tagged: advertising, Greenwood, hyperlocal news, Next Door Media, Phinney Ridge, seattle, Seattle Times collaboration, washington | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jessdrkn on January 13, 2010
Location: Brooklyn, New York 
Focus: community news, hyperlocal info around Southern Brooklyn; original reporting, links to nearby placeblogs, traditional media outlets, ex: NYT; information categories include Arts & Culture, Business, Food, Education, Events, News & Features, Opinion, Police & Fire
Started: May 2008
Staff: founded by Ned Berke, who is editor and publisher; associate editor is Ray Johnson
Funding: advertising
Site: sheepsheadbites.com
From About:
…Many of Brooklyn’s neighborhoods still filled with genuine Brooklynites feature local characters and compelling, complex issues, but are going under-reported in both the established media and the nebulous Brooklyn blogroll. And while most of our neighbors sink further into either apathy or Monday morning quarterback-style governance, our communities are going on without us. They’re leaving their flair and character behind and moving forward in erratic, worrisome ways.Now it’s time we steal from the digital toolbox, and present our neighbors with useful, well-explained information and foster debate on the issues of our day.
Our Beat
Community meetings, development issues, local politics, interesting people, happenings and cool new places — these are just some of the topics the Bite will sink its teeth into. And what will set us apart from any other great blogs in the area is our humor and irreverence, blended in with the same passion and concern that comes from our colleagues.
Sample posts: “Sheepshead Bay Station’s mural artist passes away”; “Halikarnas restaurant closed by DOH”; “Luxury Dental office coming to Ave Z”; “Taking ‘South Brooklyn’ back for the good guys” re-published (from BK Southie), contributed opinion piece on place identity; “City embarks on salty slaughter” article about sodium in foods regulation; “Two killed, Gravesend man arrested in Belt Pkwy crash” with excerpt from NYT story
Platform: WordPress
Posted in New York | Tagged: hyperlocal news, advertising, New York, news blog, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jessdrkn on January 5, 2010
Location: Seattle 
Focus: “A blog for Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood”; original content posted by site founders; links to other sources
Started: May 2009
Staff: Founded by co-editors and Green Lake residents Amy Duncan and Madeleine Carlson. Ms. Duncan, who also is the advertising director, is a former Seattle Public Library librarian, Ms. Carlson used to work for CNET — she’s the site architect.
Funding: advertising supported
Site: mygreenlake.com
From About:
We are two Green Lake residents who felt the need for a neighborhood blog. All the other cool neighborhoods have ‘em so why shouldn’t we? Come here to read about and comment on anything and everything having to do with the Green Lake neighborhood (and sometimes adjacent areas) in Seattle, Washington.
From Ms. Duncan:
My Green Lake is a source of news, observation, community building, and event information for residents, business owners, and all others with an interest in the Seattle neighborhood of Green Lake and its much-loved park. Original content posted by site founders; additional neighborhood information quoted from other neighborhood blogs, SeattlePI.com, SeattleTimes.com, and other local sources.
Sample posts: “A look back at 2009 in Green Lake”; “Organizer of Green Lake Pumpkin Run charged with indecent exposure in relation to West Seattle event”; “Green Lake Community Center to close ten Fridays for Parks and Recreation furlough days”
Posted in Washington state | Tagged: seattle, washington, hyperlocal news, advertising, suburban news, Green Lake | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jessdrkn on October 15, 2009
Location: Philadelphia 
Focus: news and information from 27 neighborhoods in the city; a “Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab” project by Temple University’s journalism department. Similar to University of Southern California’s Intersections: The South Los Angeles Reporting Project.
Started: March 2009
Staff: project co-directors are Linn Washington, director of News-Editorial sequence in the Temple University journalism department, and Christopher Harper, an associate professor in the department. Journalism students contribute content.
Funding:
Site: http://sct.temple.edu/blogs/murl/
From About
[Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab] is the cornerstone of the Department of Journalism’s mission to better tell stories in the under-covered and under-served neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Students tell the stories that represent the diverse voices of the multicultural and multinational Philadelphia neighborhoods. Each semester MURL students concentrate their news coverage in a targeted Philadelphia neighborhood, and then service it with topical information and service news from the community–issues from the school lunch and the missing stop signs–to the people who seek to maintain a livable community. This MURL brand of news provides a form of hyper-local coverage missing from our urban communities: journalism street by street.
Stories: “Gravediggers raise money for Laurel Hill Cemetary”; “Olney: A Look at the 35th Police District”; “Feltonville: Three Children and Woman Killed”; “Fishtown: Vegan anyone?”; “Mantua: Farming Provides Locals with Fresh Produce”
Posted in Pennsylvania | Tagged: hyperlocal news, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, student project, Temple University | Leave a Comment »
