For the first time in months I have been able to step back and wonder just how great hyperlocal Web sites really are for readers and users. Over the past few months I have fallen in love with the idea, much like the rest of the online journalists. My multimedia journalism professor is hooked, I've tried to convince people over at The Daily Texan to consider creating a new site, and I even wrote a research paper on one of the first hyperlocal sites: northwestvoice.com of Bakersfield, California.
It's a little upsetting how easy it is to fall under this spell of super self-service in such a small niche. Today's keynote speaker, Guy Berger of Rhodes University in South Africa, was one of the first people I've heard to question the idea.
He said that hyperlocality should be a priority for U.S. newspapers, but not the exclusively. Is it really healthy for Americans to become more self-involved?
He suggested a new priority: hyperglobalism.
Our news is already completely focused on the U.S., and international stories are generally unread unless they include some sort of relation to our homeland. It's not really our fault, but how soon will it be before, let's say Texans, don't even care about the news that goes on outside of our state? Or before Austinites are completely unconcerned with anything that happens away from our city?
That's pretty far-off, but it's important that we realize how short-sighted we can become.
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Trick is to show that the local also has international angles. And that international alone is of interest in its own right. Finally, to tell - where appropriate - the stories in local-regional-national-global layers, and richness, as enabled by the web, that will get people to care and read.
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