About
What is Nutshell?
In a .. er .. nutshell, it is a directory to list websites dedicated to a locality or area, which are aiming to give a rounded view of local life.
I’m trying to help support what I call “independent grassroots new media”. That’s a bit of a mouthful, but I’ve managed to avoid buzzwords such as “hyperlocal” or “ultralocal”.
Who is included?
This is a small directory to start with, and initially I’m mainly focused on blogs and websites which roughly meet the following criteria:
- Sites focused on a defined and identified area or community.
- Sites edited and controlled from within that area or community.
- Sites which are editorially independent.
I’m keen to support sites which provide a rounded view of life in their area. I’ll list political sites, but not (at this stage anyway) party political sites; so it needs to have contributors from across the local political spectrum.
I’ll acknowledge networks of locally-focused sites which are run centrally; often these have the aim of using local news as a platform for local advertising in contrast to my main interest in community development (sorry, buzz words).
These criteria, will be blurred at the edges in keeping with everything else on the Internet.
How is it organised?
At present we have pages for Local Blogs, Local Blogs aggregators and local websites (such as forums). The aim is to build into a more organised setup with self-maintained records in the future.
Am I in Nutshell already?
If you submitted your site to the list collected by myself (Matt Wardman and Paul Bradshaw of Online Journalism Blog) recently, then you have been considered, or will be soon.
Who runs the Nutshell directory?
Matt Wardman, who is the editor of the Wardman Wire non-partisan political blog.
How can I contact you?
You can use our Contact Page.
We love feedback and comments, especially as this is a brand new site and has a long way to go.
