Here’s Hugh Flouch!
- Hyperlocal communities
- Harringay Online – 2,900 members, 4-500 visits a day, 2-300 visitors a day
- Has discussion forum, event promotion, information about public services, photo gallery and local history archive
- ‘a bible of local information and gossip’ – BBC news
- ‘the biggest residents’ association in the borough’ – a local cllr
- It’s also a peer support group
- Is translating into on the ground impact. Campaigns eg on betting shops and transport issues.
- Events are organised by the community, meetups, festivals and parties
- Next move is into co-production. During the snow, the site was used to organise action on snow clearing
- Now doing research into London’s ‘digital neighbourhoods’
- Using local sites results in meeting new neighbours and a greater sense of belonging
- Also increases likelihood of contacting politicians or local council officers
- Also results in improved perception of local politicians etc
[…] Hugh Flouch of Harringay Online – shared his experience of founding and working on community site (hyperlocal network) and the Networked Neighbourhoods research project funded by London Councils and Capital Ambition which is looking at the impact of these community based social networks and how they change the nature of the relationship with local public services – with lessons for active citizens and for public services. (DB’s key points) […]