links for 2011-04-29

The latest event – first announced some weeks ago – will bring together some of the biggest names from local blogging and journalism to debate the key issues faced by bloggers, journalists and others publishing on and off-line at grass-roots level. It's called: What did the digital revolution ever do for journalism?

Emma Bearman (The Culture Vulture), Sarah Hartley (Guardian Local) and Nigel Barlow (Inside the M60) will be lead by Adam Westbrook (entrepreneurial journalist and video blogger) through the issues that they and you think are key to present day and future activities online.

The sketchy evidence that is available so far suggests that a sustainable hyperlocal site needs a number of conditions to thrive. The optimum population coverage seems to be in the range of 30,000 – 70,000 i.e. big enough to provide sufficient revenue but small enough that the audience have a shared identity based on locality. The ideal demographic seems to be family formers from prosperous communities who own their home.