Kaye Wiggins on a big step for local blogging – and a community debate in Shepherd’s Bush
Over at the Shepherd’s Bush blog, local blogging has come into its own. The site’s editor, Chris Underwood, recently updated his readers about a shooting in the area, and readers started to share their thoughts using the comments section underneath. What’s interesting is that people seem to have been talking to their neighbours for the very first time. There are a few interchanges in which commenters say things like “I live on Addison Gardens,” followed by “I live on Addison Gardens too.” There are also a few sections in which young black teenagers from the area share their thoughts on gang violence. It’s hard to imagine other scenarios in which people from across the community would be talking to each other so frankly. Not all of the comments are friendly (in fact, Chris had to step into the debate to ask people to be civil to each other) but, as he said on the site, “Keep talking – this is probably the first time people in our community have had a chance to have this very sensitive debate with each other in a long time, if ever. It can’t be a bad thing to understand how the world looks to other people.”
Awesome post,thank you.