The lovely Sarah Hartley, who sadly for us is not based in Manchester any more, has instead been beavering away at Guardian HQ training up three so called ‘beatbloggers’ to usher in the future of local journalism.

Yesterday Sarah announced that they will be hitting their beats in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds as of next week with blogs to be launched in the first half of this year.

This is a really interesting project which the wider journalism community is watching with bated breath. Sarah describes them as ‘talented journalists’ so I for one can’t wait to read their hyper -local blogs.

On the subject of local journalism, I was chatting to the director of a local charity this week who was concerned that the local media didn’t seem interested in the great hands on work they do in the community with groups who generally don’t get a lot of good press.

Maybe hiring talented local bloggers is one way busy news organisations can penetrate deaper into the community they serve without adding massive overheads.

I really hope the bloggers can get onto their beats and into the lives of their readers and wish Sarah and her team lots of luck.

Wave is Google’s newest web based open-source collaboration tool set to launch later in the year. The recent developer preview event held in the States aimed to encourage developers to build tools for Wave to make it more useful and integrated for its future users much like with iphone applications.

Wave is based on a tree structure of communication which focuses around ‘hosted conversations’ the design of which is focused around real conversation patterns and speed of use. It integrates email and instant messaging all into the same message thread.

To make efficiencies, key strokes are streamed live in instant messaging to cut down on time you have to sit and watch the ‘katie is typing’ message like with other instant messenger services. This service even allows you to ‘drag and drop’ files into the conversation straight from your desktop rather than uploading attachments.

Other wave users can even see thumbnails of the files dropped into the conversation before they are fully uploaded.

My favourite bit is that you can add ‘robot’ users such as your blog to your wave. Adding the blog ‘robot’ to the conversation thread and anything which is said or done there is then uploaded to the blog itself. Any edits done within this thread will also be updated on the blog and non- wave users comments on the blog site updated to the wave thread. This could be great for collaborative blogging and conversations online.

Check out the full product video (it’s quite long) here.

A friend of mine once told me that they considered blogs a bit like pens – almost anyone can use them to share the written word – put they don’t make you Shakespeare.

It’s this, along with the growth of micro blogging, that has fueled the argument that blogging is dead. After all, if any man and his dog can share what they had for breakfast then who cares?

The truth is, some blogs receive more hits than the national press. Knowing about your chosen blogging subject is central – but it’s the quality of the writing along with making it relevant to your audience that will keep people coming back for more.

Today, I read in the Guardian about a blog that has done just that – well written, engaging and colourful – based on the personal experience of a British policeman.

“Night Jack – an English Detective” is an insight into the everyday life of the police. Case stories and policing procedures sit alongside practical advice on how ‘nice people’ should use the same tricks employed by the ‘baddies’ when dealing with the law.

Night Jack has just been awarded the Orwell special prize for blogs – and the anonymous author, who stopped posting this month, has pledged to donate the prize to the Police Dependents’ Trust. He’s now considering writing a book.

Of the millions of blogs online, it’s the power of the public that decide what will be followed – and quality, as always will win out.

This week, we’ve been swotting up on the mummy blogs and even that of the marmalade fantics – all of them doing well because, just like Night Jack, they’re well written, know their stuff and understand their audience. Wannabie Shakespeares – take heed.

Being a keen second year student studying Marketing at Lancaster University, I decided to get some hands-on experience and after checking out websites and arranging meetings with the careers advisor (plus cashing in on all my personal contacts), I opted to try and get into Democracy PR for some work experience over the Easter break. One telephone interview, a personal recommendation and i got the nod a couple of months ago.

Today I woke up, excited, terrified and ready to get stuck in. After a read through the papers, I received the first challenge – have a go a blogging. First attempt coming up shortly . . .

Jade Singleton is a 19 year old student studying Marketing at Lancaster University. She joins Democracy PR on their work experience program. Anyone wanting to register for the program should email their CV to j.ogrady@democracypr.com.

As I write my first blog I must admit that my excitement is tinged with trepidation.

My online presence to date has involved writing for The Yorker, finding online academic resources and a healthy amount of Facebook stalking. Turning my internet experience to business is a whole new challenge.

Today, as we reviewed the papers (a new daily habit), I realised that not every blogger gets it right all the time.

Paul Daniels hit the headlines when he used his blog to defend his glamorous assistant and lovely wife Debbie McGee after the Daily Mail used an unflattering shot of her in a bikini on their holidays.

As I leap headfirst into the online world, Paul’s presence at my virtual side is reassuring. Blogging is clearly a difficult art to master and using your blog as a platform for a rant against the press, posting a picture of your wife’s breasts or one of yourself in a balaclava on the beach may not be the best way to go about it.

As Paul demonstrates so well, in the complex world of the blog even the best of us can get it wrong sometimes. But at least he’s being talked about, which, as I’m coming to learn, is a big part of being in the online world.

If you want to chat further about Paul, or anything else for that matter, you can find me on linkedin and twitter.