Citizen journalist Lisa Williams, who started covering her Massachussets community through an imaginatively titled blog called H2Otown, has started a new gathering place for similarly-minded media entrepreneurs. She calls it Placeblogger.com. Jay (PressThink) Rosen says the site “was built on Drupal technology by the team at Bryght.” Amy (Poynter) Gahran adds that ” Lisa is a major fan of OPML, so expect some sophisticated feed options later from Placeblogger.”

Here is an excerpt from Gahran’s blog entry:

“What’s a placeblog? Williams defines it as “an act of sustained attention to a particular place over time. It can be done by one person, a defined group of people, or in a way that’s open to community contribution. It’s not a newspaper, though it may contain random acts of journalism.”

I joined the Placeblogger community and signed up too get a digest of email messages. One of those messages said a link from Boing Boing had put Placeblogger on the map and revved up the signup process. Good luck Lisa!

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A placeblog by any other name? MediaPost reports that an online consultant, a former newspaper journalist and a well-known broadcast talkshow host will team up to launch the Baltimore Bulldog. The writeup says:

“The essence of the site will be professional news coverage augmented by citizens . . . For example, you might have professionals writing about a zoning issue, but citizens providing photos and their personal perspectives.”

A dozen journalists are supposed to be working for the site gratis while the founders look for funding.

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Legal notices are a staple of local newspaper funding, which is why a press release announcing a deal between the Washington Post and  MyPublicNotices.com caught my eye. An FAQ from the web site defines public notices and says:

“MyPublicNotices.com (MPN) brings public notices from the country’s newspapers to the Web. Now, anyone can locate vital information about a community, a state or an entire region with MPN’s online searching and data management tools. MPN helps newspapers add more value to their public notice advertising.”

Is there a way for “placeblogs” to get into the act?