Journalism students in the Midlands have set up a new hyperlocal website focussing on news from around central Birmingham.

The MA online journalism students, from Birmingham City University, have launched Hashbrum.co.uk which combines a map of the Second City with a slideshow of multimedia material to show its news.

Editor Andrew Brightwell said: "I'd say we have a number of aims for Hashbrum.

"I think we see it as a way to learn about how online news can engage and be informed by its audience.

"So we're interested in experimenting in ways of finding, creating and presenting news. We've tried to have some fun with the way that we've covered stories.

"I can't say exactly how it will develop, but I hope it evolves a life of its own, in a sense.

"By this I mean that it'd be really successful if we feel that much of the news we're creating is being led and developed by the site's audience."