When I started Socially Diverse, I had one goal: highlighting the truly interesting, diverse conversations taking place online and the people leading them. I knew that I would have to connect with people internationally to really take this project to the next level, but I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do that. Little did I know, I wouldn't have to work too hard to find the people; some of them would come to me! Take a look at the profile below with Johnny Laird, one of the first people I met from across the pond.  

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• Name: Johnny Laird
• Age (or range if that’s better lol): Think Yoda!
• Blog: johnnylaird.net
• Twitter handle: @johnnylaird 
• Profession: Blogger, connector, communicator, change agent & social activist… friend of the geek & radical
• Location: Oxted, Surrey, UK...close to London
• Place of Origin: Aberdeen, Scotland.

Adopted Culture (The one you are most connected to): I guess I’m a Londoner as much as anything else and a South Londoner at that. By being a Londoner, it means I’m likely to have been born outside of the city. I will have lived, learned, worked, played and partied with friends and family from all over the world. My cultural influences will have been many and varied, and I am as likely to enjoy a Jamaican pattie or a Chicken Tikka Massala as I am fish and chips. That said I am a Scot....with an elastic English accent. Londoners are a patchwork. It’s entirely possible to be a Scottish Londoner.

1. How did you first hear about the Socially Diverse project? 

I first "heard" about the Socially Diverse project from @jescarter of Nette Media.  I follow her on Twitter and briefly dipped into the #OpenDiv dialog. I saw a tweet from you there and decided to check out the blog. 

2. What comes to mind when you think of the term "socially diverse"? 

Well, I don’t know if what comes to my mind matches what comes to yours, James, but I see the fluid borderless environment that we Social Media netizens inhabit as a potentially healthy space for us to explore identity by looking outwards as well as inwards. It seems to be that each of us who has the will to do so, have so much to learn from each other, and the digital tools we have at our disposal today have the potential to make that easier than ever. Clearly all tools can be used for good or ill...but the positive potential is really exciting.

3. In one of our earlier conversations you said: "...politically & sociologically I'm keen to have people understand that the UK - and most especially London, which is basically the city I define myself by, is massively diverse, and has been in one way or another for centuries." Given the cultural focus of this project, could you elaborate of the diversity you see present in London? 

London is a massively diverse city...and has been for hundreds of years after wave upon wave of individual migration events and diaspora from every corner of the world. Socially, culturally, economically, racially, sexually it is almost beyond description. It’s not only multi-ethnic, but it’s also poly-ethnic, with a huge number of people who are the product of relationships with a myriad of ethnic pieces to their own particular jigsaw puzzle. It doesn’t take too much to scratch the surface of most of our individual identity stories to uncover a “journey” under the surface. London – like the UK itself - has largely been built on “immigration, invasion, inclusion and adaption.” (Which by the way is a direct lift from a phrase I picked up and re-used by an online buddy of mine, Tom Attah,  who wrote an excellent piece called  “Curry and a bit of Motown” in response to the election of some Far Right UK politicians to our European parliament a couple of years back.)

Even though London is largely a welcoming & accepting place, it’s not to say that all is wonderful in the garden. There are some tensions. There are radical voices from all sides of the spectrum that are less enthusiastic about this diversity than someone like me, but most thinking Londoners are prepared to acknowledge that we are largely used to living with this arrangement, and the city and its inhabitants are remarkably unfazed by our kaleidoscopic cultural mix. For many of us, it is this very diversity that defines London. 

4. Is the city pretty intermingled, with diverse populations living among one another? Or this the city segregated with cultural groups gathering together in specific neighborhoods? Please provide an example. 

There are neighbourhoods that are associated with particular cultural groups, and where the demography reflects that to an extent, but in reality there is a good deal of transit between all the places. Londoners may live in one part of the town, work in another, and spend their leisure time in another still. Most Londoners travel by public transport and we all criss-cross the communities with random abandon. You can also find very affluent areas bumping right up alongside pretty deprived areas, so the movement between geographic areas is reasonably free. 

Let me give you some areas to explore:

• Brixton is considered by many to be the heart of Black London
• Southall in the West has a large South East Asian community, as does Tower Hamlets in the East, together with the wonderful Brick Lane
• Golders Green in North London is regarded as a Jewish area
• Kilburn is thought to be Irish
• Like most major cities, we have our Chinatown

...and I could go on....there are many more vibrant communities all over London.

The fact of the matter is we are all everywhere, and we are all connected. I, for one, like it that way!

5. How do you see the diversity that physically present in London represented online? Are there popular sites or niche communities where you have seen diverse groups gathering online?   

I have to be honest, you kinda threw me with that question, and because the real answer is I don’t really know...yet. However, I’ve put a few Tweets out to explore that, and I’m starting to build up a picture of what’s out there. I'll come back to you on that as my research develops.