Place-Based Software

Over the last fifty years, communication technologies have turned our world into a “Global Village” where place no longer seems to matter.

We now have a potential antidote to this initial, ungrounded foray into cyberspace – in the form of mobile computing technologies. This new generation of communications technology will help us reconnect with and possibly even deepen our connections to the places where we live, work and explore.

Place-based software exposes us to a deeper understanding of what is going on around us, and therefore must be handled with great care. If done correctly, however, it could help us understand once again that place does matter.  It matters to our connections with the planet, with our communities, and even with ourselves.

 Featured Articles on Place-Based Software:

Place is a Tag: How Your Phone Should Work

Get ready for the geo-tag – and a revolution in the way you use your phone to search the places around you!

Place-Based Networks: A New Kind of Social Network

Place-Based Networks are mobile social networks that help you connect with other people based on your shared interest in a place.

Will Mobile Devices Usher in a Renaissance in Local News?

Mobile devices will usher in a renaissance in local news. With Google, Facebook, Yelp and others building services to help us buy more local goods and services, there will be natural pressure for other kinds of location-based information and news as we layer millions of small posts, tags and comments onto our physical surroundings.

Social Networks and the Renaissance of Local News

The new economics of local news distribution rests on linking and networking behavior, and that requires a whole new type of relationship with readers – one that treats them less like passive consumers and more like proactive partners in disseminating news.

The “Local Tail” Exposes What’s Hidden Right Next to Us

Chris Anderson’s concept of the “Long Tail” offers an interesting analogy to what I’ll call the “Local Tail” – which is how the mobile web connects people back with the places they live.

Latest Articles on Place-Based Software:

• Place-Based Networks: A New Kind of Social Network Place-Based Networks are mobile social networks that help you connect with other people based on your shared interest in a place.
• Place is a Tag: How Our Phones Should Work Get ready for the geo-tag - and a revolution in the way you use your phone to search the places around you!
• Will Mobile Devices Usher in a Renaissance in Local News? Mobile devices will usher in a renaissance in local news. With Google, Facebook, Yelp and others building services to help us buy more local goods and services, there will be natural pressure for other kinds of location-based information and news as we layer millions of small posts, tags and comments onto our physical surroundings.
• Social Networks and the Renaissance of Local News The new economics of local news distribution rests on linking and networking behavior, and that requires a whole new type of relationship with readers - one that treats them less like passive consumers and more like proactive partners in disseminating news.
• Social Enterprise and the Renaissance of Local News The old business model for local news is deep in debt and essentially running on fumes. The notion of a truly mission-driven news entity is quite compelling. We see examples of it running quite effectively in the nonprofit world in entities such as YES! Magazine, Grist, and High Country News. While these organizations have editorial voices and geographic territories that make them operationally quite different from a local newspaper, they do paint a picture of what could be possible on a municipal level.
• The Great Unbundling and Collapse of Local Newspapers The web's unbundling of the local newspaper business model didn't occur all at once, but as a one-two punch of vertical marketplaces for easily aggregated data like car buying, and crowd-sourcing platforms to get at the fragmented, more difficult to aggregate information in local markets. In essence, what the Internet did was enable web-based businesses to cherry-pick the profitable pieces out of the local newspaper's business model. When that happened, the flow of money for reporter salaries came under increased pressure and newsrooms across the US were slowly eviscerated.
• The Information Needs of Communities This is the first in a five-part-series on the decline, fall and possible renaissance of local news. In this first installment, I share key excerpts from a very interesting report on the state of local news by the Federal Communications Commission. The report is called "The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age" and it's not your typical government bureaucracy report.

Image manipulated and based off great shot by Ed Yourdon. Thank you.