Blog Post 1/16/2009

I’ve been kicking some thoughts around in my head in regards to an upcoming speaking opportunity. I wanted to share them here because, well, who knows perhaps the opportunity won’t work out or maybe you’ve got some thoughts you’d like to add to it.

The overall discussion is about integration of technology to create communicative cities. The angle I’m interested in is the idea of “hyperlocal” and how organizations can take advantage of the interest people have in their neighborhoods and cities.

People issues:

• Telecommuting doesn’t work for people because being at home is too tempting to do non-work, too hard to focus
• More freelance/consultant type work going on mixed with greater layoffs in current economy
• Mixture of personal/business time means more work happens outside of the office even if you have an office
• Collaboration between people of different practices and a flattening of organizational hierarchies allows for greater creativity and more organizational flexibility

Tech issues:

• Digital technologies provide the speed to work over several connectivity mediums (wired, Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.) and collaborate on any type of media (audio, video, text, db, etc).
• Free and low cost collaboration software allows for a connected workforce regardless of time and space.
• Explosion of the “amateur” class has provided basic information and research at your fingertips. Expertise is often similarly available at your fingertips.
• Changes in intellectual property ownership ideals.

Physical issues:

• Co-working groups co-opting spaces that offer free connectivity (coffee shops, libraries, parks)
• Offices setup for singular use instead of shared space.
• Lack of municipal connectivity.
• Promotion of less expensive urban areas as a solution for people who are able to work remotely.
   

Hyperlocal Strategies

Digital technologies are changing the way people work, recreate and communicate within their physical community. The explosion of social applications has caused vast amounts of opinion and fact based data about local resources and issues to be cataloged. Due to this explosion of information; collaboration and community organizing is building around these issues, ideas and community resources with participation levels not previously possible. This phenomenon is referred to as hyperlocal networking.

Cities and organizations can take advantage of this hyperlocal networking and (re)develop around user groups who self identify through digital communities. In Columbus these user groups form on sites like The Columbus Underground and Columbus Tech Life, etc. Through monitoring and participation in these hyperlocal networks the approach to civic and private projects can be specifically targeted. The very same networks can then be used to market (re)development in a micro-targeted way; creating grass roots networks that evangelize for you.

Hyperlocal networks utilize the free tools of the internet to aggregate and re-use the data being creating. The result is knowledge repositiories as micro as a city block. Often what is developed by these networks can be directly adopted by other entities or easily remixed to fit an even more specific need.

During the ferocious Mumbai terrorist attacks that occurred in November 2008 a stream of real-time data was being remixed by individuals, participating in hyperlocal networks, to build useful information such as Google mashups that plotted the danger zones and Wiki’s with health and safety information; all the while developing a historical record of the event as it unfolded. An unfortunate side affect of this information may have been to provide the attackers with data to further their destruction.

At the heart of the hyperlocal network is individuals with a passion based, instead of profit based, motive for the focal issue or resource. An important distinction of hyperlocal networking is the rejection of hierarchy and a general distrust of push (one direction) information.

Engagement at the hyperlocal level is only effective if a strategy is in place for sustaining the interaction and understanding the resulting information. It is important to interact transparently otherwise your efforts will be rejected as being manipulative. The short-term reward for engagement is a relatively low (or no) cost research and data development group. The long-term reward is greater buy-in from user groups and a healthier and safer community.