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location-based technology + journalism

By Ki Mae Heussner

The results of the first LoJoPoll are in!

And though our inaugural survey was hardly scientific (thank you to the indulgent few who participated), our results were consistent with similar large-scale industry surveys. Only 20 percent of the respondents indicated that they only use their mobile phones for talking and texting. Forty percent said they use their phones one to four times a day for other uses, 20 percent said they use their phones five to nine times a day and 20 percent said they use their phones more than ten times a day for other uses.

As evidenced by our informal poll and other (far more) credible ones, mobile technology in the U.S. has not yet reached its prime. But as industry research suggests, the age of the palmtop is on its way.

For example, a recent consumer survey conducted by iSuppli Corp. shows that as mobile technology becomes more user-friendly, consumers become more apt to surf the Web and listen to music via handheld devices.

Just a couple of months before the iPhone’s anniversary, an iSuppli survey exploring the habits of iPhone owners found that U.S. consumers spend 12.1 percent of their iPhone usage time trolling the Internet, compared to 2.4 percent for all mobile phones on average.

The survey also found that iPhone owners spend 11.9 percent of their mobile time listening to music or other audio, compared to 2.5 percent for all mobile handset users.

A Harris Interactive poll conducted earlier this month showed that cell phone usage in the US continues to increase. Almost nine out of ten adults own a cell phone and one in seven now use a cell phone exclusively. The poll didn’t explore how these adults were using their phones (for talking and texting or more) but as more Americans part ways with their landlines and as mobile content becomes more sophisticated, varied and accessible, is it possible that America might finally catch up globally, in terms of mobile usage and technology?

By Joyce Chang

Spending on mobile TV advertising is expected to grow from $335 million this year to more than $2.5 billion in 2013, according to Tuesday’s report by Juniper Research. The report also says that while the majority of current mobile advertising is based on basic text message SMS campaigns, the “most lucrative” channels for mobile ads by 2010 will be through streaming and broadcast television services, such as within television shows on cell phones. Read the rest of this entry…

By Hope Needles

Last week, the LoJo team began exploring a fairly new technology developed by HP Labs called Mediascapes. Mediascapes, a game-based application, incorporates GPS motion-sensing technology to tell a story that is often directly linked to its location. Recently, I had the opportunity to test this program and to learn about its latest developments from HP Labs in Bristol, England, at the second annual Mediascapes Conference in December 2007. The two-day conference helped me consider some of the applications that can exist for Mediascapes and that extend well beyond the gaming industry. Read the rest of this entry…

By Hilary Powell

Although Team LoJo is considering how to incorporate Chicago’s mass train system into our locative story project, there are few examples online of train-based tours. So I got to typing to track down some online sites dedicated to seeing city sights. And Chicago’s certainly on the right track.

The Loop Tour Train is a popular way to see historic landmarks downtown during spring and summer months.The Chicago Office of Tourism sponsors the free tour May 5th through September 29th. The free tour is approximately 40 minutes long and leaves every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. from the Randolph and Wabash CTA station. But sometimes tours can also be a way to present an unearthed side of a city.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has encouraged rail riders to get out and see the city’s art with the Art’s a Trip Free Metro Rail Tour.  A docent-led tour travels along the Metro’s Red and Gold lines, riding the train to different stations. Free tours are offered the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. The artwork first adorned the walls in 1989, when the Metro’s art department commissioned more than 250 local artists to get creative.

An online review by the author of the photo’s above suggests it’s a great way to learn about the city’s transportation structure in general. So when considering the character of a city, transportation can be very much a part of the local personality — and that personality could be cheap and used by all!

By Hilary Powell

It isn’t as big as the Second City, but neighboring Aurora still says that it’s “a city second to none.” Chicago may boast the Sears Tower, the best popcorn in the Midwest and Oprah. But Aurora’s got a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, a stop on the Underground Railroad and a building that houses records of black veterans. How do I know all of this? I found out from a map.

The Greene House is the only house in Aurora designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s stop 17 on the self-guided driving tour available on the city’s official website.

While researching ways to tell locative stories, I came across several websites, like Aurora’s official site, that offer self-guided tours. As we identify newsworthy, Chicago-specific stories to tell, Team LoJo must figure out the best ways for our viewers to travel between the places that will bring those stories to life.

A walking tour might do the trick. When the weather is nice, the city is dotted with folks walking along scenic Lake Shore Drive or trotting with their dogs in the city’s vibrant communities. But with the city’s magnitude, it might be hard to contain a story in an area capable of walking.

So we pondered a driving tour. There are some great examples online that could give us guidance about creating a story people can really step to. For example, the Aurora’s self-guided tour of historic landmarks. For an example on a larger scale, I turned to a site linked from Denver’s local government Web site. Denver Today is a website that lists local walking tours and driving tours around the city. So there’s proof that even a medium-sized city distribute information effectively using a driving tour.

But then I got to thinking, what about the character of a city? Shouldn’t that come into play when considering the best way to deliver news or a story to the city residents? And when you think of Chicago, you think of the elevated train, also known as the ‘El.’ It bisects and bristles in a multi-colored maze through every major neighborhood in the city. It’s even famous for the web it weaves in the center of the city, known as ‘The Loop.’ To think of transportation in Chicago without the El, is like imagining New York without the subway.

I’ve found several examples of getting around to location-based stories on foot, and by car. But I had trouble trying to find stories told by way of train. In addition, there is not much out there about the technical capabilities of using mobile devices to take tours via train. But that’s the kind of challenge this team is up for.

If Team LoJo is going to tell a story about the Second City, our first priority is to be accurate and stay true to the character of the city.The next step for our team may well be onto a train, with our bold technical devices, to test the tracks.

By Amy Lee

An overwhelming number of marketers believe mobile advertising is the wave of the future, but unfamiliarity and mistrust with mobile marketing on the user end is barring an explosion of ads from beaming out of mobile devices, according to a new (and pricey!) study conducted by Forrester Research.

The study, released April 10 and available for download for a mere $279 here, found 83 percent of marketers believe mobile will become an effective advertising platform within three years. It also found, however, that only 7 percent of mobile users trust ads on their cell phones, and a paltry 1 percent said they’d clicked on a banner ad while browsing their cell phones. Most people are using their phones as simply phones, while another 42 percent also are text messaging, nearly 25 percent are swapping photos and about 15 percent are using mobile email.

This study basically suggested marketers strike out and try methods that have worked on other digital media, such as including an ad (no longer than 15 seconds worth) that runs when a user clicks a chosen link from their mobile device. The findings, though not entirely surprising, show advertisers and marketers are eager to find ways to sell products through mobile devices. This is just more evidence that the future of digital media is moving mobile, and digitally savvy marketers are eager to find ways to make that profitable in the coming years.

We wanted to see what’s already going on in the world of locative storytelling, so last weekend the team went on audio tours to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t… Read on to find out more about what we liked and didn’t like… Read the rest of this entry…

Going beyond indoor, museum-only tours, we hunted iTunes and tourism-related Web sites to find audio tours of Chicago neighborhoods and parks. Read on to find out more about what we liked and didn’t like, or see a related post about our museum tours.

Read the rest of this entry…

Thanks for stopping by our site. This blog is maintained by a group of multimedia journalism students at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University intent on exploring the intersection of location-based technology and journalism. From now until mid-June, we’ll be writing about current applications, emerging trends, likely limitations, ground-breaking projects in the field and other topics related to digital media that we find interesting. We’ll also share our progress in creating a multimedia project that showcases how location-based technology can enrich journalism and engage audiences. We hope you’ll check back from time to time to see what we’re up to and let us know what you think.

Also, while you’re here, take part in our informal poll. The results won’t be used for anything other than to satisfy our growing curiosity about mobile technology and its applications for journalism. Every week, we’ll ask a new question and present results from the previous week’s poll.

Thanks again for your time - the LoJo team