BBC Coverage of DConstruct Conference Keynote
Steven Johnson, author and the fellow behind hyperlocal news site outside.in, provided the keynote for the event “for people designing and building the latest generation of social web applications” which was held last week in Brighton, UK.
Some tidbits from the coverage:
Mr Johnson and many others at the conference argued about and how to program for the so-called “geographic web”. For most of its life, the web has been “out there”, a boundless but ethereal construct. While it could provide information about particular places, web surfers had to find and assimilate it themselves. Where that surfer was, or lived, wasn’t even possible to specify.
Mr Johnson closed his talk with what he hoped was the take-home message. Teething problems and privacy concerns aside, the geographic web should be a tool “not to use the web as a mechanism to escape the real world but instead use the web as a way of enhancing the real world, making you feel more connected to your community”.
- BBC
