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The Guardian launches n0tice, an open community news platform

document Distributed Knowledge, Open Innovation

The Guardian launches n0tice, an open community news platform
By Megan Garber

“In many ways they’ve created a new kind of social platform, or a really really old one reinvented for the new world.”

One of the most common complaints about newspapers’ adaptation to the digital world — or, depending on your perspective, their lack thereof — is their failure to create their own versions of Craigslist. Papers ceded the market of micromarketing, the complaint goes…when, with a bit of foresight, they might have built platforms that might have preserved, at least to an extent, their all-important classified revenue streams.

So goes the argument. But it doesn’t follow that, in 2011, Craigslist has completely cornered the market on classified advertising — or, for that matter, on community messaging overall. Today, a major paper is getting into the community messaging game: The Guardian is launching n0tice, a social news platform that draws a little from Craigslist, a little from Foursquare, a little from Ning. “Think of it as community noticeboard,” the project’s FAQ puts it. “It’s a place where you can share news, post details about forthcoming events or let people know you have something to sell or share. Just like a traditional noticeboard, everyone else in your locality will be able to see what you’ve posted and also take part.” n0tice (which is, for the moment, still in private beta) is citizen-driven: It allows people the ability to create their own noticeboards (er, n0ticeboards) about whatever topics and events they want. As Matt McAlister, the Guardian’s director of digital strategy, notes in a blog post announcing n0tice’s live beta, users can customize the branding, the overall aesthetic, and even the subdomain of their particular noticeboards. And “we’ll also give you options to customize the content using some filters like following people, tags and locations, though that feature is still being developed.” The team will soon expose n0tice’s read API, as well. Mutualization! n0tice is Craiglistfully easy to use: When you go to the site, it will first detect whether you’re coming from a mobile device. (It was designed for the iPhone first, McAlister notes, but has a desktop version, as well.) Once you agree to location-reading permissions, the site will grab your latitude and longitude — using the Google Maps geocoder and Yahoo’s geo services — and then show you what’s recently been published to n0tice near your location.

As McAlister sees it, he told me in a phone call this afternoon, n0tice is simply the next step in the long evolution of community news — a step that makes sense for a mobile world. As he explained in his post:

So n0tice is news for a SoLoMo world. It was born, appropriately enough, at a 2009 hack day, and inspired in its development by, among other projects, Ushahidi and Google’s News Near You. The n0tice team — including Daniel Levitt, of the Guardian’s Open Platform, and Sarah Hartley — is, overall, thinking about the what’s next in the civic space. Blending technologies, from social to mobile, is a big part of that. “In many ways,” McAlister notes, “they’ve created a new kind of social platform, or a really really old one reinvented for the new world.” Another intriguing element: n0tice’s business model. The platform is free for users (“there’s no cost to browse around, post news or events or even place a small ad. nothing, zero, zilch”) and ad-supported. Where it gets interesting: “Featured positions are sold based on region size and duration so, as an example, if you want to be certain of premium position on all pages displayed within a one mile radius the cost is £1 per day. Prices may be subject to change so please do check on the site for the actual price on the day.” In other words, McAlister told me, it’s “a space and time” approach to advertising — and one that makes, on a locationbased platform, a world of sense.

Summary Guardian launches n0tice, an open community news platform, a place where you can share news, post details about forthcoming events or let people know you have something to sell or share. Just like a traditional noticeboard, everyone else in your locality will be able to see what you’ve posted and also take part.

Description
The Guardian's social news platform, nOtice, is free for users (“there’s no cost to browse around, post news or events or even place a small ad. nothing, zero, zilch”) and ad-supported. Standard stuff. Where it gets interesting, though: “Featured positions are sold based on region size and duration so, as an example, if you want to be certain of premium position on all pages displayed within a one mile radius the cost is £1 per day. Prices may be subject to change so please do check on the site for the actual price on the day.”

Tags: Citizen Journalism, community news, Craigslist, Crowdsourcing, Matt McAlister, message boards, The Guardian

Posted by Fritz Schaefer

Oct 26, 2011 10:47 pm GMT Viewed 1328 times

Author: Megan Garber Source

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