Recent changes in the economics of civic information

1. Why wikis can save
local democracy
Recent changes to the economics
of civic information
(by Michael Andersen of PortlandAfoot.org)

2. the main problem with local news

3. the main problem with local news
(especially government news)

4. Nobody cares

5. the main problem with local news
(rephrased)

6. Everybody cares a little

7. so what's the solution?

8. in a minute!

9. first we need to talk about

10. INFORMATION
ECONOMICS

11. What did a person
care about in 1951?

12. my personal family & friends
my personal job & career
my personal garden
my favorite sports team
my city council

13. BUT

14. in 1951, profit =

15. VOLUME

16. What did
everybody in town
care about in 1951?

17. my city council

18. Everybody cares a little

19. my city council my city council my city council
my city council my city council my city council
my city council my city council my city council

21. $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $

22. What does a person
care about in 2011?

23. my personal family & friends
my personal job & career
my personal garden
my favorite sports team
my city council

24. my personal family & friends

25. my personal job & career

26. my personal garden

27. my favorite sports team

28. my personal family & friends
my personal family & friends
my personal family & friends
my personal family & friends
my personal family & friends
my personal family & friends
my personal family & friends

29. $$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$

30. What's changed?
1951 2011

31. my city council Not how much I care about things.

32. Nor the number of hours in my day.

33. my personal family & friends
my personal job & career
my personal garden
my favorite sports team
my city council But my available media options.

34. the main solution for local news

35. (drumroll please)

36. Minimizing time investment

37. This is where wiki
(finally) comes in

38. A traditional local news story

39. Built for people who
read the news every day

40. Built for 1951

41. A wiki version of the story

42. Built for people who
read news when it's important

43. Built for search

44. Built for ordinary people

45. Other popular pages on
Portland Afoot's wiki

46. Facts and statistics

47. Election information

48. Task-oriented pages

49. Service cut information

50. Profiles of local newsmakers

51. the moral of the story

52. It's 2011.

53. It's 2011.
Information is cheap.

54. It's 2011.
Information is cheap.
Local news needs to be cheap, too.

55. It's 2011.
Information is cheap.
We can do this with wikis.
Local news needs to be cheap, too.
Wikis are the cheapest way
to share information.

56. The end.
Michael Andersen
(503) 662-2871
michael@portlandafoot.org