Archive for June 23rd, 2009

This morning Chris Brogan, social media prince, wrote a blog talking about the possible creation of a city information center (what he calls a city news feed) on the web. Brogan suggested that the police blotter, feeds from the fire department, gps data about the location of public transit, everything that you might want to know, be put on a single site.

This kind of thinking is right up our alley at Renaissance – although I haven’t finished my set of utopian posts about what Fort Worth should be like, I haven’t given up on the concept either — but the main questions about the concept of a city data information center of the type Brogan describes would be

1. Who’d pay for it;

2. Who’d write it and

2. Who’d be allowed or forced to participate once it’s constructed.

As we’ve said before, a local hub where blogs can post their news and views is something we’ve discussed with other bloggers in the area. But a blog hub isn’t what Brogan is talking about — he seems to be thinking more of updates from the police and ambulance crew. I have a vision of some clerk in some office saying, “hold on, hold on, I’ve got to update our feed … ”

Or, alternatively, I suppose, cops could digitally enter their crime reports on a hand-held device and then the second they’re turned in to the office a data abstract could appear on a the city’s website feed, something like:

“6-23-09 7:00 a.m. … car burglary … 27th and Vine…. district 36 …. laptop computer, wallet stolen …  officer # 2345″ with a hyperlink on the type of crime (so you could see all the others) and the district and the day ….

Some people might feel compelled to read this stuff (wow, officer 2345 really gets around, he’s listed more than any other police operative) but for many, would it just be a bunch of datapoints which are ultimately minimally comprehensible?

Because, and here’s the kicker, data needs analysis and in general, there has been no way discovered to digest, interpret, and present data in easily digestible chunks except a person whose qualifications are basically in the journalistic line.

Therefore, if the city had an RSS feed — it would be up to the city to hire someone to put the data into usable form. I suppose this could provide work for some laid off writers from the Star Telegram. But with the cutting of the library hours and the paucity of public pools and other recreation opportunities — a post is upcoming on that — I doubt Fort Worth will be doing something bold and innovative in this line any time this decade. I mean, maybe after New York or Washington proves is works, but not yet.

For today, the best way to find out about crime in your local area is to ask a local police officer.