• Pick at least one academic paper, post a link and your response to its claims/insights.

One academic paper I came across in my research that I found interesting claims that a gap exists between what news consumers, specifically young adults, are doing and using on their smartphones and what news outlets are able to provide.

The title of the paper is Exploring News Apps and Location-Based Services on the Smartphone.

The study examined how young adults use news and location-based services on their smartphones and how many news organizations offer mobile news apps with geo-location features.

The study found that there is a high use of location-based services by smartphone consumers, but news organizations are only using geo-location features in their mobile apps for traffic and weather.

I found this study interesting because it shows that there is a need/space for where my thesis project could live. However, the study is from 2013 so in 10 years the landscape could have changed profoundly, which are my only concerns.

For example, the paper states that “About 62% of smartphone owners use the mobile phone for getting news.3 Smartphone owners tend to be younger, seek out local news, and are more active news consumers.4 In fact, 56% of adults seek local news on their phone, of which 77% are adults between the ages of 18 and 29, representing the highest percentage among all other age segments.5 ” I’m sure these numbers have changed by now, I would like to assume that they have even increased. Will have to get some more accurate numbers.

Some more gems I thought were interesting from this paper:

“Statistics show that the popularity of news and location-based apps is growing, particularly among young adults. The combination of these two services (location and news) might enable a more contextual user experience and make searching for local news much easier for this younger demographic.”

“For example, a news organization could offer a mobile news app that would geotag any of the following news stories to an exact location on a map: a local crime story (accidents, fires, burglaries, assaults), restaurant review, or a story about a local construction project that will affect roadways. News consumers could find this information in one of two ways: (1) search the news app to see what is happening in their neighborhood by looking at a map plotted with geo-located stories or (2) read a story that is embedded with a map to show the exact location of the event. In each case, the user would have a better understanding of local news at an exact location that can affect his or her daily life and the decisions he or she makes.”

^^ This is exactly what I’m interested in doing. Creating a platform where you can search/see news or connect with people through geolocation and visuals of what people are posting.

“Using location-based services via a mobile news app could enhance a news consumer’s comprehension and visualization of local news by allowing the consumer to access news at a moment’s notice with a clear understanding of its location. It should be noted that this does not mean that the news consumer has to be co-located to the news story.”

“Dodgeball39 in urban public spaces. The researcher found that this kind of service could help the user solidify and strengthen his or her social connections and change the understanding of the spaces they visit. The service was used for a range of purposes, such as to help facilitate gatherings, to document a location, to brand a person’s identity, or to mark a particular location. Similar results also appeared in a study40 about a location-based service called Socialight. Based on interviews and observations the researchers conducted, they found the service was used for a variety of reasons, ranging from documenting places to telling stories about a location.41″

^^ A study actually showed that this serviced helped to solidify and strengthen social connections