OpenBlock Blog

Here’s our latest email update, featuring

• the forthcoming demo screencast
• ONA11
• highlights of version 1.0
• a cute graphic of OpenBlock awesomeness

if you’d like to get the next update direct to your inbox, sign up from our homepage.

Curious about OpenBlock? Want to hear more about what goes on under the hood? Wondering how to go hyperlocal?

Tune in next week for an introductory screencast to the wonderful world of OpenBlock. We’ll explain some typical uses for OpenBlock, give a demo of current features, and take questions. Thursday September 8th, 11am-noon EDT. 

Join the screencast here https://join.me/170-921-522.

For audio, dial 917 388-9050, room 7000 pin 1212.

If you’re curious about a particular topic, let us know with a comment below. Thanks!

OpenBlock is rapidly approaching a 1.0 release!

You can install the beta from python packages without needing to use git. This is documented in the updated install docs: http://openblockproject.org/docs/install/index.html

Highlights of this beta:

• Different map icons for different news item types. To enable this, you can use the admin UI to configure “map icon url” or “map color” for a Schema.
• There is a new streets.PlaceType model for categorizing Places. These also can have individual colors or icon URLs on the /maps/ view. (Original ticket title was “‘Landmark’ location type”)
• The REST API now allows creation of NewsItems via POST, requiring either an API key or basic auth. API keys may be created on a user’s account page. We also support configurable throttling.
• Import US Zip Codes as Locations, via the admin UI.
• Work-in-progress: user-submitted content. See code in the ebpub/neighbornews app.
• Work-in-progress: Maps you can share just by copy/pasting a URL. For a sneak preview, browse to /maps/.
• Lots of minor improvements to the admin UI, including much-improved map controls.
• Lots of documentation updates.

Complete release notes are at http://openblockproject.org/docs/release_notes.html

We’re at IRE 2011 in Orlando, exhibiting OpenBlock and spreading the good news about open source hyperlocal. Find us in the lobby area, or come and see a demonstration at 2:15pm! Our session will be a gentle introduction to the wonders of OpenBlock. Paul will demo the latest features and the admin interface, and Frank will chat about the project. We’ll cover what OpenBlock is, and give some examples of how you can use it. We’ll also talk about data sources, and getting started - including what kind of technical expertise will be needed. And we’ll talk about the project being 100% free and open source, and how you can get involved in shaping future features. Come with your questions - we’ll leave plenty of time for them at the end. See you at the demo, or stop by our table any time this afternoon.

Just in time for the IRE conference, here’s our first official (alpha) release of OpenBlock!
If you’ve been considering installing OpenBlock, now is a good time to give it a whirl.

Download a zip file of the code here, then head on over to the new improved installation docs.

This Thursday and Friday, we’ll be demoing OpenBlock at the 2011 Investigative Reporters & Editors Conference in Orlando, FL.

On Friday from 2:15-3:15 PM, we’ll be doing a demo and talking about the project in Oceans Ballroom 01. Here’s the schedule.

Otherwise we’ll be at our table in the exhibitors hall:
http://www.ire.org/training/conference/IRE11/exhibitors.html
Come say hello to project manager Frank Hebbert and programmer Paul Winkler!

(Unfortunately we won’t be there Saturday, so be sure to look for us on Thurs-Fri!)

On May 12, I attended the GeoWorldSummit in Brooklyn. Some quick impressions:

It was a bit of a bust as far as OpenBlock-related networking; I didn’t meet anybody during the pre-talks shmoozing, and unfortunately wasn’t able to stay for the 8 PM reception. Somebody was there from the OGC and I would’ve said hi but I never found them.

Most of the panels were about locally-targeted advertising.

The most interesting panel for me was the hyperlocal panel - interesting, but too short.

Some points that stuck with me:

• Advertising revenue success/failure stories:
  • Gothamist, Baristanet and other grass-roots local sites are making money (from advertising) - earning a living for a small staff.
  • Everyblock? and Outside.in are, according to the panelists, not making advertising money because they just don’t have enough users.
  • Patch is the big question mark. AOL is sinking another $40 million into it. Will they succeed? This “landscape is littered” with failed attempts by giants to get local.
  • The usual mistake after failing with paid content is to fail harder with unpaid content. Will Patch do that? “Only Huffington Post has succeeded” with unpaid content.
• “Local doesn’t scale” - by definition.
• Patch compared to WalMart:
  • It’s good that Patch is making an online presence for some communities that had nothing before. Unlike WalMart, when Patch sets up in a smaller city/county/whatever, there’s typically nothing for them to supplant - no “mom-and-pop” online community sites.
  • It’s bad that Patch is moving WalMart-style into communities that already do have significant online resources — fragmenting the audience, “stealing” local reporters, etc.
• Local and Location Based are not the same thing. For example, an app that finds the nearest Starbucks is location-based but not local, because that’s generic information. A “what’s happening near me” app that suggests going to a local music club is both location-based and local, because that club exists nowhere else.

What does all this imply for OpenBlock? Nothing clear. We still think it will be a useful platform for those “mom-and-pop” community sites - independent, or at local papers, etc - to enhance their local offerings. Unlike patch, everyblock, and outside.in, we’re not trying to provide a hosted service for everybody - we’re trying to provide a useful tool for existing or new local news outlets. So we have a different set of problems.