Location sensitivity in locative journalism: an empirical study of experiences while producing locative journalism

Abstract

New possibilities for journalism arise by virtue of the emergence of an ‘always on’ generation of mobile device users. Positioning technologies, such as GPS, as part of mobile devices opens opportunities for adopting content to both the user's physical and social contexts (context-aware services) and so have the potential to transform ways in which people conceive of and relate to news. This article focuses on aspects of production of locative news texts. Through the project LocaNews, we used the mobile phones' built-in GPS in order to tailor news relevant to the physical position of users. This project explores what kind of spatial notions are required for production of locative journalism for a mobile platform. The project consists of two iterations with empirical experiences from a total of 89 informants.