urban blogosphere - part 2

Title: The Urban Blogosphere: Gaming the Sacred Text in the New Media-Middle

Author: Clifford Tatum, University of Washington

Abstract: Within the confluence of urban growth, economic uncertainty, and the diffusion of web 2.0 applications there is an emerging urban blogosphere that is increasingly challenging the rules of urban development. In the urban core of Seattle the demand for condominiums is such that most of the units in a new project are sold before construction of the building is underway. Moreover, developers and city planners coordinate a seemingly endless backlog of new projects with little public involvement. As of September 2006, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development indicates that there are approximately thirty-two residential or mixed-use buildings in the permit process, under construction, or recently completed in the urban core. This represents over 6,700 new/future residential units.

Although information about both the development projects and the city plan has been available for some time, it is of limited use to the individual consumer without significant analytic resources. As an example, the release of the Multiple Listing System (MLS)—or real estate industry’s ‘sacred text’—for public consumption did little more than inspire virtual real estate agencies and irritate traditional real estate agencies. Littlefield, et al, (2000) show that online access to real estate information did little to influence how people made real estate purchases. However, the diffusion of Web 2.0 applications (O’Reilly, 2006) along with the opening up of city planning documents and processes to an online audience has manifested in a kind of tipping point.

With the use of micro and middle media, consumers, independent realtors, architects, planners, and designers, among others, are gaming the system through shared information resources and the co-production of collaborative knowledge. In studies of collective action, micro media (email, lists) and middle media (blogs, discussion forums, and electronic newsletters) have been used to alter the flow of information through mass media to achieve information and communication independence (Bennett, 2003, Bimber, 2005). Similarly, in the Urban Blogosphere, average citizens and individuals with specialized industry knowledge are gaining information and communication independence from developers and city planers.

Using the city of Seattle as a case study, and from the vantage point of participant observer, I examine the role of middle media applications, primarily blogging, in Seattle’s rapid urban development. In particular I use both online and offline methods to participate in community activism, in city planning events, and in the blogosphere as means of data gathering. I find that Bloggers with a variety of professional skills are providing informed economic and industry analyses as well as personal buying experiences that contradict formal sources of specialized knowledge. And that the aggregate of these individual contributions creates a media middle in an otherwise two-class information ecology.

Still in the early stages of Seattle’s urban boom, the emerging Urban Blogosphere is playing an increasingly significant role in information analysis and knowledge production. However, in this extremely competitive market for aggregated information resources is it unclear if and/or how long the Urban Blogosphere can help people retain information and communication independence from the dominant market players.


References:

Bennett, L.W. (2003) Communication and Global Activism, Information, Communication & Society

Bimber, B, et al (2005) Reconceptualizing Collective Action in the Contemporary Media Environment, Communication Theory

Littlefield, J, et al (2000) Internet Real Estate Information: Are Home Purchasers Paying Attention to in? Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 17 NO 7 pp. 575-590 MCB University Press

O’Reilly (2005) What Is Web 2.0- Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software, (accessed 25 January, 2007)

Seattle Department of Planning and Development (2006), Building in Seattle – Development in DOC 1, DOC 2, & DMC Zones