Emerging mobile phone software and social network systems like GyPSii are creating new ways for mobile folks to find their friends and leave their mark. GyPSii lets you record places and events from your daily life with text and photos from your mobile device, then ”geotag” that content so it appears on a digital map. So, you can tag a great restaurant, a piece of public art, the location where you got engaged, the place and moment where you realized you felt entirely disconnected in a connected world, and on and on.
What’s more, these systems enable their users to find each other through their mobile devices (also see Broadtexter or Mologogo). Want a cup of coffee with a friend? Check your map to see who’s in the neighborhood and text or call them? Want to strike up an impromptu jam session? Find other users in the area who play.
The question for cultural managers is, how do you effectively engage this new form of social interaction and discovery? Could you join such a network and text any arts-interested users that pass through your neighborhood (”Hey, you’re just blocks away from our cool exhibit or live performance!”)? Could you find ways to encourage found friends to meet at your location over another? Could you invite users of the system to ”tag” your facility with their thoughts and experiences for others to find?
To steal a fantastic metaphor from my friend and colleague Neill Archer Roan, perhaps in this new world of wandering gypsies, arts organizations can strive to become the ”caravanserai,” those gathering places for nomadic travelers where news and commerce and social connections flowed.
My partner is very interested in something related called geocaching (“treasure hunting” for caches – boxes left by other geocachers all over the world – with the help of a GPS unit). I don’t know whether geocachers would welcome the “commercial” influence but I could imagine that some strategic thinking around being a conscious site for caches might be beneficial for arts organizations – perhaps particularly those which appeal to tourists.
I work with a group in the Champlain Valley that’s exploring the use of culture-caching to entice exploration of historical and cultural sites celebrating the 400th anniversary of the region’s discovery by its namesake.
How about geocaching pairs of comp tickets for a city’s symphony, opera, or main theatre stages in advance of a performing arts season? I’m not sure there would be a large uptake, as geocaching ranks just behind underwater hockey, in terms of user base. But as a publicity stunt, and indeed a way to gain awareness of the geocaching “craze,” planting a few season tickets for cultural experiences might be a fun twist, and one that could be exploited to some effect with keen marketing nous.