Hyperlocal Information

I was disappointed with Outside.in. It only pulled information for my zip code from the local paper and most of the posts were obituaries! On the left hand side of the screen is a menu with arts venues, bars and clubs, etc. Each one was void of information, only telling me that there were no venues of any sort in my area - which of course I know to be false. Even for Omaha it only listed 13 arts venues, and that included the Royals Baseball Club, an Eagles Club and a Tattoo Parlor.

I think I would enjoy Placeblogger if there were any blogs on there that were related to my area. I think it's a pretty cool concept and would help you find local blogs you may not know about otherwise.

I really like the idea of Patch and would definitely read it regularly if there were information of local interest there. To me, this is a direction that more local newspapers should be going. Our local paper is the best source of local information, but they don't put all their content on the web.

It is my experience that libraries already fill this role of providing hyperlocal information, although they don't always do it on the web. I think this would be a great fit for libraries though, as they are already in the local information business, to further carve out a niche for themselves in the information platforms of the (near) future.

How To 2.0

First, I tried the How Do I? Instructional Video Search. We've had several new babies in our life lately, so I did a search on how to make a stuffed animal. I've been hoping to get crafty and make little toys for all the babies.

I ended up on eHow and watched a 20-part video on making a stuffed dog.
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_5215_make-stuffed-animal.html
It was pretty good. I'm very partial to video instruction over traditional print instructional books. It really helps me to see someone actually doing the task to help me feel that I'm proceeding correctly.

Next I went to MonkeySee. I am so glad to have found this site! I will be using this in the future. I looked under the food and drink section and thought it would be fun to find out how to make a festive drink. When I looked under Alcoholic Drinks, I saw a video titled "How to Open a Beer Bottle with Your Teeth." I couldn't resist.
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/7916-open-a-beer-bottle-with-your-teeth
And while I don't think I will ever use this information, it was instructional nonetheless.

I hopped over to Instructables. I didn't like this site as much. There was lots of good information, but I didn't want to create an account and I found the amount of ads on the page distracting. A few of the features I tried to use were only available fro Pro Members. I did, however, get a great idea on how to make a pet bed from a vintage suitcase! (Although I will include a stabilizing mechanism to keep the lid from closing on my pup!)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pet-Bed-From-a-Vintage-Suitcase-in-5-minutes/#step1

After viewing several videos and keeping in mind the types of online help I've used in the past, I would say that these videos are somewhat a competition for library collections. Over the past few years there have been several times when I've used these online videos instead of going to the library to check out a book. However, I don't always find what I want online, especially if I'm looking for more in-depth information on a How To project. In my opinion, in general, the online How To information is great for a quick tip or overview, but for more in-depth research or expertise, I would still use traditional print resources.