If you’re a regular NPR Morning Edition listener, you may have caught last week’s story about San Diego public radio station KPBS using Google My Maps and Twitter to keep residents informed about burned areas, shelter locations, road closings, and more.
This story really jumped out at me because it’s a great example of an organization finding a way to use free new web technologies to provide valuable services to the community it serves. It also proves that successful services can be implemented quickly, without months of pre-planning and discussion.
What made this possible? Play! According to Online Managing Editor Leng Caloh, “The playing that a lot of us on the team do in our free time has been the key to our success.”
Did team members have a clear notion of the work applications of My Maps and Twitter when they began to play with them? I’m guessing not. But the fact that they had played with My Maps and Twitter positioned them to see work applications when a new need arose.
I think there are several lessons for all of us in this story. For one thing, it’s a good reminder that technologies that seem frivolous to us today, may allow us to offer valuable services tomorrow. Also, time spent “playing” with new technology isn’t necessarily wasted; it often allows us to save time and money in the future, in ways we never could have predicted!
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