Local Ireland: December 16, 1996 issue of New Thinking

December 16, 1996 New Thinking:
Local Ireland

Website content management

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December 16, 1996

Local Ireland

By Gerry McGovern

The best way to thrive on the Internet is to imitate it.

The Internet evolved from the understanding that everywhere is the centre of somewhere, that a message can travel many routes to reach the one destination. It further evolved as a result of the centers of everywhere contributing knowledge and energy to both its growing fabric and to participating in exploring new uses for that fabric.

In other words, the Internet grew as a result of the enthusiastic genius of thousands of individuals, bodies, organizations and businesses, rather than from the dictate of one.

The Internet is an open standard and a massively enabling technology. Combined with the facts that computer prices are constantly dropping and that you can communicate globally for the price of a local call, the Internet allows information to flow which historically was severely constrained.

In many cases, the people who have generated this sort of information are local, and the information itself is local.

If we imagine information that flows through the traditional worldwide publishing network as a large river, then local information is a massive ocean.

However, even taking into account the cost reductions mentioned above, the cost of delivering this information on the Internet using traditional publishing models can be prohibitive.

Local Ireland is about partnership.

It is about allowing the local to be the publisher and establishing a support organization which will provide the Internet infrastructure within which the content can be placed.

My local town is Granard and Granard is the first full illustration of Local Ireland. Granard is a small town and one of twenty parishes in the small Irish county of Longford. On the surface, Granard seems to have little to offer. But dig some and you will find rich history of ancient harp festivals and battles. You will discover that it is the hometown of Kitty Kiernan (the fiancée of Michael Collins) and Eddie Macken, one of the greatest horsemen of our time.

Wherever people gather for long enough, there are always stories to be told. Granard has told its stories in books and pamphlets with small print runs. Now, these stories are brought online by the locals (children and adults), as they enrich the world with their own unique voice, and enrich themselves by learning new digital age trades.

Ireland is an emigrant nation and now Granard people all over the world can come ‘home’ to hear the latest news and gossip, to browse pictures of themselves as children attending the local convent. Tourists can find out where the best places to fish are, what the history behind the Granard Mote is, and where there are good places to stay and eat. Potential customers can browse what local business has to offer.

Local Ireland is about allowing locals to publish to the new audience of the Internet’s Global Village. Sure, the locals can never compete with the draw of global news and events. But life means more than that which is simply global.

At the end of the day, everyone is a local somewhere.

Gerry McGovern

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At the end of the day, everyone is a local somewhere.