HereToday was one of three iPhone apps I created as part of my final ITP thesis. It is based on the idea of delivering curated, location-specific information. While many apps focus on dynamically generated content, without dwarfing this method’s importance, I would like to argue for the refreshing nature of the deliberate.  Although automated parsers often yield mountainous numbers and, with that, the bombardment of information we have all become accustomed to, the quantity often serves only to mask a withered quality and relevance.

HereToday is similar in concept to GeoPedia. That being said, there are a few main differences. Geopedia is browser-based, while I wanted experience developing a true application. GeoPedia is pulling all Wikipedia entries that have latitude and longitude associated with them. Here today starts will this list, but has been manually expanded to account for the fact that people and things can also relate back to a geographical location. The final difference is perhaps the most poignant. Since I pulled content form Wikipedia and used it to create my own database, users changes to articles can be saved and referenced by other users. The hope here was to create a timeline for the featured subjects. Changes are marked by date, so users can follow how thoughts change over time.

After launching the app, users choose a category. They are then presented with a list based on that category, relevant to their current location. They can read, edit, or delete the content of the most recent version of each article as well as look back and at changes others have made.

Check out the full essay-ish description here.