1. Civic Playground
A modest but engaging
BANG proposal

2. What?
Civic Playground is a hub for developing apps
that help readers address civic issues while
keeping journalism relevant in the digital age

3. Why?
To help answer two questions bedeviling us:
• How do we reinvent local community on the
web?
• And how do we reinvent the local marketplace
online?

4. A virtuous circle
Civic Playground creates a virtuous cycle of
reporting that feeds interest in the app,
followed by the app driving mobile and web
traffic, community engagement, brand
identity and advertising opportunities

5. How?
• A pathway to our stories
• Apps that add value to journalism
• Tips about where the best sale is
• Sunday coupons
• Planning the weekend
• Comics and puzzles
• What is on the school menu this week

6. Journalism expertise, tech and
advertising
• Find the right health care provider
• Local nursing homes information
• The college with the best value for the money
• Keep families safe by knowing which products
have been recalled

7. When?
The project began in 2012 as an
ideaLabproposal using digital tools to evolve
the journalism business model beyond the
paid
vs. unpaid content debate and provide new
opportunities in the evolving entrepreneurial
ecosystem

8. Success?
Three apps are beta so far and more in design:
• SnapMapper
• Recover2Gether
• CreditCalx
• ShopHere

9. SNAPMapper
“The Yelp for food stamp users”
•Search for deals (“Which store has the cheapest
milk today?”)
•Search by store or location
•Get AC Transit, driving or walking directions
•Crowdsource store quality (★★★ ratings
incentivize stores to do better and let people
know it)
•Won several prizes including Alameda County’s
Dec. 2012 hackathon (beat out 24 teams)

10. SNAPMapper
“The Yelp for food stamp users”

11. ShopHere
Foursquare your “Shop Local” strategy
• Find what you are looking for in your city
• Earn brownie points for shopping local
• Brings together merchants, business
associations, news organizations (including
the advertising departments!) and City Hall
around local shopping initiatives like
“ShopOakland”
• Roll out Sept. 2013 in time for holiday
shopping

12. ShopHere format

13. Recover2Gether
There before, during and after a disaster to
help the community help itself
• Connects the people who have a need to those who
can help: “I have a case of water,” “I need help turning
off the gas,” “ I want to volunteer”
• Mobile and SMS ready
• “I’m safe!” alert and community warnings (“Don’t drink
the water!”)
• Emergency preparation: How to make an earthquake
kit
• Leverages existing resources: Tidepools, SF72, Red
Cross, Google Crisis Response and city services =>

15. Hurricane Sandy:
Tidepools in Action

16. Branding opportunities

17. SF72

18. App revenue exceeds advertising

19. The mobile lab magnifies the
community engagement potential

20. Rich and poor: Smart phone use is
pervasive

21. Room for Growth
…despite a glut of mobile apps.
• Globally there are 1.1 billion smart phone
subscribers with growth in Q4:12 at 42%
• But penetration was only at 17%
• Civic Playground apps are built for IOS and
Android platforms

22. A new model is imperative
• Social media is no silver bullet
• Civic Playground takes journalism as one of the core
functions of a news organization
• People want to read what is relevant to them but
journalists are often cut off from the communities they
cover especially in shrinking newsrooms
• Civic Playground reconnects them but produces
journalism AND solutions on the public and the
business side
• Get stories read, increase traffic, value and brand
without “writing for clicks”

23. Journalism has to change “not just tactics, but also
self-conception” to survive in the new landscape
“For traditional news organizations, the big
question is not whether these types of
journalists will exist. They will, and in fact
already do.
The question is whether news organizations will
adapt quickly enough to nurture and make
room for them.”