An innovative new service that beams location-based news to mobile phones has been announced by听start-up studio听Like No Other.
The future-led听consultancy听practice听is to pilot the听OtherWorld news service in听Manchester after receiving funding from Google鈥檚 Digital News Initiative.
The service will use cutting-edge beacon technology to provide on-the-go local news听stories relevant to an individual鈥檚 current location without the need for an app.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to put our concept of 鈥榣iving media鈥� to the test and provide an accompanying real-world experience to digital news,鈥� said Stuart Goulden, lead consultant at Like No Other.
鈥淢any sectors have woken up to the potential of beacons and are doing some interesting things in the space, however it鈥檚 relatively uncharted territory in news. We think it鈥檚 a potential game changer.鈥�
With real-time updates and the ubiquity of mobile phones, the technology opens up a wealth of new storytelling possibilities.
The studio hopes that the new approach to news creation and distribution will help fresh audiences to discover the news on their doorstep and to act on the stories they read.
For news organisations, it has the potential to provide an听escape from the treadmill of daily news cycles and offers the opportunity to distribute stories at the location they happen.
The pilot is planning to run from summer to winter 2017, before being fully rolled-out.
The Digital News Initiative (DNI) is a $150m collaboration between Google and news publishers across Europe to support high quality journalism and encourage a more sustainable news ecosystem through technology and innovation.