The major leap forward that the internet still has to take is to leverage basic existing technology to convert ‘card catalog’ websites into interactie information platforms. This evolution is known as Web 2.0 development.
What I call a ‘card catalog’ is a website that contains mostly tabular data, that requires scrolling alphabetic lists or tables to find information and that has no other means for uploading data than a contact form to suggest updates or additions to the webmaster. Without concrete metrics at hand, I dare to state that most of the online information is still in the ‘card catalog’ stage, collected by people lacking proper tooling to convey the information as a solution to answer a question.
As far as event information is concerned, MapTiming is taking part of the Web 2.0 leap. The card catalog is replaced by a map view with custom filter buttons. The contact form is replaced by a dynamic dialog to add or update information and publish it directly. The alphabetic lists are replaced by custom hashtags. The standalone website is replaced by a shareable and embeddable service.
MapTiming HASH fullfills most of these requirements right now.
A while ago I bumped into this site (in Dutch) that collects information about catholic eucharistic adoration events in Flanders. Typically these events are repeated daily, monthly or weekly. This is an ideal use case for MapTiming! I’ve inserted the data into MapTiming HASH with custom hashtag “#aanbidding”, so it is now an interactive tool to answer questions like “where can I join eucharistic adoration in my neighborhood tomorrow?”. This question is easily answered using this URL: “http://hash.maptiming.com/#tomorrow/hash/aanbidding“, which will show you the results instantenously (provided that you’re in Flanders, that is).
For the time being I’ve made a agreement with the original website owner that we’ll keep each other informed about updates, but in principle the people in the local parishes should be able to add or update the data on MapTiming without middle-men.