Hamburg, 15 June 2020. The innovative news app molo.news for Bremen and the surrounding area goes online today. The free app is a newsfeed for all news and information from local media, associations and other collectives. Its focus is on how people can get involved in the city and what makes the city tick. The news platform was developed jointly by the University of Bremen and the Hamburg Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut.
On
molo.news users can arrange their newsfeed from different sources: They can choose the latest information from various local media providers, cultural institutions, associations, district initiatives and other civil society collectives. The platform is supported by various local and regional media in Bremen.
The smartphone app for iOS and Android devices was jointly developed by
ZeMKI (Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research), the
Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib) and the Hamburg Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). The project is funded by the
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
"Moving Local"
Molo stands for "moving local"; one of the objectives of
molo.news is to connect users better with their environment. The platform is independent and aims to help different actors to achieve more visibility in the city' s public and thus also to promote participation in civil society.
What Drives the City? What Can I Do?
"The molo.news platform does not have the classic sections that newspapers have," explains
Professor Andreas Hepp, communication researcher at the University of Bremen. It bundles news according to four questions: What keeps the city going? Where am I going? How do I move? What can I do? "By starting with such questions, users are given the opportunity to select content according to their interests and also to display it based on location."
In order to make sure that nobody misses important news for the community, the editorial staff of molo.news marks selected news as "hot" and thus ensures that they they will be seen by all users in their newsfeed.
molo.news is initially designed for the local area of Bremen and surroundings. However, it can be extended to other cities and communities.
New Ideas for the Digital Use of Information
molo.news is a result of the research project "Tinder the City: Software-Related Scenarios on Overcoming the Crisis of the Mediatised Public Sphere”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Professorin Wiebke Loosen, journalism researcher at the HBI: "Our starting point was that we noticed that traditional regional media were becoming less and less important, especially for younger people, but that there were no digital offerings yet. It is also clear that many media users want a completely different kind of platform for local news. In the project we tried to develop concepts and ideas for such a new kind of platform in an experimental way."
In the first phase of the research project, the requirements for media usage of citizens in the Bremen area were investigated. Based on these research findings and several "co-creation" workshops with actors and the local public, the experimental concept for the platform
molo.news was developed.
Three research institutions from Bremen and Hamburg have joined forces for this project: The Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen, the Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib) and the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut in Hamburg.
Further information:
www.molo.news
Your questions will be answered by the Center for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Tel.: 0421-218-67620,
E-Mail
