As noted by both local government producers of content, as well as the community media centers’ staff, producers and users, one of the challenges, even with a single topic, subject area or focus of a message, is to reach the diversity of people in the community and have that message have the same meaning. This is where new and emerging technologies will provide some tremendous capabilities. For example, local governments and community media representatives discussed virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and X-reality (XR) as having the capability to immerse the content recipient in the same message in different ways. For example, VR and/or A.I. could provide virtual tours of Parks, museums, or historic neighborhoods responsive to an individual such as in different languages, with additional information depending upon how long the virtual user stops in a given location, or with functionality that supports differently-abled people. As indicated in Finding 3.2, Kiosks combined with A.I. have the power to provide information, in a way which supports better comprehension by people with differing abilities and needs.
Interactive content has largely focused on social media, online gaming, and other activities, but will be increasingly used to provide other types of relevant, local, and diverse content. For example, the 360-video site development 3D model discussed in Finding 3.3 can be architected such that the community can actually make adjustments to the model and submit those back to the Planning department for a very graphic representation of any ideas they have for changes.
As with any new technology, the challenge will be to make the content available in forms from the most basic to the most complex, accessible by a diverse audience, and through multiple platforms.
