When I first framed the book I am coauthoring, Innovation Communities, I proposed that a set of "platforms for innovation"--big new concepts for community life--were emerging for communities. These platforms included location efficiency, green services, multiple bottom line investing, and several others. Each platform spawns multiple types of innovations for community systems. At the time, I wondered if there was also a platform for technologies, but it seemed that technology was an enabler of innovation platforms, not a platform in itself.

I am reconsidering (with a little help from Greg Berry, our digital media partner). It seems there are at least three categories of information & communication technology have the potential to change the performance of community systems:

1. Social media--which ease and increase connectivity among people in (and beyond) a place, accelerating and enriching flows of information, communication, and transactions. You can track where your friends/family are in the community; where they are going; what they are doing--and intersect accordingly.
2. Remote sensing/feedback and "distributed grid"--which expand and enrich the information that is captured and analyzed in one's extended environment, allowing for real-time feedback that results in local action (e.g., data about energy use and current cost provokes a reduction in consumption).
3. Mobile, location-intelligent, personal "augmented reality"--which detect your geographic surroundings, providing rich information (e.g., crime hot spots)); allow you to collect and transmit data about the surroundings (e.g., air quality) and yourself (biometric data); and connect you to other data sources in the surroundings, such as fixed position video cameras.

These ICT uses entwine with each other to create a remarkably information-rich environment that anyone in a place can access and contribute to. How has this started to affect the local systems--transportation, education, law enforcement, and others--that need big improvements in performance? Your thoughts/examples welcome.