Tinder die Stadt

Software-related scenarios for overcoming the crisis of the mediatised public in the city and surrounding areas

The Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib) and the Center for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen as well as the Hans-Bredow-Institute Hamburg cooperate in the research and development of software-related solutions for overcoming the crisis of the local public in and around Bremen. In "co-creation", i.e. in collaboration with future users and representatives of the local public sphere, a news and information app with "Tinder logic" for Bremen and the surrounding areas is to be developed.

The project "Tinder die Stadt" deals with the increasing loss of relevance of regional newspaper offerings and the lack of compensating digital offers, for example through apps from local news services that meet the needs of users. Young people in particular do not make sufficient use of existing services in their region. This leads to the challenge of developing new concepts that address this situation.

In the next two years, an experimental app with an editorial system based on the dating app "Tinder" will be developed. Analogous to the Tinder principle, content can be sorted according to the user’s interests by swiping on the display. The preference profile resulting from the users behaviour forms the basis for individually presented content. In order to counteract a potential filter bubble, particularly important content is displayed regardless of your preferences.

The topic will be approached in an interdisciplinary manner by means of a qualitative and quantitative methodological triangulation from the fields of social, media, communication and journalism research. Since media companies have not yet managed to counteract the loss of relevance of local newspapers with digital solutions, the app is to be developed in a co-creation approach in cooperation with consumers. In addition, other interest groups such as media companies, sports and cultural associations, collectives, religious communities or parties will also be involved in the development process.

The experimental app will initially be developed for the federal state of Bremen and the adjacent districts Osterholz and Verden. An extension of the field of application is also conceivable in the future.

Further information can be found at the website of our project: molo.news.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).