I have worked in the area of public goods, those that are non-excludable in consumption and non-rival in benefit.

However over time i have come toward the realisation that public services may be closer to the mark.  But using the same criteria, I think can help us to understand the forces at play in the development of a community.

Simply put, in my hone town there is the continuous complaint that there is nothing going on, yet the truth is that there is plenty going on but that no-one knows about it.  Tramore is a town of about 12, 000 people including the hinterland, seven miles from a city of 40, 000, Waterford (yes, of the crystal glass infamy).

It has no local newspaper or radio.

In the local college , www.wit.ie I worked in the research and innovation centre www.tssg.ie, developing multi-media systems incorporating newsprint, blogging, websites, widgets and so on.

And so I am trying to develop a generic of a localised communications system, where all available media formats are employed in order that as many of the local community have access to information about the town.

While doing research I also was interested in developing localised communications systems for developing countries, especially employing the nearly ubiquitous mobile telephony, and incorporating the widespread take-up of that technology to improve local health, education, financial services, communication, transport etc. systems.

The take-up of such technologies in disparate areas as mobile banking, remote diagnostics and record retention, pre-recorded teaching, market and weather information, local news etc. can, in my opinion, greatly improve livelihoods in a number of different ways on a number of different levels.

In Ireland there is the opportunity to try out such thinking in a local environment and one that I am familiar with, my home town.

It is the development of core thinking and technologies and their application to making lives better that I think can be developed with Tramore Community Radio.  The lessons which we may be able to learn could help in the evolution of localised communications systems globally. 

This is my goal.  

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