RL and SL Publishing
We set out to create this experience for one overarching reason: to date, online neighborhood information has been a divided space. On the one hand, there is a great surplus of data out there: the hyperlocal bloggers, review sites like Yelp and Judysbook, city government sites, and traditional media. The problem is: there’s no single place that unites all those different voices, that grounds them all in specific locations. With help from you — suggesting and tagging neighborhood data, and suggesting ways that we can better organize the web geographically — we think outside.in can help unify the divided space of hyperlocal content. And in doing so, hopefully we can make our neighborhoods even more interesting places than they already are.
My earlier post asking when an SL Travel Guide would be published has sparked a number of conversations. RL and SL publishers already co-exist as Michelle Pauli RL / TeaAndOranges Snookums SL points out in her Guardian piece. A new generation of publishing embracing co-creation and collaboration is beginning to emerge.
Since first starting to pay attention to SL back in September 2004 I have watched a number of creative projects take shape. SLMaps by Bino Arbuckle, Sim Neighbours by Max Case and Landmarker by Cienna Rand have all proved invaluable exploration tools.
Yesterday Steven Johnson announced the launch of Outside.in. Having opened with a quotation from his new project it seems fitting to close with the below quotation from David Pescovitz who connects Stevens latest book to his project. Use your imagination with the above mashup of links to make of them what you will 
The Ghost Map celebrates cartography in the context of neighborhood knowledge, the wisdom about a place that can only come from living there. Now Steven has brought that same theme alive in today’s world of Google mash-ups and location-enhanced computing. Launching today, outside.in is a tool for participating in the online conversations taking place about your community within your community.