CultureMap Launches in Houston
HOUSTON, TX – NOVEMBER 4, 2009 – In the midst of the most significant sea change in the method of information distribution since Gutenberg invented the printing press more than 500 years ago – CultureMap.com has launched, bringing local intelligence in a timely manner to an information-hungry public like never before.
While the World Wide Web has excelled in offering all sorts of information, much of it lacks insight. Despite the Web’s ability to provide information instantaneously from anywhere in the world, humans who use it care most about their own city, neighborhood and street – in other words, the real space in which they live, work and play. CultureMap provides users with a voice of authority and knowledge of their community and sorts out the information in a comprehensive yet easy-to-navigate-way.
Houston is a sophisticated city with highly developed arts, entertainment, restaurant, and social scenes. However the people who should know about the best things the nation’s fourth largest city has to offer - often don’t because they frequently don’t know where to find it. CultureMap employs a proprietary one-stop-shop “mapazine” that provides an educated but never stuffy view of Houston and all it has to offer with a minimum of effort.
The site is divided into two major areas. First, it offers the nuts and bolts of life in Houston including a list of the city’s best restaurants, bars and clubs, shopping, arts/entertainment and things that are uniquely Houston, along with insider information, key facts and individual maps for more than 500 selections. CultureMap’s comprehensive events section lists events by date and time, with a traditional calendar available. Individual event listings include maps, images, and vitals about the specific event. By looking up an event, coverage can be accessed assuming that there was coverage. Photos on CultureMap dwarf the competition with their massive 800 x 600 size, as opposed to the standard 300 pixels offered by competitors.
Second, the site will be a resource for the city’s best and most informative editorial content. CultureMap will be the place for sophisticated discussion of the arts, fashion, music, society, and other aspects of Bayou City life. An eclectic group of informed columnists and contributors offer thought-provoking insights and opinions in their various areas of expertise. Wide-ranging content will also include feature stories, photo galleries and the latest news about openings, closings, transitions and developments as they occur. CultureMap has assembled a top-notch team of highly experienced editors, photo editors, writers, and insiders who understand Houston and know what’s going on.
Helming the CultureMap editorial team is Editor-in-chief Clifford Pugh. During a distinguished career in journalism spanning nearly three decades, Pugh first served as a features writer for the Houston Post before taking a position as the award-winning style critic at the Houston Chronicle for 14 years – covering fashion and all things-pop culture. Pugh has twice won the Texas Headliners Award for best feature writing in the state and has been honored with awards from the Houston Press Club, the Texas Cancer Society, the American Dental Association and the Associated Press Managing Editors organization.
As Editor-in-Chief of CultureMap, Pugh brings his one-of-a-kind perspective of Houston and the world to CultureMap readers. “The format offers a medium to exchange ideas about arts, food, fashion and so forth,” says Pugh. “The format is inviting. It’s easy to read and it looks good. We hope to reach those people who are not only intellectually curious, but those who really want to know what’s happening.”
Adding to its already impressive roster of top-notch writers, contributors and editors, CultureMap has also tapped Shelby Hodge to bring her signature combination of wit, charm, and insider knowledge to the cutting-edge site. Previously, as featured society reporter for more than 18 years at the Houston Chronicle, she has long served as a one-stop-shop for anything and everything on the international social circuit. Her work is required reading for Houston scenesters and the city’s cogniscenti.
From a software standpoint, the uniquely designed CultureMap web site is light-years beyond any other site in the city with an interactive home page that highlights top events and happenings, and features a new concept called a “mapazine” that connects everything on the site – whether it in a news story or a listing - to a map pinpointing the location.
Advanced search tools built into the CultureMap site will allow the reader to input a name or place and find out every time it has been mentioned in a CultureMap story or photograph. The site’s cutting edge software is designed to be extremely circular with information intelligently referenced. People, events, tags, related news, the map, and editorial are all connected providing the user with a wealth of relevant information without ever having to leave CultureMap.
CultureMap’s ambitious technology program is led by Houston native Nic Phillips, a 26-year-old wünderkind who has made a name for himself in the international lighting technology industry. Phillips founded the nicphillips group in 2006 to focus on the development of new hi-tech technologies and products, marketing and sales, and the production and design of entertainment. “We’re the first to use a map as a display technology for hyper-local intelligent,” Phillips says. “It is built around a robust database architecture that allows us to cross-reference like no one has ever seen before. The combination of CultureMap editorial and software is what Houston’s culturally curious and those trying to reach them have been waiting for.”
ABOUT CULTUREMAP
CultureMap brings intelligence and insight to localized content with an exciting new Web site and proprietary “mapazine” that provides an educated but never stuffy view of Houston and all it has to offer. CultureMap has assembled a top-notch team of highly experienced editors, photo editors, writers, and insiders who really understand Houston to provide thought-provoking insights and opinions about the arts, fashion, music, events, society, and much, much more. By blending quality content and local expertise with the speed of cutting edge web technology, CultureMap is rewriting the book how information is distributed in the 21st Century. For more information, please visit www.culturemap.com.
