Why trust citizens to tell their city?

These stories or legends, old or new, can provide valuable information about a city's culture and identity. And so many treasures to discover. It is also a collective memory to be preserved which will have great value for future generations.

Considering the importance of the mission and the extent of the field to be covered, it is important that cities trust their citizens, because only they are able to tell their places.

But why not rely solely on historians, or the staff of tourist offices, you might say? It's their job after all...

First of all, citizens have a deep personal and emotional connection with the places they inhabit. They have lived there ups and downs, joys and sorrows… It exposes them to a unique point of view on the history and the culture of a locality which could not easily be transcribed by professionals.

Historians, or employees of tourist offices, despite their function, do not necessarily have the advantage of being closely connected to the city. They may have a deep understanding of local history and culture, know dates and achievements, but they won't have the same life experiences as citizens who were born there, for example.

Moreover, although the books or Wikipedia is full of facts and figures on the great battles, the illustrious characters and the Great History, the "small heritage" is largely neglected, whereas it is what makes the richness of our territories. And what really interests people, locals as well as passing visitors.

With a view to "slow tourism", discover the places at your own pace, in depth, and access information not found elsewhere.

For a visitor, or a tourist visiting the city, coming across content created directly by a citizen is a treasure, a surprise.

The reading of " Secrets of the Places in context is an emotional connection to place. Much more than a page would be Wikipedia encyclopaedic, or an institutional tourist sign.

You certainly have in mind the memory of a lived experience of a visit to a city or a monument, with a passionate local guide. This nice former history-geo teacher, a hat screwed on his head, who placed a joke or a good word every two sentences... He knew how to share his passion for the place with you and gave you the keys to the understand and love it, and even better: tell it around you!

It is this pleasure that we wish to transmit on a larger scale with the medals Genius Loci.

The risk exists, as everywhere, but it is highly improbable. Our team is already monitoring the grain and has put many control tools in place. And features created specifically against this.

Furthermore, given how the platform works (you have to scan a physical medal to access the content, on site), there would be only very limited interest for a “troll” to vent on Genius Loci.

Social networks, for example, offer a platform whose audience is unlimited, and without any real means of control. The "trolls" that rage on Twitter or Facebook simply have no interest in acting on our platform.

Rather than thinking about the 1% who could possibly affect the quality of content, we must first think of the 99% who will write quality content, and transmit their passion and knowledge to future visitors.

It is they who make all the value of Genius Loci.

In fact, there is a much greater "risk" of your citizens writing awesome content on Genius Loci

The trust given to citizens by institutions helps to create a sense of community and belonging. When people feel their stories and experiences are valued and recognized by their city, they feel a strong sense of pride. They have been entrusted with the important mission of becoming "keeper of the premises", and they assume this role with seriousness and devotion.

In conclusion, it is essential that cities trust their citizens to share local stories, memories and anecdotes, for many reasons:

1. Citizens are able to bring their city's past to life in an accessible, fun and authentic way with future visitors. Local visitors as well as tourists.
2.  Genius Loci allows the development of the curiosities of a city or territory on a very large scale. For the price of a single classic tourist sign, it is possible to display around forty medals in many more places.
3. Tourism and conservation professionals have an important role to play; of course, they too can contribute to Genius Loci: define places of interest, enrich or correct content, create routes, bring consistency, etc. This helps to raise the level of quality and interest of the content.
4. In the end, letting citizens tell their city will digitize knowledge and preserve a collective memory to pass it on to future generations.

So when will we see medals in your city ?