Local Search, and the Loss of Local Media
One of my reasons for starting the Ottawa Events site is because I know there's so much going on in town that I miss out on, because I don't read the newspaper and I don't listen to the radio much. Community Events are usually announced through local or community media, and I simply don't read any. Seems like this is going to be more of a problem once we swap radio for podcasts, TV (with local ads) for downloaded media.
This is an area where local search, and ad serving based on geographical location, could really fill a gap. I find that even the local newspapers don't do a good job of running local ads online.
I wouldn't mind seeing ads for the Great Glebe Garage Sale while I was reading Slashdot. This is really just the online equivalent of any local event buying ad time during local prime time TV, but possible on a much smaller budget. I have yet to see any ads like this; I don't know if it's because the ad targetting is working well enough, or if it's because the folks advertising events in my area simply don't do it online.
Google's public service ads are a great idea; it would be cool if it could be mandated that, say, 1% of ads had to be public service ads, and that could include local ads. Then my local community center could advertise to folks in the area through the Web. Wouldn't it be great to discover a community garage sale while web surfing?