Remember when blogs opened up Web publishing to virtually anyone? Not that there hasn't been collateral damage (I'd rant about it, but that would be hypocritical), but, on balance this of course has been a very good thing. 

Well, a similar thing is happening now. Free, accessible tools are greatly expanding the population of potential developers for emerging platforms like mobile, augmented reality, tablets and location-based services.

It's a win for the companies behind the platforms, because it grows the content offerings on their network (though, like with blogs, there are quality trade-offs). And it's a win for news organizations and other resource-limited publishers because it lets them reach these networks without over-extending their employees or budgets.

Over the summer I bookmarked four such tools I thought would be of interest to journalists. I'm planning to give some of them a try and to share how things go. If you're familiar with these tools, or know of similar resources, tell us about it in the comments.

• App Inventor

  If you can drag and drop, you can make an Android app with Google's App Inventor. App Inventor developers can access devices' GPS, motion sensors and third-party Web services like Twitter just like professional developers. Google's accepting invitation requests and is slowly but surely e-mailing out invites. (I applied in July and am still waiting on mine.)

•  Augmentation

  Layar partner Hoppala's cloud-based GUI/CMS lets non-coders create augmented reality content. How might news organizations use augmented reality? Superimposing planned developments over their proposed sites, publishing interactive festival-guides, pinpointing the locations of crime incidents — the possibilities are endless. Augmentation is ready to use now. Simply apply for a Layar developer key, then, once you receive that, register with Hoppala and follow the instructions that start at the 2:00 mark of this screencast.

• Crowdmap

  The Ushahidi open source map wiki, which aggregates text messages and online postings and displays them on an interactive map, can now be deployed by non-techies via cloud-based Crowdmap. Perhaps best known as a tool for relief workers in disaster zones, Ushahidi has been used by journalists to monitor conflicts, snow removal and public transportation problems.

• MagCloud iPad app

  OK, this last one isn't as robust as the other three. But, for magazine publishers interested in replicating their print product on the iPad, MagCloud's app gives them a way to do it without any real effort of their own. All publishers have to do is opt in and users can download an iPad-optimized version of their product in a single click. Yes, ideally iPad content is interactive and multimedia — multimedia at least could be on its way to MagCloud — but for those without the time or expertise to optimize their offerings for this popular platform this is a nice, simple solution.

Image by jomirano.