Stories that may know each other

I am interested in brief but concise correspondence that contributes to a greater story. Sometimes it takes a bit of back-and-forth with SMS between you and your friend to tell the whole story. Likewise one person in one location may catch part of a story that another person in a completely different location may be able to continue.

User A sees a sad clown without his red nose moping around Times Square. This user sends that bit of first-hand information with location to a central site. Ten minutes later User B sees a man in a suit at 23rd and Broadway wearing a red clown nose. Without knowing any of the context surrounding the situation, the curious user sends this piece of information back to the central site. All the information is placed into context by an algorithm, and both users check the site later on in the day and deduce that the man in the suit stole the clown's red nose, hence his sad countenance.

This is kind of like the 'People You May Know' tool on Facebook. With a well tagged collection of events, we can try to organize unique contributions into something more meaningful and complete. It can be used as a sort of location based mad libs or real-life Clue, where messages can contribute stories that may be ludicrously unrelated but may also be staggeringly related. The man who was seen with a bloody knife in one location may have been 5 minutes later changing his clothes and throwing away the weapon. While one user may be able to contribute only one small piece of a potential story, others can fill in the blanks. I'd like to build a system like this in class to see what puzzles we can solve using location and mobile telephones.