Are you a Gmail user who has stopped receiving your Front Porch Forum e-newsletter? Regrettably, your Gmail may be marking items from FPF as spam. Here’s the solution! Please take steps A, B and C below to assure that you stay in the loop. Sorry about the hassle and thanks for setting it straight.
A. Designate FPF messages as “Not Spam”
1. Go to http://mail.google.com and sign into your Mail account.
2. Click on “Spam” in list on left to see contents of your spam folder.
3. Select any Front Porch Forum messages listed in the spam folder.
4. With these selected, click “Not Spam” above the message list. This will move any checked messages into your Inbox, and train your Gmail not to mark these as spam.
B. Add FPF’s addresses to your Gmail Contact List
1. In Gmail, go to “Contacts” in list on left to see your contacts.
2. Click on the “Add to ‘My Contacts'” button and add the email address neighbors AT frontporchforum DOT com. Hit “enter.”
3. Repeat Step 2 with members AT frontporchforum DOT com
More info: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8933
C. Create filters to keep FPF messages out of your spam folder
1. In Gmail, click “Create a filter” (to the right of the search bar).
2. Put the email address neighbors AT frontporchforum DOT com in the “From” field and click the “Next step” button.
3. Check “Never send it to Spam.”
4. Click “Create filter” button.
More info: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579
Taking these steps will help you and thousands of other Vermonters stay connected to their neighborhood news as you help train Gmail’s filter.
P.S. Did you miss some postings? Go to http://frontporchforum.com and click Log In, then click on “Archive” to browse past issues.
Thanks to #BTV #VT ECHO‘s Molly Loomis for sharing this Washington Post article by David A. Fahrenthold…
To a psychologist, climate change looks as if it was designed to be ignored. It is a global problem, with no obvious villains and no one-step solutions, whose worst effects seem as if they’ll befall somebody else at some other time. In short, if someone set out to draw up a problem that people would not care about, one expert on human behavior said, it would look exactly like climate change…
One U.S. researcher thought television is to blame: All those TV ads have made Americans more focused on their own wants, she theorized, and less likely to care about the long-term good.
The obstacles to progress… there’s a sense that this is a problem for somebody else or some other time… the science can be confusing… humankind’s deep-seated love for the status quo and willingness to defend it… humans can fret about only so many things at once.
Psychological researchers say one possible way to overcome all these obstacles is to frame the changes needed to curb carbon emissions as “saving” the American way of life, instead of changing it. Another is to pair warnings about the climate with concrete suggestions about what to do, so people can act instead of just stewing in worry.
Another is to tap into two powerful human impulses: to be like one’s neighbors and then to beat them at something.
In one small study around San Diego in 2007, researchers hung four fliers on doorknobs. One told homeowners that they should conserve energy because it helped the environment. One said saving energy was socially responsible. One said that it saved money. The fourth said that the majority of neighbors in the community were doing it.
The researchers waited and then read the meters. The houses with the fourth flier showed the most change.
“Simply urging people — or telling them that it’s a good idea to recycle or conserve energy — is the same as nothing,” said Robert Cialdini, a professor at Arizona State University who worked on the study.
The best example of climate psychology in action might be programs run by the Arlington energy efficiency software company Opower. In 12 areas around the country, the firm sends mailings to utility customers. The sheets compare each customer’s power usage to that of neighbors with similar houses and offer tips for catching up, such as turning off lights and lowering the temperature settings of water heaters.
It works, the company says, lowering electricity usage by 2 percent in several test cases. The fliers never say a word about climate change.
Fascinating. Our experience with Front Porch Forum on a variety of topics jibes with this… that is, best pitch tends to be… join your neighbors vs. join because it’s good for you or your community or your wallet or the environment (all true by the way!). And getting the competitive juices flowing appeals to many.
[We welcome a guest post today from Laura Grace Weldon. Take it away, Laura… ]
Bringing Kids Back To The Commons
“All real living is meeting.” -Martin Buber
Surely my baby was as good as a dog. I’d read that nursing home residents benefitted enormously from contact with therapy dogs. During and after dog visits these elders were more alert and in better moods. So I figured, why not bring my baby to a nursing home?
I contacted the nursing home around the corner. The administrator was enthusiastic. Then I talked my Le Leche League friends into forming a nursing home-based playgroup for our infants and toddlers. They were somewhat wary, but agreed to give it a try. Finally I got a local store to donate a carpet remnant for our little ones to crawl and play on. Between visits, the nursing home could roll it up for storage. We were ready.
We met regularly at that nursing home for several years. Our babies grew into toddlers, the elders became our friends. Residents’ families and staff members often told us that our visits stimulated memories, generated activity, even inspired people who were mostly mute to say a few words. We were awed. Something as simple as our presence there, sitting on the carpet playing with our children, made a difference to people whose once full lives were now constricted. We benefitted too. We learned the value of advice given by people older than our grandparents. And we noticed how completely our toddlers accepted the physical and mental differences around them with natural grace.
I’m still not sure why the very old and young are kept apart from life on the commons. Vital and engaged communities are made up of all ages. Chances are children have fewer opportunities to take an active part than almost any adult. This shortchanges everyone.
Throughout history, the young of our species have learned by getting involved. Children long to take on real responsibilities and make useful contributions. This is how they advance in skill and maturity. That is, unless we restrict them to child-centered activities.
Young people are also drawn to seek mentors. They want to see how all sorts of people handle crises, start businesses, make repairs, settle disputes, and stay in love. But today’s young people are largely kept from meaningful engagement with the wider community. They’re segregated by age not only in day care and school but also in most spheres of recreation, religion, and enrichment. When we keep kids from purposeful and interesting involvement with people of all ages they are pushed to find satisfaction in other (often less beneficial) ways. Meanwhile, our communities are deprived of their youthful energy and innovative outlook.
It doesn’t have to be that way. There are ways to reconnect children with our communities.
This comes full circle for me, right back to dogs and volunteering. A boy who had been a member of the play group we held at the nursing home talked his family into raising puppies to be trained as service dogs. By the time he was 12 years old, this boy gave promotional talks about this program to clubs and schools. I went to see him. He started off with some anecdotes about exasperating puppies. Then he went on to describe the generosity and hope his family felt each time they attended graduation ceremonies for fully trained dogs, ready to serve. I tend to think community involvement is a path to wholeness. I’m convinced it has a lot to do with his smile.
Laura Grace Weldon is a farmer and writer in Ohio. She’s the author of Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything. Connect with her at www.lauragraceweldon.com
eMarketer predicts that U.S. marketers will spend $3 billion on advertising on social media in 2011…
With a great portion of that flowing to Facebook…
And most of that ad money seems to be coming from small and medium-size businesses. From Greg Sterling…
AdAge reports and rounds up some of the Facebook ad revenues data that have come out in the wake of the Goldman investment in the social network. However here’s the interesting part of the article:
[W]hat is surprising is the majority of revenue, 60% or $1.12 billion, was earned from smaller companies in 2010, those more likely to be using self-serve tools rather than work through a media agency. That’s greater than the $740 million coming from major marketers like Coke, P&G or Match.com.
Local small and medium-size businesses continue to snap up Front Porch Forum advertising space. Many are repeat customers, eager to reach FPF’s active audience of neighbors.
Traditional media frequently uses Front Porch Forum for story leads. Today it’s the Burlington Free Press covering coyotes in suburban South Burlington…
In the wake of a rabid coyote attack last year on several people in Westchester County, N.Y., coyote-spotters have maintained a lively dialogue on the Butler Farms Front Porch Forum.
Chuck LaBombard, who has lived in the Oak Creek development for 11 years, is one of them.
“The coyote population has continued to increase during the past decade and I get it. We live in their territory,” he wrote in a January post.
“To occasionally see them on the golf course or in back of the development is one thing. To routinely see them on our sidewalks is totally another,” he continued. “Imagine if a child s pooked them or a lone adult was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My 11-year-old daughter is becoming afraid to play in her own yard… front or back! I am not a house-on-fire kind of person, but I am concerned!”
LaBombard and other neighbors have found no easy fix, and Police Chief Trevor Whipple has cautioned them against frontier justice in a crowded neighborhood: Firearms discharge is illegal within city limits…
Kevin Harris offers this U.K. gem on building community within a neighborhood. Same goes most places…
Here’s a tidy post from my friend Liz Ixer over on Harringay Online, rehashing this o.p. and suggesting seven ways to make your neighbourhood a better place. Liz makes the principles locally pertinent and weaves-in the role of the neighbourhood online network.
I see lists like this quite often, this one has the virtue of simple practicality and relative brevity. The headings are:
- Plant something
- Pick up litter
- Get to know your neighbours
- Find out who your government/local representatives are
- If you see something, say something
- Shop locally
- Go for a walk.
And credit to the original poster, Sarah Goodyear, who makes this point under the heading ‘Get to know your neighbours’:
‘If anything bad happens – a blackout, a flood, or worse – these are the people you need to know. It starts with hello.’
Don’t miss this Vermont-original community-building opportunity.
Another dozen Vermont towns can now benefit from Front Porch Forum thanks to e-Vermont, the Community Broadband Project, and the Knight News Challenge.
Front Porch Forum (FPF) was created in 2006 in Burlington and now more than 23,000 households subscribe across 60 Vermont towns.
If you live in one of the towns listed below, SIGN UP for your community Front Porch Forum today at: http://frontporchforum.com. Join in the conversations that are already happening in your community.
Also, please let friends and family in these Vermont towns know that Front Porch Forum is available, and encourage them to sign up! Only through more participation, will these towns realize the full community-building benefits of FPF. To sign up go to: http://frontporchforum.com
Why join Front Porch Forum?
FPF hosts online neighborhood/town forums where nearby neighbors connect and get involved in their local community. In this era of busyness and individual isolation, where it’s hard to find volunteers for local committees and people increasingly don’t know their neighbors, Front Porch Forum helps people meet those around them and talk about issues. And it’s free to residents in any of the Vermont communities below.
What if your town is not on the list?
Interested in bringing FPF to your community? Please add your town to the waitlist at http://frontporchforum.com/join
– Alburgh
– Arlington
– Averill
– Avery’s Gore
– Bloomfield
– Bolton
– Bridgewater*
– Brighton/Village of Island Pond
– Bristol
– Brunswick
– Buells Gore
– Burlington
– Calais*
– Cambridge
– Canaan/Village of Beecher Falls
– Castleton*
– Charlotte
– Colchester
– Dover*
– Essex Junction Village
– Essex Town
– Fairfield*
– Ferdinand
– Grand Isle
– Hardwick*
– Hinesburg
– Huntington
– Isle La Motte
– Jay*
– Jericho
– Lemington
– Lewis
– Ludlow
– Middlesex
– Middletown Springs*
– Milton
– Moretown*
– Morristown*
– Newport City
– North Hero
– Norton
– Poultney
– Pownal
– Richford*
– Richmond
– Sandgate
– Shelburne
– South Burlington
– South Hero
– St. George
– Starksboro
– Stewartstown, NH
– Sunderland
– Underhill
– Vergennes*
– Warner’s Grant
– Warren Gore
– West Rutland
– Westfield*
– Westford
– Williston
– Winooski
* e-Vermont communities newly participating in FPF
Economist Juliet B. Schor writes in her new book, Plentitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, about the decline of social capital in the United States during the past few decades…
Neighborhoods have become much less important as social units, with people much less likely to interact with, or even know, their neighbors… Online community is growing and filling in some of the gap. But it doesn’t replicate all the functions of face-to-face interaction. (Full quote here… see “Economies of Reciprocity.”)
Schor discusses competing theories that may explain this… and looks at people, projects and places pushing back on this troubling trend. A compelling read.
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more