Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 by
Michael •
Matt Sutkoski writes in the Burlington Free Press today about how local governments in Vermont are using — or NOT using — Facebook and Twitter. And he takes a look at another tool of choice… Front Porch Forum.
Vermont towns and cities have not joined the herd to embrace social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Millions of individuals have accounts on the two sites, which enable people to trade comments, updates and information. Many businesses consider Facebook and Twitter de rigueur for marketing and communicating with their audiences.
Many managers and clerks in Vermont municipalities have not found a good reason to get on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagon. However, some cities and towns have found a more local social Web site, Front Porch Forum, more useful.
Front Porch Forum enables people in specific towns or neighborhoods to communicate via the Web with each other and provide updates. Many of the entries announce block parties, warn of car break-ins, ask questions on where to get services or comment on neighborhood issues.
“I look at each time it’s published, and basically I monitor it for problems,” Colchester Town Manager Al Voegele said. If an issue is causing a lot of discussion, he’ll discuss it with a town department head who would deal with that type of issue and see whether the town can help solve it, he said. Voegele said he sometimes comments on Front Porch Forum to clarify and explain issues affecting the neighborhoods.
Other communities, such as Williston and South Burlington, also frequently monitor or post comments on Front Porch Forum…
Click here for the full article.
Posted in: Burlington, Citizen Journalism, Civic Engagement, Clay Shirky, Community Building, Democracy, Facebook, Front Porch Forum, Good Government, Knight Foundation, Local Online, MacArthur Fellows, Media, Neighborhood, Newspapers, Social Media, Social Networking, Stories, Twitter, Vermont
The MAGIC number 3? Is it magical or Lucky or Fortunate?
Every one has heard of prime numbers. Yet how many know that we have “Lucky” and “Fortunate” numbers? Three is the first Lucky prime.
Here’s a fun (unending) exercise. Write down a series of successive natural integers (1,2, 3….)
For kids I usually have them write [1.. 100 ]. Cross off the list every 2nd number. Go through the list again this time crossing off every 3rd number , then again every 4th number ,5th etc.. Repeat infinitely and viola! You have a list of Lucky numbers. Lucky Numbers and its primative generation (long before the computer) are of great interest to mathematician. as these numbers happen to have attributes of prime numbers!
From Wikipedia
In number theory, the number 3 is a “lucky” (true mathematical term! ) number. “A natural number in a set which is generated by a “sieve” similar to the Sieve of Eratosthenes* that generates the primes.” Lucky numbers share some properties with primes, such as asymptotic behaviour according to the prime number theorem; also Goldbach’s conjecture has been extended to them. There are infinitely many lucky numbers. Because of these apparent connections with the prime numbers, some mathematicians have suggested that these properties may be found in a larger class of sets of numbers generated by sieves of a certain unknown form, although there is little theoretical basis for this conjecture. Twin lucky numbers and twin primes also appear to occur with similar frequency.”
If you have some very bored middle school children on a rainy day try it! Then ask them if it’s Fortunate to be a Lucky number? Which brings up a discussion on “Fortunate” numbers…
*Sieve of Eratosthenes ( 276 BC”“ c. 195 BC)
Sift the Twos and sift the Threes,
The Sieve of Eratosthenes.
When the multiples sublime,
The numbers that remain are Prime.
[…] classic form, the Burlington Free Press published an unsigned editorial today following up a recent piece of its reporting. Topic? Local government should use online social media… More communities throughout […]