Category Archives: Citizen Journalism

Rant and Rave vs. Neighborhood Miracle

Posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 by 1 comment

Feedback from Front Porch Forum subscribers is overwhelmingly positive.  So today’s complaint submitted by a member in Burlington’s Old North End got my attention…

Every day it seems as though Front Porch Forum, well all of us that subscribe, continue to become more and more like the “Rant & Rave” section of craigslist – as a result Front Porch Forum is increasingly more petty and negative.  It seems as though everyone climbs on a particular stream and loudly wines – Burlington Telecom is our latest victim of this electronic faceless diatribe.

So I bid FP adieu and cancel my account.  The incessant complaining is  just too much for me.
Bye.

Well… that’s regrettable.  I take this feedback seriously. I also think that a thick skin is required to engage in public discourse.  And, frankly, the tone on the FPF neighborhood forum in question is nothing like the nastiness of many online comment areas… no name calling, e.g.  Several recent postings in the neighborhood forum in question have been complaints about city services, litter, crime, etc.  But I’ve seen them as primarily constructive and civil… but I guess that’s subjective.

For the record, the other four postings this morning to accompany the one above in that neighborhood are… two follow-up points about local telecom options, a call for volunteer basketball helpers at the neighborhood school, and this gem of a follow-up of an earlier post from Matt…

Last night a miracle happened.  7 people, strangers until last night, put aside their excuses and braved the cold Vermont winter night to clean up our neighborhood.  We walked south on Elmwood, west on Peru, north on Champlain, then back to Elmwood by way of North.  Along the way we collected and disposed of 10 bags of garbage.  Despite the cold it was a good time.  Tara’s brownies flowed like a chocolate river in high flood.  The laughs were continual and of a high quality.  No cheap jokes in this bunch.  Just straight shooting zingers all the way.

Next time we’ll do a different block.  Next time we’ll have even more people, and I’ll bring prizes for the best find.*

*Prizes may consist of a high five, but it will be quality.  Seriously I have a no miss system, yes it cost me, and yes the price was worth it.

Definitely not “incessant complaining”… makes me proud to be associated with FPF’s members.

Winooski: Scale and online conversations

Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 by 2 comments

Great things are happening through Front Porch Forum in much of our pilot area of greater Burlington, VT. That said, our initial model is not an ideal fit for some communities. We’re working on adjustments and always welcome input. One such challenge is the small city of Winooski.

Winooski has nearly 3,000 households and is covered by four FPF neighborhood forums. About 12% of the city subscribes. Unfortunately, Winooski doesn’t have clear cut actual neighborhood boundaries that jibe with our target scale of several hundred households. So the FPF neighborhood forum boundaries feel arbitrary to many residents.

Couple that with the fact that Winooski is underserved by local media… no city newspaper or blog, etc. Front Porch Forum is the one thing getting any traction that I’m aware of.

All this adds up to several people calling for FPF to combine its four Winooski neighborhood forums into one large citywide forum. I’m reluctant. FPF is all about small groups of nearby neighbors connecting online… and that spilling over onto the sidewalks and into the cornerstores… from the virtual to the actual front porch.

One supersized forum, I’m afraid, will be dominated by a few loud voices focused on larger issues and official pronouncements. Gone will be the small voices and the “need to borrow a ladder” and “my teenager is available to babysit” postings.

So it was hard to read a posting the other day from a member who concluded her request for one citywide forum with a promise to boycott FPF’s advertisers until we complied. Oh dear. We’ve got to come up with a reasonable solution to this.

Enter Winooski resident Cathy Resmer

I just read your comment on Front Porch Forum about wanting Winooski to be one neighborhood.

I, too, wish we could have a way to communicate to the entire city.

However, I know Michael Wood-Lewis, and have talked with him at great length about his service, both as a reporter (in the past few years), and more recently as a representative of a company that sponsors the forums (Seven Days).

I can tell you that Michael understands Winooski’s need for one forum. But the service he provides (for free) is based on a model that’s built to encourage neighbor interactions. He believes — and his research shows — that if he increases the size of the forum to include the entire city, he will damage the neighborhood interactions that the forums are meant to encourage.

Please, ask him to explain it to you. He’s very articulate, and, I believe, an honest and trustworthy guy.

Yes, it is *extremely* frustrating that we get so little media coverage in Winooski. I do what I can to cover stories or get them covered in Seven Days. I ran the Winooski Eagle for nearly a year — essentially by myself, and at great personal cost — because I believed that the city needed its own paper. I still believe we need it, but frankly I can barely keep up with this outrageous tax increase, much less idealistically underwrite the city’s struggling newspaper.

So I understand your reaction to Michael’s refusal to create one Winooski “neighborhood.”

But I urge you to reconsider your pledge to boycott the businesses that support the Forums. Michael is providing a great service to us. It’s not exactly the service that we want, but it’s still better than what we had before, which was *nothing.*

The bottom line is that FPF is not, and will never be, a substitute for a Winooski newspaper. But it’s got me talking to you — and our neighbors listening in. I think that’s a good start. And it’s worth our support.

If we need that one Winooski forum, let’s find a way to create it instead of tearing down the forums we’ve got.

Respectfully,
Cathy Resmer, Online Editor, Seven Days

Wow! Thanks Cathy. I look forward to sorting this out.

What’s “Allowed” on Front Porch Forum?

Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 by 1 comment

We get this question all the time from members… “What can I post on my neighborhood’s Front Porch Forum?”

Well… just about anything. Have at it. Any message that doesn’t significantly detract from FPF’s mission of helping neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood is GREAT.

Think of a block party… what would you chat about with your neighbors… just about anything. (Just don’t be a bore. Posting about your real estate business once is wonderful. Posting about it once a week is the wrong idea.)

Politics? Religion? Well, if you’d feel comfortable bringing it up at the “block party,” then give it a shot. Keep in mind that all postings are automatically signed with your full name and the street you live on… and they only go to your nearby neighbors.

The point is to get neighborhood conversation flowing… online at first, but ultimately in person. From the virtual to the actual front porch. So please post! Here are some headlines from a variety of neighborhood forums over the past few days…

  • 2 days left in Richmond CFL challenge!
  • Another Neighbor Joins Forum
  • APARTMENT AVAILABLE
  • Appropriate use of Volunteer Forum?
  • Babysitter needed
  • Benefit Dinner for Refugee Resettlement Jan. 11
  • Bob’s iPod Found
  • Break-Ins in Nearby Neighborhoods
  • Building Codes, Ethan Allen, etc.
  • buildings and restoration
  • Burlington Schools Survey for all Residents
  • Burlington Telecom ***Special Offer***
  • car break-in
  • Cards Anyone?
  • CATAMOUNT HEALTH FOR UNINSURED Jan. 7
  • CFL Question
  • CFL website
  • Children Product Recalls
  • Community Center Date Correction
  • Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb Question
  • Contra Dance Jan. 12
  • Down-sizing Sale Jan. 5
  • drumming for marathon (Memorial Day Weekend)
  • Experience with Sears
  • Five Sisters House for rent
  • FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN SCHOOLS – CORRECTION
  • Free Furniture and Seeking Truck Rental
  • Free Parent Workshop Jan. 15
  • free press delivery comments
  • Free Press Response to Delivery Issues
  • free printer ink cartridges
  • garbage collection this week
  • Great UVM Exercise Class for 55 Plus!
  • Green Democratic Alliance Meeting Jan. 6
  • Grow-light system for sale
  • Happy New year
  • HCS Budget Meetings and Community Invitation
  • Historic Preservation Comment
  • Homeopathy Class in Essex
  • House sitter recommended
  • Housecleaner recommended
  • Ice rink update
  • In Defense of Home Rehab Comments
  • kids poles lost at Cochrans Friday
  • Lakeside Photos
  • LEAD ABATEMENT PROGRAM
  • Legislative Forum Jan. 2
  • Library Event
  • Library Newsletter
  • Library Trustee position open
  • Lost Gloves Project
  • Lost your house(?) key?
  • Loveseat Barter; Seeking Kittens
  • Lyric Theatre Company Auditions
  • Main St. Sidewalk Conditions
  • Mantle for Sale
  • Miniature poodle needs good home
  • Misc. For Sale
  • Moran Plant Meetings and Police Chief Hiring
  • More Neighbors Join Forum
  • More on Black cat
  • Music and potluck Jan. 4
  • myths about cats
  • Neighborhood Owl
  • Neighborhood sign replacement
  • Neighborhood Theft
  • New member
  • New Parks and Rec Programs
  • one more – REPLACEMENT WINDOWS AND OFF COLORS
  • Package Delivery Perspective
  • Planet Huntington in January
  • Plumber recommendations please!
  • Police Response to Break-Ins
  • QUICK BITE ON FIRST NIGHT
  • Roof Snow Idea Appreciation
  • Sandals Needed
  • School Survey Feedback
  • Seamstress Follow Up
  • Season pass to Smugglers Notch for Sale
  • Seeking Before-the-Bell Childcare
  • Seeking computer repair
  • Seeking Crayons
  • Seeking Good Sitter
  • Seeking grow lights
  • SEEKING LOST HAT
  • Seeking Puppy training and socialization
  • Seeking Snow Ban Parking Solution
  • Seeking snowplow service recommendations
  • Snow Ban Parking Ideas
  • Snow Issues and Business Appreciation
  • Snow on Roof
  • Snowblower questions
  • Special Thank you to…
  • still seeking doors
  • Support Local Restaurants and Community Center
  • SWEET POTATO SOUP
  • Talent Search
  • talented seamstress in the neighborhood
  • Texas Hill Sewing
  • Thank you Trinity grades 1-3
  • Thoughts on Replacement Windows
  • Town Officials not on Forum… yet
  • Town Welcome Signs
  • Umbrella Found – Yours?
  • Use your Forum
  • vandalism on South Union St.
  • VERMONT COMEDY DIVAS PERFORM!
  • Welcome Neighbors
  • Winooski LIVE! January show
  • Winter Car Wanted
  • Youth Basketball Refs Needed

Paulding.com and local online journalism

Posted on Sunday, December 30, 2007 by 1 comment

G. Patton Hughes writes about his experience operating a hyperlocal news site called paulding.com… one focused on the network and the other on advertising.  Some excerpts (well… lots of excerpts)…

Key to this success in the hyperlocal environment is the audience… For myspace it is the peers of the tweens and teens; for facebook, college peers constitute the largest draw. Frankly, one of the main reasons both sites are a success is that most there are probably on the make.

While there is some of that on paulding.com, the draw is infinitely more community minded. Many come to this hyperlocal community because they need the knowledge of those who live and know the community.

The point is each kind of social network targets a different demographic group – and most are places where ‘people like me’ congregate. That the large national social networks seem to target the youth is unmistakable. What is equally obvious is that in the hyperlocal sphere, it is geography rather than the common angst of being pubescent that is at the core of the social mortar.

This meas the hyperlocal network naturally targets adults living in a community. The prom is decidedly less an issue than is deciding the communities future by passing a fire tax. The challenges they face are politics, dealing with government, dealing with the schools, dealing with fulfilling the needs of the family to shelter, feed, clothe, educate, entertain and keep its children safe. All of these processes are at the core of adult involvement in a community. It is their interests, presence and experience and their willingness to share that knowledge that are at the core of the value proposition of the hyperlocal social network.

And…

The power of this network is that as it forms and grows it begins to write the narrative of the life of the community. In doing so it naturally challenges the schools, the newspapers, the politicians and the business community – any and all who previously controlled the public debate. The authority of those who head local institutions will likely find themselves in the midst of unanticipated conflicts.

I just can’t see adults with family and community responsibilities spending all day “poking friends” on Facebook.  Seems I’m not alone…

Remember the Gail Sheehy’s book “Passages?” Consider that people in the Internet age are going through one of many stages in life. As they age they will not so much change their media habits as adapt them to the new demands they face. I’m pretty certain they will move on from these national peer group networks and with the nesting instinct, instead turn to tend their gardens in their own backyards. My gut is they will migrate to a hyperlocal social network if one exists in their community and that migration will be an element of their passage from being kids to adults…

I fully believe that hyperlocal networks will become integral to the communities. Part virtual tool, part social network and part news, their function is to aggregate the knowledge and understanding of the adults in a community. As in all networks, it is the people who are the most valuable resource. It is their local knowledge that adds value.

However I question the next point… I think the glue is connecting with those around you rather than local news.

Local news is the glue that brings these largely disparate elements of community life together and only a fool would expect the result to be quiet order. Strife and conflict are as natural an element of the network as are death and taxes. Those who create these hyperlocal social-networks will have to be adept at managing them.

Managing that and bringing together a new kind of community that has more cohesion than dissention is the challenge of the hyperlocal community network builder.

For those who might say, but it is the sales, stupid, I can’t over-emphasize that commerce is the life-blood of a community network and permeates all aspects of the community. The task of the 21st century hyperlocal publisher is to build a virtual social, economic, political and spiritual network that transcends the conflicts of individuals and ultimately unites all elements of the community by telling their individual stories.

The tool is radically different from a newspaper. There will be hundreds or thousands of individual writers conversing. Still, when it is all distilled, the product of the hyperlocal network is just a new kind of journalism.

I can see how this looks like a new kind of journalism to a journalist… but I see it more as a new kind of citizenship… one where lots of people are involved in a open conversation with those around them about issues large and small… a huge departure from the individualism and isolation so in vogue today.

And about ad sales…

The secret of good sales is a good salesperson… give a good salesperson a product like Paulding.com with our average 10,000 daily visits, average 15 pages per visit and 13 minute plus average visit and money will come.

Yes, I’m celebrating a bit because we’ve had our best month yet. Not great but we’re now at about 20 percent of target in revenues up from about 12 percent. Our target revenue is $25,000/mo.

[Also] for a hyperlocal site to get national advertising revenues they’re going to have to either go with Google adsense or find some other kind of national representation.

The first is http://www.thenewsroom.com. This is generating about $250-300/month with my traffic and has given me access to those local stories… The second national site is http://www.adsdaq.com which is serving the purpose of a national advertising representative… They are selling about 25 percent of that inventory and and I’m netting over $300/month from the arrangement.This helps me establish a value the value locally for these front page banners at about $1400/month which, while they don’t sell for that locally, makes for good conversation with locals over the value of advertising on Paulding.com.

And do know that establishing that value proposition is a critical task in local sales… but not nearly as important as a good salesperson.

Great stuff… congratulations and thanks to Paulding.com

Gotta Stay on the Neighborhood Grapevine

Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by No comments yet

Kate in Burlington’s Old North End wrote a lovely “call to shovels” today post-blizzards, encouraging neighbors to help clear troubled sidewalk spots as a show of community spirit (it’s the city’s responsibility here).  Great idea.

Her opening line caught my eye too…

I don’t usually post, but I read every single ONE Newsletter I get.

I surveyed one Front Porch Forum neighborhood last year and found that 98% of respondents claimed to read or skim every issue of their neighborhood forum.  And 50% had posted a message in the last six months.

This high degree of readership must contribute to the impressive results FPF’s initial advertisers are reporting.

Burlington’s Snow Removal on Target?

Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 by No comments yet

Burlington was hit with back-to-back snow storms this week, leaving about 15 inches of the white stuff, on top of a little left over from the previous dumping… and the first day of winter has yet to arrive!

On Front Porch Forum we’re seeing a growing number of city residents upset with the City’s snow removal effort, especially concerning sidewalks and curb cuts.  Several tax payers with limited mobility (e.g., wheelchair users and stroller pushers) have weighed in.

So far, no official response from the City.

As a past chairman of Burlington’s Public Works Commission, I’m aware of many of the challenges involved.  My own observation (and I tend to pay attention since our family has a wheelchair user)… it looked like a good first pass to remove the bulk of the snow, but there hasn’t been the follow-through to get down to pavement, push back the piles, open up the curb cuts at intersections, etc. that I’ve seen in past winters.  That’s just an impression… no thorough survey done on my part.  However, I’m not alone, as the postings to Front Porch Forum make clear.  Here’s one example…

I took a walk downtown yesterday with a double stroller-two kids.  It’s about the equivalent to a wheel chair in width and possibly ease of mobility.  My walk was quite exhausting and frustrating.  There were numerous places where I had to walk in the middle of the road, wasn’t able to cross the street and had to go two blocks out of my way to get to the place I wanted to be (Post Office).  The whole time I was thinking, what about people on wheelchairs, or mom’s who don’t have a car and need groceries (kinda like me).  What about people who have a hard time getting around all the time?  How are they getting around?   –Tiffany

Marchex and MyZip.net get Rolling

Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 by 3 comments

Resource-rich Marchex writes about its trial of MyZip.net, a network of paid local bloggers.

Here is a selection of recent posts from the MyZip neighborhood sites:

  • A look inside the Beverly Hills public library from 90210.com
  • Where to find one-of-a-kind gifts in Plymouth from 02360.net
  • How the Portland’s Parkrose Heights post office is holding up during the holiday rush from 97220.net
  • A celebration of West Reno’s Wells Avenue from 89509.net
  • How to give back to the West Seattle community from 98126.net

Hmm… Our zip code, until it’s recent split into two zip codes, covered about 40,000 people in about 40 identifiable neighborhoods. So a blog written by one paid person about little items within our zip code doesn’t sound very compelling… like the 3rd or 4th page of the local section of the newspaper, without the newspaper behind it. I’m not intimately familiar with any of Machex’s early demo areas though, and I don’t understand much of their model… perhaps it will be great.

Jim Willis – Pulling his Neighborhood Together

Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 by 1 comment

Congratulations to Jim Willis for pulling his Red Bank, NJ neighborhood together with a Front Porch Forum-like effort. From RedBankGreen

Jim Willis rolled into town three months ago eager to do some community building… It’s what he did in his job as director of eGovernment services in the Rhode Island secretary of state’s office, where he went on a four-year tear putting previously hard-to-access information at the public’s fingertips via the web.

On the personal side, Willis is equally passionate about what he calls “social capital”… Willis subscribes to the belief that traditional social life in America has been frayed by a number of forces —€” the rise of television, the emergence of two-earner household, and technologies that make it easier to interact electronically rather than in person.

Willis grew up in Colts Neck and moved back to the area after 14 years in Washington, DC, Cincinatti and Providence… But leaving Providence meant giving up a neighborhood with “astounding social and economic diversity,” Willis says —€” not to mention great block parties. And he and his wife decided, “if we didn’t find it here, we were going to make it,” he says.

Soon after arriving, Willis began planning an email newsletter for his new neighborhood, an electronic venue for people to share information and insights about everything from the availability of babysitting services to updates on the water-line replacement work now underway in the area to notices of free stuff about to be put out on the curb.

Willis said he encountered some suspicion when he first went door-to-door to pitch the idea and collect email addresses. Some people wanted to know what he was getting out of it, and others worried that their inboxes might soon be hit with more spam.

But it wasn’t all resistance out there. In fact, he says, of the first 40 responses he got, “20 were just full of enthusiasm.”

One inspiration for what he’s doing is Front Porch Forum, a community-building organization that claims to have brought 25 percent of the population of its home city — €” Burlington, Vt. — into online discussions in its first year.

Willis has adopted several of the Front Porch Forums suggestions. One is to keep the newsletters fluff-free, or people won’t value them. Another is to build the readership to an optimal size, which turns out to be about 150 active members. And, perhaps most important, no one can post anything anonymously, which obviates the “flame wars” that occur in forums where anything goes.

He’s also sharing the workload that goes into providing content for the emails. “I don’t want to write it,” Willis says. “I want neighbors to want to do it, and I’ve got people stepping up.”

“This is for neighbors by neighbors,” he says.

Already, one parent has suggested organizing a play group for kids of a certain age. One neighbor volunteered to get in touch with Parks & Rec to get the lowdown on what improvements are planned for East Side Park, and another has said he’ll reach out to Police Chief Mark Fitzgerald about organizing a neighborhood crime watch.

The East Side Park Neighbors Newsletter, Willis wants it known, is not meant to isolate the neighborhood from the rest of Red Bank. In fact, he says he’s willing to share the software and know-how behind the newsletter to anyone in town who wants to adopt it for similar efforts.

He thinks that offer might be of particular interest to residents of the West Side, whom he’s seen coming together anew in the wake of the Best Liquors controversy and concerns about crime and housing conditions.

Whether his idealism proves infectious remains to be determined. Calling the police chief and writing up a short report can be a burden for people with full-time jobs and kids.

“I’m going to try to help him if I can,” says John Gosden, a Harrison Avenue resident for nine years who has a particular interest in the upkeep of the park.

“It kinds of brings people together as a community,” he says. “It’s actually a very busy park.”

Willis thinks it will take some time to work the bugs out and get the newsletter established. Already, he’s sent out two issues, but problems with spam-bocking software in the email programs of many intended recipients kept the first one from getting though.

But that’s a fixable problem, says Willis. The bigger challenge is fostering a sense of community.

“If we accomplish one thing, I’m hoping we diminish that cynicism that keeps people from talking to one another,” he says.

New West… “great content and local authenticty”

Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007 by No comments yet

John Kelsey writes today…

In 2005, Jonathan Weber launched New West Publishing, an online independent local media company designed to serve the “culture, economy, politics, environment and life style of the Rocky Mountain West.” Today NewWest.net is structured as a regional publication that also focuses in on seven local markets. He reiterated… the difficulty of selling local online advertising. Success requires patience and persistence, the blocking and tackling of the online local media business. At the same time, you need talented players and a good strategy. These could be described as great content and local authenticity.

What I find most refreshing about New West is that Weber resisted the forces encouraging him to replicate his platform in other markets (New South, New China, etc.). Unlike most other entrepreneurs in the city guide and free DA business, Weber said, let’s do this right in one market area and then, and only then, consider expansion.

Great content and local authenticity… that’s a winner. And that combination appears to be in short supply.

iBrattleboro Sued for Libel

Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 by No comments yet

David Ardia’s post just alerted me to the fact that iBrattleboro is being sued for libel over something written in the comment section of their site.