Modern community building isn’t easy but if there is one thing the Internet has taught me over the past 15 years, large engaged communities are incredible powerful things, both commercially and socially. Building them is important and ultimately very valuable work.
Category Archives: Community Building
Virtual neighborhood gathering places?
Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet
Can virtual tools build real community? (#BTV #VT) Wayne Senville of the Planning Commissioner’s Journal takes a look on the Project for Public Spaces blog today. In part…
Neighborhood gathering places like coffee shops, diners, and post offices have long been a cornerstone to community life in America… For years, a common sight outside many of these places was the message board, where neighbors left word about a missing dog, a yard sale, an apartment to rent, a community meeting and where candidates for city council, alderman, school board, or mayor placed their campaign posters. But fast forward to 2011. Email and Facebook is where we often “talk.” Many bemoan this, feeling it has weakened civic life and resulted in a loss of connection within our neighborhoods. And, yes, count me among those who’ve made such claims.
Yet something quite remarkable has emerged in Burlington and other Vermont towns. A locally-developed… service, called Front Porch Forum, has established itself as the key way many residents now keep in touch with neighborhood concerns: by posting announcements, notices, offers of help, requests for help and also debating a variety of local issues.
Valerie and Michael Wood-Lewis started up the precursor to today’s Front Porch Forum (FPF) in their own small “Five Sisters” neighborhood five years ago. Their mission was and remains: “to help neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood.” In 2007, the Orton Foundation recognized the Front Porch Forum with its 2007 Innovator in Place Award.
FPF has exploded in popularity. Remarkably, more than 50 percent of Burlington (pop. 40,000) households subscribe to FPF! … Front Porch has become the “place” people think of first when looking to find out what’s happening in their neighborhood, or to post an announcement…
Michael Wood-Lewis: Front Porch Forum is used frequently by residents to announce, discuss and organize for or against development projects Williston landfill, Southern Connector, Circ highway, Moran plant, Appletree Point senior housing, on and on. FPF gets dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people tuned into planning-related issues. It should be noted, that after Town Meeting, the postings reverted back toward FPF’s bread and butter lost cat, seeking apartment, car break-in report, etc. FPF members talk about feeling an increased sense of community ownership. A survey found that 45% of respondents reported “speaking up or getting involved on any public or policy issue as a result of subscribing to Front Porch Forum.”…
… Front Porch Forum can actually increase citizen interest in local government meetings and public involvement. For example, [here is a] comment from a steering committee member on one of Burlington’s neighborhood organizations: “We had a great turn out at the Neighborhood Planning Assembly meeting this past week — 80 plus people and almost all of them are on the Front Porch Forum. We have had three great meetings with numbers above 50 this fall thanks to… Front Porch Forum.”
Natural disasters, neighbors and social networking
Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet
NPR recently covered Daniel Aldrich’s work… he’s looking at how neighbors help each other during disaster. We watched this on Front Porch Forumthis spring when flood waters ravaged many Vermont communities and people rallied to help those who lived nearby. From NPR…
Aldrich’s findings show that ambulances and firetrucks and government aid are not the principal ways most people survive… a disaster… government interventions cannot bring neighborhoods back, and most emergency responders take far too long to get to the scene. Rather, it is the personal ties among members of a community that determine survival during a disaster, and recovery in its aftermath. When Aldrich visited villages in India hit by the giant 2004 tsunami, he found that villagers who fared best after the disaster weren’t those with the most money, or the most power. They were people who knew lots of other people the most socially connected individuals. In Japan, Aldrich found that firetrucks and ambulances didn’t save the most lives after earthquakes. Neighbors did.
Meanwhile, from Keith Hampton and Pew colleagues…
Do [social networking sites] isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way?
In their fascinating report, they share several observations from their survey, among them… “In this Pew Internet sample, 79% of American adults said they used the internet and nearly half of adults (47%) say they use at least one of social networking sites.” The adults surveyed are using Facebook mostly to connect with people from their past… high school, college, family. Facebook doesn’t appear to be used much among current neighbors (chart)… less than 2% in this survey. So, can social networking sites be used by neighbors to help each other… during disasters, as well as with more pedestrian issues the rest of the time? Hampton’s earlier work suggests yes (e-neighbors study and a previous Pew study). Portia Krebs of USTelecom (The Broadband Association) reported this past week…
Consider this: 28% of Americans know none of their neighbors by name, and fewer than half of American adults know most or all of their neighbors. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Americans who go online daily are more likely than non-Internet users to know some of their neighbors’ names ““ and 27% of Internet users said they used digital tools to talk to their neighbors and keep informed about community issues. Front Porch Forum ““ a neighborhood-based network serving small cities and towns ““ gives registered users an opportunity to discuss everything from road repairs to the school budget. According to FPF, half of the residents of Burlington, Vermont subscribe ““ and an astonishing 90% of those users said their local civic engagement increased thanks to this online service.
Facebook works so well to help connect old acquaintances. But it’s not so good at helping neighbors find each other. Perhaps that’s because Facebook is all software and no community management. The role of effective online community management to bring diverse people together online in civil and constructive conversation is critically important. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson weighed in recently on this point…
Amen! We’re excited to see the dozens of online neighborhood forums that are bursting with activity on Front Porch Forum and we look forward to expanding to more places in the near future. Check out our new web app.
Note: This post originally appeared on the PBS MediaShift IdeaLab blog.
Aha Moment… Helping Neighbors Connect in #BTV #VT
Posted on Friday, July 1, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet
Mutual of Omaha came to town recently and asked me to share Front Porch Forum‘s story for their Aha Moment project.
My wife and I found it tough to meet the neighbors. Our aha moment happened when we decided to create Front Porch Forum. Now half of our city subscribes and connects with their neighbors, and beautiful neighbor-help-neighbor stories overflow from our site. gDQiJfaa2oE
Lots of great stories from other Vermonters too. Take a look!
About Blog
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
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