Democracy | Ghost of Midnight

Columbia Journalism Review covers 2 #VT websites

Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

VTDigger.org and Front Porch Forum were written up by the Columbia Journalism Review recently. Good stuff. Congratulations to VTDigger. The piece starts…

As the name suggests, VTDigger aims to provide deep coverage of local issues in the Green Mountain State. “I wanted to follow stories in-depth,” explains Anne Galloway, the publication’s editor-in-chief. “Not all of our stories are investigative; but we want them all to go deep.”…

And about FPF…

Vermont-based social networking site Front Porch Forum has earned an intense regional following, partly thanks to its success as a venue for hyperlocal citizen journalism…

I believe FPF and VTDigger will be on a panel together May 12, 2011 at the annual VBSR spring conference. Come join the discussion with us.

Bristol #VT thinking globally, acting locally

Posted on Monday, March 21, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Marc on Front Porch Forum yesterday…

I’m a new member of Front Porch Forum and I’ve been enjoying it. Like the forum my life is mostly made up of dog poop and broken washing machines. Occasionally something, like Allison’s post, will remind me that there are bigger and perhaps more important things going on in the world.

The other day, while waiting on the Green for the ACTR bus to Middlebury, I got to thinking of Allison’s letter, of the middle east and Japan, of how the world changes, of how the world presents a smooth surface of seemingly unchangeable realities, of ways of living, of how things are and then the next day, the next moment they aren’t. It’s as if we woke up in an alternative universe. Passive, downtrodden people are suddenly protesting all over the middle east, Japan is…God knows what, but radically different than yesterday. What we took for granted as solid and unchangeable is revealed in hindsight as having been standing ready to transform. Sometimes it’s the gentlest of pushes, sometimes it’s a huge shove that we thought could never happen.

So I was at the bus stop and thinking about buses…

He goes on to talk about how taking the bus cuts down on his eco-impact and offers tips for others considering taking this step.

Greg adds his two cents:

Thank you for so eloquently putting to words what many of us have been feeling. Sadness, anger, fear -out of control. It is time (past time) for a new understanding of our impact on the planet and others. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to tell others how you feel. THANK YOU.

Here’s Allison’s original FPF posting, entitled “Small World”…

I’ve been thinking a lot about Japan, lately (anyone else?) and having some of the same feelings I was having while I watched oil spew endlessly into the Gulf (still having those feelings, actually, since the mess is far from over): frustration, anger, intense sadness. The frustration comes from witnessing a terrible thing which appears to be completely out of my control. The anger feels fierce. Sometimes I want to scream until blood vessels burst, but who would I scream at anyway? We all use nuclear power, we all use gas and oil, we all use electricity, in some way. On the bad days, when the anger is particularly stubborn, it’s all gloom and doom: we’re never going to learn, are we? We’re just going to sit here and wonder why the world is cracking open all around, but not do a thing to change the habits which possibly contribute to the cracking. And then come the moments of grace and surrender: driving to work the day after the huge blizzard last week, when the air was clear and frigid. The previous night’s wind had sculpted the fields with lines and ridges, and moisture from Bristol Pond hung over everything like a veil. I wanted to stop my car and watch the morning unfold, and I felt so thankful to live here, on this planet. And the sadness? Too much to put into this post. The questions “what can I do? How can I help?” frequently run through my head. There are as many different answers to these questions as there are people who ask them. Here are some of my answers: use less; less electricity, less gas and oil. Slow down a little. Take a moment to do something which pleases my heart. Grow pretty things in my yard. Grow edible things in my yard. Grow medicine. Stay healthy. Eat good food. Sing more. Breathe deeply. Slow down (I’m saying it twice because I need the extra reminder).

Japan doesn’t really seem so far away, to me. We all live in this web. Air is circulated all over the globe. Currents move many things. The bigger the disaster, the smaller this planet becomes. And I’m saying this, again, because I need the reminder. Because there’s a small part of me saying “I’m so glad that didn’t happen here. I’m so glad that didn’t happen to me…” But the thing is, it DID happen to me. It’s happening to all of us. It happened to us in the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska, at Chernobyl (excuse the spelling, I guessed on that one). When something happens on this planet, it happens to all of us, whether we’re in the midst of the rubble or somewhere else. And I, for one, haven’t forgotten there’s a nuclear power plant not too far from here. Nor do I believe for one second we are capable of building something which can withstand the force of Mother Nature. There’s hope in all of this. When I can sit still with my breath, let go of the anger and move through the sadness, I can begin to feel excited about the changes we could make. When I can sit still with my breath, I can remember I’m not a hero. I can’t “save the world,” but I can grow peas!! I can grow sunflowers and carrots and lavender; winter squash and tomatoes. ….. I have many mantras I repeat to myself, but “baby steps” is going to have to be my newest. Viewed as a whole, the changes are many and almost overwhelming. So I make one small change and go from there…

I’m thankful to be living in a neighborhood where I can see many others making small positive changes towards a more sustainable way of life.

Different posts for different folks…

Posted on Monday, February 28, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

People differ on their interest and even tolerance for various topics on their FPF neighborhood/town forum. One person posted recently complaining about too much conversation about the proposed roundabout road project in Cambridge, Vermont. Here’s a response posted today by a neighbor, Jim…

A comment was made recently suggesting that Front Porch Forum be renamed the “Cambridge “roundabout” forum” because of the volume of responses the topic elicited. I vehemently disagree! I feel that this is EXACTLY why FPF was created. Stimulating and fostering dialogue among LOCAL residents should be applauded!!!

FPF is an just a modern, electronic version of the conversations that used to take place in the feedstores, general stores, post offices, etc. that were the gathering places for inhabitants of the towns and villages of “old” Vermont. To simply dismiss these important interactions, whether electronic or face-to-face, is missing a major part of what makes Vermont so unique and such a great place to live in! Think of FPF as the conversations that take place before, during and after Town Meeting. It provides those of us that are not fortunate enough to have jobs that allow us to attend Town Meeting and similar venues make our thoughts, ideas and concerns known. How can this be a bad thing?

Let’s face it, the proposed roundabout will impact virtually all of us living in our town, now and well into the foreseeable future. It’s probably the biggest point of discussion to hit here since the idea to re-establish a Cambridge High School several years back. Why would we want to stifle it? It’s a sign of a healthy, vibrant community!!! What a great way for our governmental representatives to help to better understand what’s on our minds.

Leaving all of the decisions to our elected officials because they are “in the know” is a recipe for disaster! Can you say “Iraq”?

So let’s continue to grow and contribute to FPF. Consider it as an opportunity!

Thanks to e-Vermont for bringing FPF to Cambridge!

How to reconnect #VT neighbors?

Posted on Thursday, February 10, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Front Porch Forum has people from across Middlesex communicating in ways they haven’t in years.

Received this quote tonight from a very plugged-in person in her rural Vermont town. I love it. That’s a critical part of FPF’s mission… to help neighbors connect… and not just online. Rather, once FPF gets rolling in a community, people start talking with neighbors more face-to-face at the store, school, church, sidewalk, etc. This becomes ever more important with Town Meeting in a couple weeks.

Random Acts of Kindness in Vermont

Posted on Thursday, February 10, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Here’s a Front Porch Forum posting from Winooski today. During the last few weeks of heavy snow, we’ve seen a lot of this kind of thing.

I wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to my neighbors on Dion St who have cleared my driveway on several occasions this winter. Your random act of kindness is so appreciated, thank you again and again!

It’s heartening to read about these kind actions and the gratitude of the recipients… especially as we head into Town Meeting Day, a time when debate among neighbors inevitably heats up.

Neighborhood Sites Can Awaken Community Involvement

Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

[This posting originally appeared on PBS MediaShift/IdeaLab and Huffington Post.]

“When I was first on my own I used to bemoan that my fellow renters could hardly be bothered to return a wave but someone kept stealing my newspaper…,” wrote author Laura Grace Weldon in a recent blog post, What Makes A Street Into A Neighborhood? “Then we moved to a little house. It was silly how hard it was to meet the neighbors. They’d wave but that’s about it.”

Along the same lines, Sarah Byrnes wrote in YES! Magazine that “In the past, neighbors knew each other and engaged more naturally in mutual aid, sharing common resources and helping those in need. Nowadays, our mutual aid muscles are out of shape and pretty flabby.”

The National Conference on Citizenship’s Civic Health Index has attempted to bring science into the discussion by measuring things like the percent of people in a place who discuss politics with family and friends (44 percent in Vermont, for example). They found that 9 percent of Americans work with neighbors to improve the community, and 16 percent exchange favors with neighbors a few times a week.

Local Sites Drive Engagement
In their new book, The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods, John McKnight and Peter Block provide strategy and tactics culled from decades of community organizing. The book is chock full of hands-on, face-to-face ideas for pulling neighbors together. The Internet gets a mention, but it should get more.

A recent study from the U.K. by Hugh Flouch and Kevin Harris found incredible civic engagement impact from neighborhood-focused websites. Among the findings reported by residents who use these websites:

95 percent feel more informed about the neighborhood
92 percent feel useful information gets shared efficiently
82 percent feel people pull together to improve the neighborhood
69 percent feel an increased sense of belonging within the neighborhood

How is this possible? I’m guessing that the sites studied offer highly relevant (that is, very local) content, don’t waste people’s time, and emphasize relationships and communication among “participants” over simply feeding news to passive “readers.” These sites likely move away from social media’s 90:9:1 principal, which posits that 90 percent of visitors are lurkers, 9 percent pitch in a little, and 1 percent create the vast majority of a site’s content.

Sometimes even the 1 percent of the content that appears to be user-generated is actually supplied by paid contributors, such as the recent case with Yell.

Front Porch Forum
I see a different pattern with our Knight News Challenge-supported Front Porch Forum. We host a pilot regional network of online neighborhood forums in Vermont with the simple mission of helping neighbors connect and get involved.

In one rural town, we found that half of the community had subscribed to FPF after one year and, remarkably, 66 percent had posted. Instead of 90:9:1, we saw a ratio closer to 34:44:22. In another study in Burlington, Vt., where half of the city subscribes to FPF, 90 percent reported that their local civic engagement had increased due to this online service.

Finding quality, timely and accessible local information is a daunting task in our current environment, with traditional media’s convulsions and new media’s fits and starts. But that’s only half the battle. An informed yet isolated and disconnected populace does not make a democracy. We need more efforts like those covered in the U.K. study above that get people connected to neighbors and involved in the places where they live.

That’s our mission at Front Porch Forum and we’re excited to find growing interest in turning online words into offline local actions. Please share examples in the comments.

7 Ways to Make your Neighborhood a Better Place

Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

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.’

Caring about neighbors…

Posted on Monday, January 10, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

#BTV #VT — Many local online efforts focus on making information available to people… that’s a great start. But it’s just a start if your goal is building community and helping people get involved locally.

Burlington City Councilor David Berezniak posted this thoughtful message to his neighbors on Front Porch Forum yesterday…

There are many aspects to living in the ONE [Old North End] that are positive and it is nice to have the ability to share them with each other. Front Porch Forum makes this possible. This is a great service and well deserves our continued support. But please remember, this is not a substitute for meeting, talking with, or getting to know your actual next door neighbors. Ask them if they have joined FPF, let them know you read it and how easy it is to join. Begin to put real faces to some of the postings on here. Start using FPF with a core group of your neighbors as an icebreaker. You may find sharing a genuine feeling of caring about what happens to your neighbors and their stuff also gives them a reason to feel the same way about you.

Neighborhoods much less important as social units

Posted on Sunday, January 9, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

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.

#VT’s new Lt. Gov. pushes Civic Engagement

Posted on Friday, January 7, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

New Vermont Lt. Governor Phil Scott (Rep.) was sworn in yesterday and gave a speech centered on civic engagement. I invite our new Lt. Gov. to see how Front Porch Forum is helping Vermont neighbors connect and get involved locally… e-Vermont too. Some choice quotes…

… as many of you know, 46 percent of registered voters didn’t vote in November. That’s 209,000 Vermonters whose only choice on November 2 was not to show up. They decided it wasn’t worth it, or it didn’t matter, or it wouldn’t do any good, to make their voice heard. My experience shows that’s just not the case… I don’t think any of us fully realized until November 2 what that frustration had turned into; it turned into 209,000 people who had apparently given up… Civic involvement isn’t something that’s only relevant on even-numbered years.

All of us here in the Legislature need to reach out to those folks and welcome them in, even when we might not agree with their views. We need to open our doors. In order to live up to the intentions and the expectations of our accessible government, we ourselves need to be more accessible. That will mean different things for each of us. For me, that means literally opening my office door downstairs a morning or two a week and inviting you in for coffee and conversation. It means opening my virtual doors…

When I challenge Vermonters to get involved, I’m not just talking about the work we do in Montpelier. Because I really believe we all want to help each other; sometimes we just need to know how… one theme that I’ve stressed… is self-reliance, and its partner, volunteerism. In my mind, those are two sides of the same coin. Being self-reliant doesn’t just mean looking after yourself, although that’s important… But self-reliance also means looking after our neighbors, and giving them the support they may need to get to the next step in their lives.

That has a lot of implications.

That means buying local, and supporting the merchants on Main Street instead of the website in California.

That means helping Vermont’s manufacturers to identify suppliers and trading partners who are here within our borders or close by in our region.

That means making it easier and more affordable for more of us to eat local food, supporting our farmers, reducing transportation costs, and getting fresher and healthier things to eat.

That means investing in energy policies that help us become more independent.

Personally, I suspect that a great deal of the collective frustration that caused those 209,000 people to stay home on November 2 was the sense that our elected officials and candidates kept talking about the goals — creating jobs, jump-starting the economy, and helping our most vulnerable — but didn’t talk enough about how we would get there. Buying local and encouraging innovative local partnerships are part of my vision for how we do it…

Our challenge in Montpelier is to come up with solutions that will strengthen Vermont. Your challenge is to come up with solutions that will help your neighbor and strengthen your community. If we all work together, we will strengthen the legacy of the state that we love to call home.

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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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