Pete Peterson wrote a solid piece about Front Porch Forum for Personal Democracy Forum… published today. Please check it out and leave a comment there. Thanks Pete and Micah!
Jeff Jarvis blogged about his latest ideas in “hyper local”… some interesting points, including the comments. Here’s Bob Wyman…
The obvious question is: “Why isn’t Front Porch Forum integrated into the BurlingtonFreePress.com site or the sites of the New York Times, WSJ or other newspapers that serve those in your community?”…
The Burlington Police Dept. is stepping up its community policing efforts, the Burlington Free Press reported today, including this bit…
Some officers are already reaching out. Officer Mike Hemond, for example, posted a message on the Front Porch Forum for the Five Sisters area, providing a link to the department’s Web site, updating residents on graffiti arrests, alerting them that he was going on vacation for a few weeks and making himself available to chat about whatever when he got back. “Heck,” he wrote, “e-mail me in advance, and I’ll bring coffee.”
A community newspaper in Vermont recently raised concerns about Front Porch Forum to an entity that is supportive of our work. Here are some of the points made by the newspaper publisher…
… internet activities like the Front Porch Forum are direct competitors to community newspapers…
… subsidizing these forums and spreading their access is hastening the demise of [community newspapers]…
… you enable the neighborhoods to believe that news of their community is being covered by the siting of trash being dumped on the side of the road, or of a neighbor who attended a meeting and reported on the one item of real interest to them…
What happens with these types of forums is news is filtered out to the community by those with an agenda. School boards or planning commissions, for example, could designate a member of the board to write the report of the meeting and put it on the forum. The potential to have that report cover what the board wants and how it wants is huge, and it is not, in the end, in the public’s best interest in cases that may be controversial. (Given, that much of the news coming out of such meetings is not controversial and such reports could be unbiased and with no consequence.) But in cases that are controversial, how is the community best served if what happens is that Front Porch leads readers to believe they don’t need the local paper except on those few occasions of controversy. That is, they cancel their subscription and only buy it at the store on those weeks when a professional reporter comes to town to report important issues. That type of thinking, of course, hurts circulation and undermines the advertising base.
… activities like these are no small threats to community newspapers…
… you might reconsider how to carry on this part of your mission. Partnering with the local paper may be one way to do that.
Here’s my response…
Small town community newspapers are crucial to local civic health. And many of these newspapers face a dire future. This should be a big concern for anyone focused on local social capital and civic engagement. It’s one of the reasons I’m working on Front Porch Forum. You should be congratulated for your forward thinking in this area. I would be interested in seeing innovative proposals from community newspapers for new sustainable business models to support local journalism.
Front Porch Forum’s mission is to help neighbors connect and build community. Any sharing of news among neighbors is incidental… it’s one of many things that neighbors do when they have access to an easy communication channel. We don’t directly compete with newspapers, we help and complement them.
In fact, in Chittenden County, news stories bubble up out of neighborhood conversations on FPF. In dozens of cases, The Burlington Free Press, Seven Days, WCAX, VPR and others have used Front Porch Forum to get leads for their news stories. We’re happy to play this role (assuming proper attribution).
And forward thinking newspapers use FPF to attract more readers. For example, Seven Days has been running weekly messages on FPF about its stories drawing significant traffic to its website.
Further, many of our subscribers travel an arc from (1) getting direct results from postings (e.g., found lost cat, gave away a stroller), to (2) feeling more a part of their community due to these interactions and routine reading of neighbors’ postings, to (3) increased involvement in the civic life of their town (e.g., volunteering at Green Up Day, serving on a committee). This heightened sense of what’s going on in the neighborhood leads to people being more tuned into local issues… thus FPF helps nurture an environment loaded with more potential readers of the local newspaper. It’s up to the each newspaper to capitalize on this opportunity.
For example, in Burlington’s New North End, past monthly Neighborhood Planning Assembly meetings typically drew five or six people, in addition to the committee members. Once the committee started using FPF, attendance ballooned to 50 or 60. This wasn’t just because FPF was a better way to announce the meetings, rather it’s been the regular neighborhood-level discussions stirred up via FPF that have increase awareness and interest in local issues. So when the meeting is announced, many people are tuned in and caring enough to show up and participate.
We’d be thrilled if one of Burlington’s newspapers approached us with ideas for tying into this exciting development. Perhaps we could even work up a proposal and seek funding together.
The decline of the newspaper industry is closely tracked and widely discussed. Here’s one such recent piece that warrants careful reading.
Here are some other respected resources about the upheaval in the newspaper business…
Many factors contribute to the current status of the newspaper industry, including past business decisions, the current economy, volatile changes in the advertising world, the effect of the internet, participatory and decentralized journalism, etc… suffice to say, it’s complex and the sea change underway now has been a long time coming. It’s hard to imagine that supporting a small local civic-engagement dot.com experiment has much of a role in this larger, centuries-running drama of the American newspaper.
The newspaper publisher appears to have some misconceptions of how Front Porch Forum works. FPF is open to all residents of its service region, those with agendas (of any stripe) and those without. It’s a discussion among clearly identified nearby neighbors about topics of their choosing… like a block party with name tags. Newspapers, on the other hand, bring their own agenda, determine the topics, and limit who can speak.
While some FPF members may quit their local newspaper subscriptions, as he suggests, that’s not our intent. If that happens, I submit it has more to do with the readers’ perceived value of the newspaper than with FPF.
Finally, we’re humbled by the recognition and awards from the following organizations bestowed on Front Porch Forum for its cutting edge work in building social capital and civic engagement, including…
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on this subject and I’d be glad to continue the conversation with you, newspaper folks, or others. I have much to learn and remain openminded and flexible.
Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility is pulling together another dynamite conference this spring… On the Long Trail: Sustaining Success… May 5, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel on Battery Street in Burlington.
I’m thrilled to be leading a session with a great panel. We aim to draw a knowledgeable and questioning crowd to assure a lively discussion. Register here.
Weathering the Recession: New Tools for Vermont Businesses
Amy Kirschner, Vermont Sustainable Exchange
Jesse McDougall, Chelsea Green Publishing
Glenn McRae, Intervale Center’s Food Hub Program
Linda Rossi, Vermont Small Business Development Center
moderator: Michael Wood-Lewis, Front Porch Forum
The economic downturn sweeping the globe is not sparing the Vermont business sector. However, small and micro businesses in Vermont are far from powerless in the face of this recession. An emerging crop of new tools, many of them internet-based and developed by Vermonters, are providing new ways to cut costs, generate revenue, form partnerships, raise capital and weather these tight times. You’ll hear about services that match workers and jobs, buyers and sellers, and barter partners; give away unwanted inventory; raise capital; and more. Join the discussion, and take away concepts and tips for keeping up and getting ahead.
A neighborhood activist came home from a community meeting in Burlington tonight and she turned immediately to Front Porch Forum to inform her neighbors of the meeting’s outcome. I was struck by her note that said, in part,…
Between Channel 17 [award-winning PEG Access station] and Front Porch Forum, the Free Press [Gannett-owned local daily newspaper] is no longer relevant!
I don’t think I’d go that far, but that kind of comment is heard more and more.
Thanks to host Jonathan Butler who interviewed me on his new radio show “The Browser” on The Radiator… fun times. We discussed Front Porch Forum, Facebook, Craigslist, local online and more. Click here to listen.
UPDATE: From Jonathan today on FPF’s Neighborhood Volunteers Forum…
I am a Volunteer at the Radiator 105.9fm, BTV’s community-access public radio station, where I host a weekly program called ‘the browser’. The program is all about “the people who bring the world wide web to BTV & VT”. My guest this week was Michael Wood-Lewis of Front Porch Forum. You can hear the interview here: http://thebrowser1059.wordpress.com
The success of the FPF is a multi-angle story and I’m sure I’ll host future discussions or interviews about the Forum. If you have any suggestions for guests/topics (related to the Forum or other), please feel free to drop me an email. I can’t use the Radio to overtly and actively promote the Forum, but it is a great story that could merit additional coverage in the future.
Burlington is bursting with civic-minded people who act on their convictions… from shoveling a neighbor’s sidewalk to taking on drug dealing. The City throws a great annual party — Neighborhood Night of Success — to celebrate people and projects, share a meal and music, and mingle. I recommend attending… March 25, 2009. Also, Ita Meno is looking for nominations!
To show how long we’ve been at this… Front Porch Forum was recognized at the very first NNS in 2001 and then again in 2007.
Ita, the key organizer, invited me on to her talk show to chat about it.
P.S. Ita is leaving her position with CEDO, so the NPAs won’t have her as a resource any longer… a real loss! Best wishes to her in her new position and I hope CEDO hires well when finding her replacement!
Meghan Dewald posted on Seven Days’ Blurt today…
One thing I like about my Front Porch Forum listserv is the regular updates from the Burlington Fire Marshal’s office whenever there’s a fire in my neighborhood. It’s rare to get detailed information directly from a public official about what happened at the scene of an accident — and despite the rubbernecking aspect, each update also drives home a particular point abut fire safety.
The most recent such update from Assistant Fire Marshal Thomas Middleton detailed how rodents were to blame for a bizarre Hill section blaze last weekend…
I understand that this is no laughing matter; lots of Vermont houses have mice living in the walls, and they can wreak havoc with property… But I have to admit that I giggled at the title of the “Mice Caused House Fire” update on my Front Porch Forum…
Nice post. Although Meghan clearly didn’t get the “listserv” memo.
I had to share a posting from Sarah Judd tonight on her FPF neighborhood forum in Burlington’s Old North End…
Please join us for the opening of the ONE Woman photography show this Friday, January 30th, at the Burlington College Community Gallery, 95 North Ave. in Burlington. The Gallery will be open from 3-9 p.m., with a reception from 6-8 p.m. If you can’t make the opening, you can see the show at the dates and times below, or by calling Burlington College at 862-9616 to make an appointment:
Friday, January 30, 3-9 p.m.
Saturday, January 31, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, February 1, 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
Monday, February 2, 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday, February 3, 8:30 a.m.-2:45 p.m.
Friday, February 6, 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.The ONE Woman photography project is a display of 200 photographs taken by 170 women living, working and learning in the Old North End. Project participants included women who have lived in the ONE for two months and women who have lived here all of their lives. Our youngest participant was 10, and the oldest was 85. The project, I hope, is a document of women’s lives in the ONE, illustrating who our unique neighbors are and how we live, and shows connecting links between the diverse groups of women from many backgrounds living in the same community.
This project was inspired, in part, by a Front Porch Forum post by Bridget Burns, who witnessed a group of children throwing rocks at a Somali family last April [emphasis added]. I thought if I could show who we are living in the ONE, the things we all care about like our families, places we love, pets, streets, etc., this commonality and familiarity with each other would hopefully prevent things like the rock throwing incident from happening again. We live in a great place, filled with great people, and I hope the show reflects this. So thanks, for your post, Bridget.
I also got several participants for the project through a post on the FPF, so thanks FPF ONECentral and the ONE women who participated!
This makes my day (week, month!). The posting that inspired this artist has haunted me for months. This is the power of a tool like Front Porch Forum. The problem was shared on FPF and much discussion ensued. Out of that (and other sources of inspiration) came this art project. The artist used FPF to pull her project together and bring in collaborators. And, now, she’s using FPF to share word of it with hundreds of nearby neighbors.
UPDATE: Mike Ives filed a good piece about this show for Seven Days. In part…
Judd’s inspiration came last April, when she read a post on the local listserv Front Porch Forum titled “Neighborhood Bigotry.” The post’s author, a twentysomething Old North End woman, reported seeing a group of boys throwing rocks at a family of Somali refugees. Judd, 42, a Connecticut native who grew up in a multiracial family, wondered if the incident would have occurred if the boys had known more about the immigrants they chose to terrorize.
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