Category Archives: Media

“Neighborhoods Online” gets a Look by MediaPost

Posted on Thursday, October 11, 2007 by • No comments yet

Kathleen Burge writes in OMMA this week about several neighborhood-level online efforts. She includes FatDoor, BackFence, eNeighbors, MeetTheNeighbors, and Front Porch Forum. The conclusion… full of potential, but two big problems… (1) generating sufficient revenue, and (2) scaling and adjusting the formula that works in San Francisco so that it plays in Peoria. Worth a read.

Local play uses netroots to fill seats

Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 by • 1 comment

Pamela Polston writes in this week’s Seven Days about the innovative marketing effort underway for the homegrown play American Machine…

Word-of-mouth is potent advertising for everyone from plumbers to playwrights. James Lantz happens to be one of the latter — his latest work, American Machine, opens next Tuesday at the FlynnSpace. But Lantz is not relying on the old-fashioned, no-tech kind of word spreading. In what may be a first-of-its-kind marketing approach — at least ’round these parts — the Burlington writer has been covering his electronic bases. Besides the play’s website, Lantz maintains an American Machine blog and e-newletter. The Flynn — which co-commissioned the work — follows the play’s progress on its blog. Neighbors and friends around Burlington are posting notices in support of the play on their Front Porch Forums(in part because opening night is a benefit for the Burlington Schools Food Project). And FPF founder Michael Wood-Lewis touts the play on his blog, called Ghost of Midnight, where Lantz reciprocates with a rave about Front Porch Forum.

That’s not all. Lantz has planned a special “Bloggers Night” — September 27 — when “we’re going to invite about 20 of Burlington’s bloggers to this show gratis,” says a recent post. “The only thing that we ask in return is that our bloggers do what they do best: blog about what they saw.”

The playwright, whose previous work was last year’s The Bus, is careful to note that the bloggers can say whatever they want about the play. But whether thumbs go up or down, there is no denying that Lantz’s grassroots — techroots? — approach is creative. In a Google search for “American Machine, the play,” Wood-Lewis’ blog entry actually comes up first. (Ironically, www.americanmachinetheplay.com is eighth on the list.)

Neighborhood organizers put FPF to work

Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 by • 1 comment

The Neighborhood Planning Assembly in Burlington’s New North End is recognizing neighbors who make a special contribution to community. Here are two they singled out…

CARMEN GEORGE: After the murder of two women in Burlington, Carmen didn’t feel as safe walking at night. She wanted to get some exercise but was a little too fearful to go out by herself. She wondered if there were others who might be interested in getting out at night.She sent out an email on the Front Porch Forum. It was a simple invitation to go for a walk. The response was good, mostly mothers who were up for getting out of the house for a bit and having some good adult conversation. It’s a nice way to connect.

Carmen does a lot of other things in the neighborhood. She plans block parties, progressive dinners, playdates. She likes knowing her neighbors. She lived in a neighborhood growing up that was close knit and she wants that for her daughter. “We don’t want to walk down the street and see strangers, we want to be among friends.” Thanks to Carmen, this is becoming a reality for many people in her neighborhood. We salute you, Carmen.

I love Carmen’s quote… “We don’t want to walk down the street and see strangers, we want to be among friends.”

BOB DINAN organized a neighborhood sporting event using Front Porch Forum.

  • Softball, Soccer, Frisbee (Ultimate) Is anyone in the “Neighborhood” interested in putting together a neighborhood game of some sort? Nothing ultra-competitive, keeping it fun, maybe even playing against another neighborhood. Any ideas?
  • Neighborhood softball Friday August 3rd at 6:45 I was communicating with Jim Flint and we decided to try for next Friday. It will be at the Flynn school. I have a few bats I can bring, one is a smaller one for kids. If anyone else has a favorite bat bring it along.
  • Just a reminder and a note to the new people we are having a softball game this Friday at the Flynn School field on Starr Farm Rd. Time 6:45pm, meet & make teams, hopefully start playing by 7:00pm. All are welcome.

This is the awakening neighborhood spirit that Front Porch Forum has brought to us via the internet.

Neighbors Rally together to Fight Crime

Posted on Sunday, September 2, 2007 by • No comments yet

Matt Ryan of the Burlington Free Press yesterday covered a troubling story that’s been a hot topic of conversation on the Westford Neighborhood Forum for some time…

Harmony Schutt and her neighbors on Osgood Hill Road in Westford are fed up with theft.

The thieves, whom victims identify as neighborhood teens, break into cars and homes to steal mostly beer, gas and loose change, but the petty crimes are costing homeowners more than just stolen property…

Schutt lives alone and said her house has been broken into six times this summer. Schutt’s house is hidden from the road behind a row of trees, which makes it an easy target, Schutt said. The most recent break-in occurred Aug. 22 when thieves broke her sliding glass door to get in. The door will cost between $650 and $850 to fix, Schutt said. Thieves have cut holes in screens to unlock windows and have stolen wine, beer, cash and condoms. She called Vermont State Police and recently installed a surveillance camera to deter criminals.

The police “say they can’t do anything, so I’m hoping to catch them on that little camera,” Schutt said.

Local victims are turning to other means…

A few neighbors had posted signs in their yards asking for stolen items to be returned. One sign, nailed to a telephone pole, read, “Two 18-packs of beer — $35. Money in truck — $17. Look on thieves faces when caught — priceless.”

Rose Elder, 52, said thieves stole a cooler of beer from her son’s truck in her driveway and have siphoned gas from her car.

“They steal just the easy stuff that they can take,” Elder said. Warren Oalican, who lives next door to Elder and across the road from Schutt, responded to a message Schutt posted on Front Porch Forum, an online site where neighbors can share information. Oalican, 38, said he’s been trying to organize his neighbors to stop theft.

“We’ve been here three years, and ever since we moved in, I was aware there was a crime problem,” Oalican said, citing theft, loitering and underage drinking. “It’s been really bad in the past three or four months.” He said he had not had anything stolen.

Oalican, who lives with his wife, 2-year-old son and 4-month old daughter, said he worries about the potential for homeowners and criminals to get into violent confrontations.

“I don’t care why you broke into my house, you might as well be after my kids,” Oalican said. “I don’t want people to get hurt.”

UPDATE:  Seven Days reported on this story this week too…

The irony is that locals believe they know exactly who is committing the crimes — the neighborhood email listserv, Front Porch Forum, has been abuzz with speculation.

“Next Big Internet Thing?”

Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 by • No comments yet

Pramit Singh ponders “the next big internet thing” today from New Delhi…

After the blogging, user-generated content, Citizen Journalism, Youtube, Del.icio.us, Digg, I am tempted to believe that nothing new, exciting and useful has come on to the scene and that this is a phase of consolidation and rejiggling of business models….

While Backfence failed to bring Citizen Journalism to every town USA, others like Front Porch Forum, iBrattleboro, Topix.com, New Assignment and Assignment Zero (which is now over) took CitiJ to new levels.The Knight 21st Century News Challenge promises to support better news innovations and we will be better for them.

It’s amazing to see FPF’s humble efforts begin to register on “what’s next on the web” postings.

Essex Reporter tells FPF story

Posted on Thursday, August 9, 2007 by • 1 comment

Joyce Carroll wrote a wonderful article about how neighborhoods are using Front Porch Forum for this week’s Essex Reporter.

When Henry, a six-toed marmalade tabby cat with a penchant for adventure, wandered off last Halloween, his owner did not have to resort to posting flyers around the neighborhood. Instead, Sue McCormack turned to her neighbors via the Front Porch Forum.

McCormack, a member of the Maple Street Forum, is one of hundreds of Essex and Essex Junction residents who take advantage of this service. The forum aims to recapture the days when advice was traded over backyard fences, and recipes were shared during visits to the neighbor’s front porch.

Julie Miller-Johnson, who spearheaded the Countryside Front Porch Forum, said 132 members, about half of the neighborhood, have joined the service. Their forum is active, she said, with postings coming through every couple of days.

In some cases, the forum has become a way to reach out to those in need. Miller-Johnson recalled a fire in the neighborhood this past winter. Neighbors, she said, were actively communicating about ways in which to help the family.

“We’re not a front porch society anymore,” she said, adding, “The forum changed the way this neighborhood feels. People talk to each other.”

NY Times asks about social networking

Posted on Thursday, August 9, 2007 by • No comments yet

The New York Times website today asks readers about what online social networking services they use and how. I see one Front Porch Forum mention in the comments already… thanks Julie!

Next Generation Social Networking… FPF?

Posted on Wednesday, August 8, 2007 by • No comments yet

Thanks to Julia Lerman for her posting yesterday on her DevLife blog (focused on the .NET developer world). Julie’s known worldwide in the .NET circles and just so happens to live in Front Porch Forum’s pilot area. A great surprise for us. She writes…

I have more than enough people to keep up with and stepped way back on my blog reading about a year ago when I realized I was losing touch with my personal friends because of my many new virtual friends.

However, there is a new social networking tool that was actually created right here in Burlington Vermont, that I joined over two months ago and I just love it! It’s called FrontPorchForum. I’ve referred to it as Facebook for grownups. But it’s really not anything like that…

It is an amazing way of connecting with your community and helping each other out… I also feel that I’ve suddenly become so much more connected to this community that I moved into almost 4 years ago. I know who lives in those houses, the name of the local blacksmith and that there are so many really interesting people living a stone’s throw away.

It is an interesting phenomenon to me because in the past six or seven years, the internet and blogging has made me part of a worldwide community of software developers… But FrontPorchForum has come full circle because it has used this same technology to bring me back into my own local community which, although initial connections are through the web, enables me to walk out my door and down my road and meet up with many new friends and neighbors.

I’ve already talked to [the FPF founder] about what he’s going to do when it goes nationwide or even worldwide; what technologies he’s vested in currently and what is on his mind for scaling out. Because as far as I’m concerned, that is inevitable!

Which led to this posting from Johan in Sweden…

The number of social networks on the net has exploded… It’s too many networks and ways for communication. So what will the future bring us?… I think smaller networks with a base in your community could be the next thing. I think many users are fed up with the giant communities. I found this post from Julia Lerman that talk about an existing network that has a good idea. She writes “I realized I was losing touch with my personal friends because of my many new virtual friends”. I can recornize this. She talks about Front Porch Forum. Julia describes the network like this “What FrontPorchForum focuses on is your very local community. It creates an online forum, also distributed every few days in an email, that allows you to connect to your neighbors. So the people in my town of Huntington are the only people who’s posts I read and who see my posts (and my email address)”.

Is FPF a neighborhood mailing list?

Posted on Saturday, August 4, 2007 by • No comments yet

KOB comments on the MediaShift site regarding the Front Porch Forum posting there…

Washington DC neighborhoods have been long served by mailing lists and some have more than 3,000 subscribers. The content, all user generated is, in sum, similar to Front Porch.

Front Porch sounds like an effort to give a little more structure to ad hoc mailing lists.

But I have to question Front Porch’s requirements, if I read this post correctly, to make its lists closed as well as require ID in a posts.

DC’s mailing lists aren’t closed. I subscribe to several. And you don’t have to include your name in a post. An ID requirement may discourage some people to post crime information or freely express concerns.

Front Porch is a reminder that mailing lists are very effective and popular. Neighborhood Mailing lists are so entrenched in DC that I’m not convinced that DC’s growing number of neighborhood blogs will necessarily unseat mailing lists as the primary source of neighborhood intel.

I agree with KOB’s support of DC’s neighborhood mailing lists.  Blogs are great, but they’re one person’s  view (or maybe from a few), whereas the mailing lists are from the crowd.

Front Porch Forum’s approach is a departure from DC’s neighborhood mailings lists though.  Our aim is to help neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood.  Our scale is roughly 10% of DC’s lists, that is, a few hundred households.  Only residents may join and post.  And all postings are clearly labeled with the author’s name, street, and email address.

I’m familiar with some of the DC mailing list (and other places like Austin, etc.), and many are popular and very helpful to a lot of people.  But they don’t do much of what FPF’s neighborhood forums are doing… that is, helping nearby neighbors really get to know each other in person.

I lived in and participated on the Mount Pleasant mailing list in DC 10-12 years ago (prehistoric by internet time)… and it was great.  However, I actually knew or had the chance to get to know less than 5-10% of those posting.  In my FPF neighborhood, that’s reversed… there’s probably only 5-10% that I won’t ever meet, and with 90% of my neighborhood using the service that’s a huge shift.

Not on FPF yet? “You are missing out”

Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2007 by • No comments yet

Thanks to Richard Donnelly and Burlington Telecom for this great review in today’s issue of BT’s e-newsletter…

BT and many other City of Burlington departments receive a lot of invaluable feedback through the 36 Front Porch Forums that cover all the neighborhoods in Burlington. If you are not participating in this free, hyper-local, neighbor-to-neighbor digest you are missing out. The effort to create and maintain the FPF is substantial! BT is proud to join other local businesses as a sponsor of this community resource. We encourage other local businesses and other city departments to consider supporting it as well.

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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