Updates and Admin | Ghost of Midnight

Community foundations to meet with journalism and tech experts

Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Front Porch Forum will be featured at the Knight Foundation Media Learning Seminar 2012 (Feb. 19-21, Miami, FL).

… community and place-based foundations leaders meet with journalism and technology experts… will provide new insights into the changing media landscape and emerging technologies while offering concrete examples of how foundations are helping to fill their community’s information voids…

Block by Block: Community News Summit

Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

I’m looking forward to speaking at the Block by Block Community News Summit in Chicago (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1). Sounds like a fantastic gathering of online community news publishers. I’m eager to share what we’ve been learning about community engagement through our work with Front Porch Forum, but I suspect that I’ll learn more from other participants than vice versa. Thanks to the sponsors for bringing this group together.

Front Porch Forum now in St. Albans City

Posted on Monday, August 8, 2011 by Michael • 6 comments

Wow… 80 people signed up for Front Porch Forum in the first week in St. Albans City (#stalbansvt #VT). Here’s one of them who just wrote in…

When I moved the first things I did was look for Front Porch Forum. It is a vital key in any neighborhood and am so grateful to have it in Saint Albans. It keeps us up to date on current events, and to share a laugh or two. Every neighborhood in America needs one! -Katrina McLamb

Know anyone is St. Albans? Please send them to FrontPorchForum.com to sign up!

And a special thanks to our launch sponsors…

– Franklin County Caring Communities
– Franklin Central Supervisory Union, and
– City of St. Albans

Connecting Vermont Neighbors

Posted on Friday, July 15, 2011 by Michael • 1 comment

Published recently on BroadbandVT.org #VT…

Thanks to the e-Vermont initiative, 28 more towns now benefit from FrontPorchForum.com, the online service that helps neighbors connect, build community and support local businesses. FPF members tell the story best:

“Thanks FPF for helping to find my missing bicycle lock, meet my neighbors, barter my roof rack carrier for some freshly smoked salmon, find a lost glove, learn more about local politics, and provide a soapbox for whenever I feel the need. I think it’s one of the best things to happen in our town in a long time.”
– John McMurry.

This award-winning Vermont start-up business now serves 60 towns in the state and 27,000 households participate. More than 750 members are engaged in daily community conversation in Bristol, for example (out of 1,500 households in town). In Middlesex, more than 500 neighbors (out of 700 households in town) share almost 200 postings per month. In Middletown Springs, 130 residents signed up for FPF in the first few months (out of about 300 households in town).

And now FPF is expanding to even more Vermont towns. Recently, the local selectboard brought FPF to Johnson and 200 residents have signed up already… and they’ve shared 100 postings in the past month. Next up is St. Albans City, thanks to expansion partner Franklin County Caring Communities.

To bring FPF’s results to your town, contact Michael Wood-Lewis or Jeff Gangemi at 802-540-0069 or FrontPorchForum.com

Front Porch Forum open to #VT expansion

Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Several sponsors have stepped forward to bring Front Porch Forum to their Vermont communities. These include a local chamber of commerce, a town, a college, a telecom, a family foundation, and a consortium of agencies and nonprofits.

WCAX asked me today if FPF was open to further expansion in Vermont, beyond our current 60 towns. Short answer… yes!

If you’d like to see FPF come to your town, join our waitlist. Additionally, if you’d like to help make it happen, contact us with ideas about funding sources and local boosters.

Email is dying? Better check your inbox

Posted on Monday, February 28, 2011 by Michael • 1 comment

From eMarketer today…

The latest death knell for email was sounded by data in comScore’s “2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review” report, which noted a decline in time spent with web-based email among all US internet users under 55. Users ages 12 to 17, who have been most likely to drop email in favor of other online communications like social networking, had the steepest decline in usage, down 59%.

But web-based email checked at a desktop computer is only one slice of all email communications, and email represents an overwhelmingly important communications channel.

According to research from customer relationship marketing agency Merkle, 87% of internet users checked personal email daily in 2010, a number that has changed little since 2007. Among those with a separate email account for commercial email, 60% checked daily, down just 1 percentage point since 2008.

Further, social media usage is hardly taking away from email. Rather, social media users are significantly more likely than other internet users to check their email four or more times per day, and less likely to check infrequently…

I’m no expert, but it seems like it takes a loooong time for communication technologies to die. Radio, tv, newspapers, landlines, postal service, etc… all still with us in huge numbers… email too. Communication options are multiplying rapidly and the old stalwarts are not disappearing… shrinking in many cases… some would argue slimming down from eras of gluttony. This means lots of noise, lots of confusion, lots of splintering of audience. Businesses that can focus attention of groups of people and facilitate communication should be well positioned to provide value. Front Porch Forum is in the business of helping nearby neighbors connect and build community. We’re technology/channel agnostic, but we do know what attributes we like. More to come!

Gmail user not receiving your FPF e-newsletter? Fix it now…

Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Are you a Gmail user who has stopped receiving your Front Porch Forum e-newsletter? Regrettably, your Gmail may be marking items from FPF as spam. Here’s the solution! Please take steps A, B and C below to assure that you stay in the loop. Sorry about the hassle and thanks for setting it straight.

A. Designate FPF messages as “Not Spam”
1. Go to http://mail.google.com and sign into your Mail account.
2. Click on “Spam” in list on left to see contents of your spam folder.
3. Select any Front Porch Forum messages listed in the spam folder.
4. With these selected, click “Not Spam” above the message list. This will move any checked messages into your Inbox, and train your Gmail not to mark these as spam.

B. Add FPF’s addresses to your Gmail Contact List
1. In Gmail, go to “Contacts” in list on left to see your contacts.
2. Click on the “Add to ‘My Contacts'” button and add the email address neighbors AT frontporchforum DOT com. Hit “enter.”
3. Repeat Step 2 with members AT frontporchforum DOT com
More info: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8933

C. Create filters to keep FPF messages out of your spam folder
1. In Gmail, click “Create a filter” (to the right of the search bar).
2. Put the email address neighbors AT frontporchforum DOT com in the “From” field and click the “Next step” button.
3. Check “Never send it to Spam.”
4. Click “Create filter” button.
More info: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579

Taking these steps will help you and thousands of other Vermonters stay connected to their neighborhood news as you help train Gmail’s filter.

P.S. Did you miss some postings? Go to http://frontporchforum.com and click Log In, then click on “Archive” to browse past issues.

FPF available in 60 #VT towns

Posted on Monday, January 10, 2011 by Michael • 4 comments

Don’t miss this Vermont-original community-building opportunity.
Another dozen Vermont towns can now benefit from Front Porch Forum thanks to e-Vermont, the Community Broadband Project, and the Knight News Challenge.

Front Porch Forum (FPF) was created in 2006 in Burlington and now more than 23,000 households subscribe across 60 Vermont towns.

If you live in one of the towns listed below, SIGN UP for your community Front Porch Forum today at: http://frontporchforum.com. Join in the conversations that are already happening in your community.

Also, please let friends and family in these Vermont towns know that Front Porch Forum is available, and encourage them to sign up! Only through more participation, will these towns realize the full community-building benefits of FPF. To sign up go to: http://frontporchforum.com

Why join Front Porch Forum?
FPF hosts online neighborhood/town forums where nearby neighbors connect and get involved in their local community. In this era of busyness and individual isolation, where it’s hard to find volunteers for local committees and people increasingly don’t know their neighbors, Front Porch Forum helps people meet those around them and talk about issues. And it’s free to residents in any of the Vermont communities below.

What if your town is not on the list?
Interested in bringing FPF to your community? Please add your town to the waitlist at http://frontporchforum.com/join

– Alburgh
– Arlington
– Averill
– Avery’s Gore
– Bloomfield
– Bolton
– Bridgewater*
– Brighton/Village of Island Pond
– Bristol
– Brunswick

– Buells Gore
– Burlington
– Calais*
– Cambridge
– Canaan/Village of Beecher Falls
– Castleton*
– Charlotte
– Colchester
– Dover*
– Essex Junction Village

– Essex Town
– Fairfield*
– Ferdinand
– Grand Isle
– Hardwick*
– Hinesburg
– Huntington
– Isle La Motte
– Jay*
– Jericho

– Lemington
– Lewis
– Ludlow
– Middlesex
– Middletown Springs*
– Milton
– Moretown*
– Morristown*
– Newport City
– North Hero

– Norton
– Poultney
– Pownal
– Richford*
– Richmond
– Sandgate
– Shelburne
– South Burlington
– South Hero
– St. George

– Starksboro
– Stewartstown, NH
– Sunderland
– Underhill
– Vergennes*
– Warner’s Grant
– Warren Gore
– West Rutland
– Westfield*
– Westford

– Williston
– Winooski

* e-Vermont communities newly participating in FPF

e-Vermont and FPF expanding to 12 more #VT towns

Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12/21/10
Contact: Helen Labun Jordan, e-Vermont Project Director, 802 225-6091

e-Vermont Selects 2011 Communities

MONTPELIER, VT — The e-Vermont Community Broadband Project will bring digital tools and in-depth internet training to 12 additional rural communities in 2011. The twelve, announced today, will benefit from the expertise and resources of e- Vermont’s statewide partners as the local groups develop ways to take full advantage of the Internet for creating jobs and innovative schools, providing social services, and increasing community connection. These towns join the first 12 pilot e-communities, selected in spring 2010.

The 2011 e-Vermont communities will be Bridgewater, Calais, Castleton, Dover, Fairfield, Hardwick, Jay/Westfield, Middletown Springs, Moretown, Morristown, Richford, and Vergennes. “As we work with rural communities to support the best use of high speed Internet tools in business, government, community and education, we are bringing Vermont one step closer to truly eliminating the digital divide,” says Project Director Helen Labun Jordan, “Rural regions can’t be left behind in digital skills — we may be receiving high speed Internet later than more urban areas, but we’re going to make up for lost time through programs like e-Vermont.”

e-Vermont is one of the few national broadband adoption initiatives focused on rural needs and it is being viewed as a national model. These towns are among the first to explore how the Internet can be harnessed as a tool for community development.

Although the e-Vermont Community Broadband Project can only bring in-depth services to 24 communities, it will be offering tools and resources to all of Vermont through workshops, conferences, webinars, online tools, and the continuing programs of its partner organizations. e-Vermont updates are posted at www.e4vt.org. Contact e- Vermont with any questions at 802-225-6091 or helen@vtrural.org. e-Vermont is not stringing cable or fiber, but is working to make better use of broadband where it is available. The 2010 communities are already seeing benefits.

In Middlesex, almost 60% of the households are using a new community e- newsletter called Front Porch Forum to buy and trade household items, learn about local special events and volunteer needs, share wildlife sightings, and support area businesses.
Five towns (Bristol, Ludlow, Poultney, Newport and West Rutland) are exploring the feasibility of creating public access Wi-Fi zones in their town centers in order to promote their communities and provide visitors with information about local events, services, entertainment and hospitality.
Small business owners in West Rutland are getting one-on-one analysis and advice on how to update and grow their e-commerce from the Vermont Small Business Development Center.
Sunderland – Arlington – Sandgate are adding technology as part of their celebration of their 250th Town Charter Anniversaries in 2011. High school community service students will create a website based on the historical holdings of Martha Canfield Library’s Russell Vermontiana Collection.
In Canaan churches, sports teams, and community groups are implementing an online calendar which will allow for greater event coordination, promotion, and cross-pollination.
Bristol’s 5th graders are learning to create podcasts and other interactive projects as the teachers integrate technology into their classroom. Digital Wish brought new computers for these students along with the training to unlock their potential.
Libraries in all the e-Vermont towns are trying new ways to offer the public better access and training, as computers become essential to obtain social services, find jobs, and keep up with research.

e-Vermont’s partners include Digital Wish, Front Porch Forum, Vermont State Colleges, Vermont Department of Libraries, Vermont Small Business Development Center and the Snelling Center for Government. The Vermont Council on Rural Development is overseeing e-Vermont, and will bring its expertise in community organizing to help each town connect its schools, government, businesses, and nonprofit providers in new and exciting ways.

The 2010 e-communities announced last spring are Brighton, Bristol, Canaan, Cambridge, Grand Isle County, Ludlow, Middlesex, Newport, Poultney, Pownal, Sunderland-Arlington-Sandgate, and West Rutland.

Grand Isle Co. + FPF = iPod?

Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2010 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Do you know someone who lives in Grand Isle County, #VT… or spends significant time on the Islands? If yes, then please share this…

Join your Grand Isle County neighbors at FrontPorchForum.com and win an iPod!

Sign up today for your town’s e-newsletter: Front Porch Forum. If you live in The Islands you’ll be entered to win an iPod shuffle!

Front Porch Forum is building community in the Islands by helping neighbors connect. Need a babysitter, electrician, or snow plow guy? Just type a quick message and it goes out to your neighbors. Want people to attend an event, or know about a break-in? FPF is a great way to get the word out.

It’s easy to sign up… just go to FrontPorchForum.com and fill out a quick form. Then start reading and posting!

Do it soon! Only new sign-ups received by December 31, 2010 will be eligible to win the iPod shuffle. Sign up at: FrontPorchForum.com

Sample messages:

Group rate for fuel oil
Seeking reliable plumber
Break-in report
Free bookcase and table
Childcare available
Keys found
Community supper in the works
School board member responds
Casseroles for sick neighbor

Front Porch Forum is available across 50 Vermont towns, now including all of Grand Isle County. Thanks to the e-Vermont initiative for sponsoring FPF in The Islands.

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