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: Neighborhood Watch
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.
Coyotes in Suburban South #BTV #VT
Posted on Monday, January 17, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet
Traditional media frequently uses Front Porch Forum for story leads. Today it’s the Burlington Free Press covering coyotes in suburban South Burlington…
In the wake of a rabid coyote attack last year on several people in Westchester County, N.Y., coyote-spotters have maintained a lively dialogue on the Butler Farms Front Porch Forum.
Chuck LaBombard, who has lived in the Oak Creek development for 11 years, is one of them.
“The coyote population has continued to increase during the past decade and I get it. We live in their territory,” he wrote in a January post.
“To occasionally see them on the golf course or in back of the development is one thing. To routinely see them on our sidewalks is totally another,” he continued. “Imagine if a child s pooked them or a lone adult was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My 11-year-old daughter is becoming afraid to play in her own yard… front or back! I am not a house-on-fire kind of person, but I am concerned!”
LaBombard and other neighbors have found no easy fix, and Police Chief Trevor Whipple has cautioned them against frontier justice in a crowded neighborhood: Firearms discharge is illegal within city limits…
Our mutual aid muscles are out of shape and pretty flabby
Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet
From Sarah Byrnes in YES! Magazine…
If there’s anything I’ve learned while helping to organize Common Security Clubs in communities around the nation, it’s that there is no “one size fits all” club. They are as different as the individuals who comprise them.
But a common thread is that clubs provide a way for people get to know each other. It’s an old-fashioned concept—knowing your community—but it’s badly needed in our time of increasing insecurity and isolation.
“We usually spend about 45 minutes on a ‘check-in’ with each other,” says Paul Miller in Boston, whose club has been meeting for two years. “The focus is simply on hearing each other, and providing support whenever possible. People get to air their concerns and receive affirmation.”
“We’re taking baby steps toward a new type of community,” adds Jared Gardner, a facilitator in Portland, Oregon. “We want people to feel connected and empowered. That’s what the groups are all about.”
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. Clubs help us to start flexing and stretching them again, little by little.
#VT Police and Social Networking
Posted on Thursday, October 14, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet
Andy Bromage writes in this week’s Seven Days about VT police use of digital tools… interesting stories. He closes with…
Burlington police do closely monitor the neighborhood Front Porch Forums, replying to questions and concerns posted by residents. But they do not maintain a Facebook page because, in Schirling’s words, “It is one more thing to maintain with limited resources, and our website is quite comprehensive.”
One innovative solution to two vexing neighborhood problems
Posted on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet
Speeding cars and dog poop. We see postings on those two topics nearly every day in one neighborhood or another on Front Porch Forum. Well, at last, thanks to a fast-thinking Massachusetts woman, we may have a single solution (Burlington Free Press, Oct. 6, 2010)…
Belmont, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman is facing assault charges after Belmont police said she hit a motorist in the face with a bag of dog feces.
Police said Tuesday that the woman, whose name has not been released, admitted tossing doggie dung at the drive because she believed he was speeding.
The woman was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, vandalism to property and disorderly conduct. No arraignment date has been set.
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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