Vermont | Ghost of Midnight

Local Online News in #VT

Posted on Monday, June 13, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Champlain College Publishing Initiative ran an interesting piece about local online news recently. Writer Melinda Grey ends with…

As a foretaste of things to come, check out this remarkable link. It’s an item that was recently posted on our Front Porch Forum (speaking of hyperlocal) after yet another day of heavy rain and flooding in Burlington.

Is this the future of local news? And does this suggest that Front Porch Forum may be one model for the hyperlocal news medium of the future?

Her colleague Tim Brookes added…

… events have shown how prophetic Melinda’s observations were. One of the photos of the Booth Street flood we recommended (originally posted as a link on Front Porch Forum) showed up on the front cover of this week’s Seven Days.

This raises some fascinating questions. If a newsweekly picks up a photo from Front Porch Forum, doesn’t that identify the original item as being news, and thus, by implication, identify Front Porch Forum as a hyperlocal online news entity, at least in part? Does this imply that the world is full of sources of what might be called “raw” news, in the sense that reality TV uses security camera feeds as raw footage? It also suggests that this kind of reader-driven content is the print medium’s equivalent of “open source” material–but only up to a point…

Indeed, this kind of thing happens with Front Porch Forum nearly every week. A local citizen posts something on FPF to share with nearby neighbors and then one or more traditional media outlets pick it up and builds a story. We appreciate when the news outlets give proper attribution so their audience knows where they got the lead… but that occurs less than half the time.

As a 2010 Knight News Challenge award winner, FPF is increasingly seen as a new part of the local news and community conversation ecosystem… a quickly evolving environment.

How many refrigerators could you borrow on short notice?

Posted on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

A small-town #VT bakery had a fridge failure at a most inopportune moment. What to do? Turn to the neighbors…

Wow. We stopped counting the number of kind and generous neighbors who offered us a fridge to borrow … it was at least 15!

THANK YOU to everyone for your generosity and support of our local business. And thanks to Front Porch Forum for giving us a way to access that generosity.

With our borrowed fridge in place, we are happy to say that the bakery hours will continue uninterrupted. We look forward to seeing you on Fridays at the Richmond Farmer’s Market and/or on Saturday mornings on our front porch.

And if you were one of the many people who contacted us with a fridge offer, please stop by for a little “thank you” treat!

Thanks again,
Patti Delaney & Dean Menke
Backdoor Bakery

Vulcan salute, hitchhiking and good neighbors

Posted on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

From the Bolton FPF in #VT…

I posted here last fall, seeking occasional rides north or south. I radically reduced my carbon footprint in October, when I stopped driving. Some very nice folks and good neighbors have responded. Thank you! I often take the CCTA Link Express that stops at the Richmond Park & Ride. It’s only $2.00 between Richmond and Burlington, including Wifi! I bet many of you can’t drive it for less.

When I am unable to arrange transportation, I resort to that time-honored tradition many of us practiced at some point in our lives, hitchhiking. Most people today, however, are understandably cautious about picking up strangers, or simply don’t, as a rule. Naturally, I’m thankful to those who stop. You’ve been a very diverse and interesting group! Now I hope to become less of a stranger and more of a neighbor to those I’ve yet to meet.

I’m posting on Front Porch Forum to let more of you know that, should you encounter me, a somewhat overweight, grey-haired, baseball capped, clean shaven middle-aged man wearing glasses and usually hauling a camera bag, I would greatly appreciate a lift. I’m a human services professional, a photographer, and a computer consultant. I enjoy meeting people, and I’m told I have a decent sense of humor. The bottom line is, I’m a no-risk passenger.

When I’m bound for Richmond or beyond, I am usually seen along Rt 2 between the I-89 overpasses and Joiner Lane, where it is safe for all of us. Homeward bound, you might see me a little ways south of the Richmond Park & Ride, between the southbound I-89 ramp and the Mobil. I may also be in Richmond, or Jonesville, near the post office. If my needs don’t match up to your trip, no problem! Just give me a wave and I’ll know we might meet another time. Give me a Vulcan live-long-and-prosper salute, and I’ll know you saw this note on FPF!

Thanks for your consideration, neighbors!

Location, location, location… how do you sell your #VT house?

Posted on Saturday, May 28, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

How do you pitch your house when selling it? Many listings include a bit about the surrounding community. I just came across this ad for a house for sale in Huntington, VT…

Gorgeous setting close to hiking in a great community with a large Front Porch Forum presence.

That’s true! FPF has more than 730 members in Huntington, out of 760 total households in town, and they’ve shared nearly 7,000 postings among neighbors over the past few years. The good people of Huntington really know how to put FPF to great use, connecting neighbors and building community.

Authentically Local gets organized

Posted on Thursday, May 12, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Baristanet and another 30 local-focused U.S. blogs just launched Authentically Local…

Local doesn’t scale. Local isn’t McDonald’s, even if the McDonald’s is right down the street. Local doesn’t send profits back to a home office somewhere else. Local is something that’s part of what makes where you are unique. As unique and flawed and loveable as your own kids. Something is authentically local if it’s the first thing you’d want an old friend, visiting from the other side of the world, to see. It’s authentically local if its disappearance could potentially break your heart.

Local is suddenly the newest, hippest, most lucrative frontier. The local advertising market alone is estimated to be $100 billion a year. Companies like AOL, Google, Apple and Groupon all want a piece of the action. Some of the devices they sell you are even collecting data about everywhere you go – all to help their local campaigns.

Certainly big corporations add a lot of convenience and consistency to our world. They also threaten to homogenize it. If you want home to feel different from everywhere else in the world – or if you want a world that’s interesting to explore, support what’s authentically local. Know the difference, and vive la difference!

Just today, I was on a panel at the annual VBSR conference and responded to a question along these lines. Many folks in Vermont prefer to eat local and shop local, but do they click local? That is, they prefer the locally owned coffeeshop over Starbucks, and the locally owned hardware store over Home Depot or WalMart… but do they think about iBrattleboro vs. Facebook in the same way?

unofficial green-up was simple and quick to organize #VT

Posted on Monday, May 2, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Erin Kranichfeld wrote a great piece for Sunday’s #BTV Free Press. She opens with…

I’m not a Green Up Day organizer, and I never have been. And this year, there was no way: I had a previous engagement and just couldn’t do it.

But about two weeks ago, when the snow started melting in my neighborhood — around Hyde Street — I noticed a lot of really nasty trash everywhere. I decided to do something about it. I posted an appeal on Front Porch Forum and instantly got responses from about 10 people.

I didn’t have a plan; I didn’t have maps. I went out to the drug store and bought garbage bags and some latex gloves. About 12 people showed up that Saturday at the Hyde Street triangle. In three or four hours we covered streets between North Willard Avenue and Rose Street; along North Winooski Avenue down to Pearl Street.

We filled 24 big garbage bags with trash.

That’s great! Good for her and her neighbors. She also wrote…

Our unofficial green-up was such an easy thing to do; something I just decided at the spur of the moment. Obviously, it wasn’t something I could do on my own. But it was simple and quick to organize.

We hear this feedback again and again from people who use Front Porch Forum to pull people together — whether it’s for politics, helping someone in need, organizing a block party, getting potholes filled, or cleaning up the neighborhood — getting neighbors informed and organized is much easier once FPF arrives and is embraced.

Flooding brings out the best in #VT neighbors

Posted on Sunday, May 1, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

Dear Neighbors: My husband and I had to evacuate our home on the lake shore yesterday (Friday) morning, not a simple matter with me in a wheelchair. We woke up to water that was 20 inches deep on the road and our plumbing stopped working. Our truck, already on high ground up the road, could not get to us, so my husband called the owner of the local hardware store for help… what a wonderful man! He came with terrific two men and, along with our neighbor (another wonderful man), they set up ramps to get me and my chair out onto our rolling aluminum dock. Then, they rolled me and the dock up the road to neighbors on dry land and set up ramps again. I rolled off onto the neighbors’ driveway. Thank goodness no one had a camera! And, thank goodness we live in such a wonderful town, where neighbors watch out for one another.

Lakeside communities in Vermont are struggling now… recording-breaking lake levels, flooding, pounding waves… awful. The note above appeared on the South Hero Front Porch Forum today. It provides evidence of how neighbors rally during crisis to help each other.

Adrian Holovaty on who’s winning hyperlocal…

Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

I think Front Porch Forum is winning. They’ve managed to get 90% of households in a #VT neighborhood to sign up for it, and the community contributions are high quality, useful and interesting.

Beyond that, there are a bunch of great neighborhood blogs in various pockets in the U.S., like West Seattle Blog and Uptown Update here in Chicago.

And finally, I’m biased, but I think EveryBlock is genuinely interesting and useful, especially with our recent community-focused relaunch.

Thanks Adrian! That’s great company for FPF to keep. (See StreetFight for the full interview.) As I’ve said before, EveryBlock’s relaunch is a powerhouse.

Albert the Wanderer back home in #BTV #VT

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

This afternoon Albert the cat appeared back at our door. We’re very happy to have him home and we’re very appreciative of all of the people who provided tips and support–we’re very fortunate to live in such a neighborhood. Moreover, we feel very fortunate to have Front Porch Forum as a resource to turn to in these kinds of situations. I had put up several signs around the neighborhood, but the net result of that seemed to be zero–FPF is where it is at for getting out this kind of news. Be sure to support FPF during their next fund drive! [Which is now!]

Good news from Burlington’s Old North End today! Welcome home Albert the Wanderer.

What are you, underneath it all?

Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 by Michael • Comments are off for this post

“I see FPF as a place where every day we demonstrate our commonalities & our willingness to get along together & even help each other – regardless of what sort sort of shitheads we might be underneath it all.”

A lovely sentiment from a Front Porch Forum member in Middlesex, Vermont.

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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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