Vermont | Ghost of Midnight

What if 90% of people blogged?

Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

Cathy Resmer writes about a couple failed local citizen journalism sites today, the Winooski Eagle and…

iBurlington — “Burlington Vermont’s Blog” — a local citizen journalism site, launched in 2005.

Creator Brian Brown had high hopes for the project, which he modeled after the successful CJ community iBrattleboro. In March of 2005, Brown told Seven Days he expected to sign up more contributors and get more traffic than iBrat, if only because Burlington’s a bigger city.

But it didn’t happen that way.

She adds…

Front Porch Forum founder Michael Wood-Lewis was also at the [local bloggers] BBQ. FPF is a neighborhood email newsletter, not really a web-based tool, but it’s definitely succeeding in some respects where iBurlington failed. That just occurred to me as I was writing this post, and it’s definitely something to think about.

Thanks Cathy. I agree. Front Porch Forum seems to defy pigeon-holing… it’s not a blog, not a wiki, not a mail list… what is it?!?! I guess we should come up with some technical term for FPF… but it’s really just something new and different… and successful. While email is our primary distribution method currently, that’s not really what FPF is about… just a vehicle we’re using now.

In a way, FPF is hosting 130 group-written blogs, each focused on a neighborhood and written by a host of contributors/neighbors. Our most active neighborhood forums have 90% of the households on board.

Blogs are small, independent, decentralized, self-appointed, low-capital, etc, compared to traditional media. Well, FPF takes it another step, giving the masses an online platform to share their thoughts and needs with their neighbors through its neighborhood forums. So while starting a blog is much easier to do than starting a newspaper, it’s still not doable for many, if not most, of the population. On the other hand, anyone who can handle email can participate in Front Porch Forum and add their voice to the online conversation.

Yelvington on Backfence and Front Porch

Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

Steve Yelvington writes about Backfence‘s recent closure…

We still don’t know the right scale for doing this sort of thing, and that scale may actually be shifting as more people sign up for cheap broadband and become comfortable with creating and not just consuming content. Backfence cofounder Mark Potts once speculated in a conversation that the right physical community size is under 50,000. We’ve had great debates about that where I work; one point of view says a local high school district can serve as a useful proxy for defining a natural community, but your mileage may vary.

People settle into community levels… think concentric circles. Maybe 150 friends in the inner circle. More like 2,000 in the neighborhood… the elementary school district. Maybe 50,000 is the next hop… the high school level. And so on. Capital wants to centralize and standardize across as many people as possible… think USAToday. People tend toward decentralization and diversity… think distinct neighborhoods or yore with their own corner stores, clubs, ethnic flavors, etc. Front Porch Forum is designed for the neighborhood level.

A successful community model and a successful business model are not the same thing. The tricky part is going to involve finding the intersection. Something like Front Porch Forum might have a great community model but never be able to make a significant profit, or vice versa. Or the right business model might involve delivery of a print component, something many Web-centric developers might overlook or avoid.

With 20% of our pilot city subscribing in our first half-year via word-of-mouth, I remain optimistic about FPF’s evolving business model. Time will tell!

Everybody underestimates how hard and how expensive it is to build a powerful brand at a geographic community level. If you went down the street in one of Backfence’s markets and knocked on doors, how many people would have a strong, clear, positive notion of what Backfence was all about and why they should use it? This is one place where incumbent, offline media may have a great advantage, although in many cases it can’t deliver the message to the targets of greatest opportunity (nonconsumers).

Good point.

Front Porch Forum Case Study

Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

Ken Picard wrote an article in this week’s Seven Days about the assault of a woman at a Burlington basketball court when she asked some late night ballplayers to tone it down. What a terrible act against this 11-year resident. I reported on the Burlington Free Press’ coverage here previously.

With the publication of Ken’s piece, a vivid portrait is painted of how the neighbors are using Front Porch Forum to inform each other about events, express concerns, debate underlying issues, attract official responses from local authorities, and get organized. Some excerpts…

When residents living near Pomeroy Park in the Old North End first learned about the late-night assault last month on one of their neighbors, they probably didn’t get the news from the daily newspaper. More likely, they read about it on the Front Porch Forum…

This incident, like many relatively minor crimes that occur each day in Burlington, might have gone unnoticed and unaddressed were it not for the victim’s neighbor, Samuel Press. He asked her permission to post an account of the incident on their neighborhood’s Front Porch Forum…

Press’ posting sparked a flurry of email responses from other residents of the Old North End, some of whom recounted similar experiences with unruly and foul-mouthed park users. Others expressed dismay at the Parks & Recreation department and the police department’s unwillingness and/or inability to address their concerns, which appear to have existed for years.

The online back-and-forth eventually prompted official replies from Parks & Recreation Director Wayne Gross and Burlington Police Lieutenant Jennifer Morrison… Gross wrote that he asked the Burlington Electric Department to fix the street lamp that was bleeding light onto the court, enabling late-night play to occur. Likewise, Morrison informed residents that the police have stepped up nighttime patrols of the area, and asked residents to get good descriptions of anyone else engaged in suspicious activities.

Recently, a group of neighbors met to talk about longer term solutions. FPF is all about helping neighbors connect and foster community at the neighborhood level. This is a wonderful case study of people using Front Porch Forum in just this way.

Orphaned Message from Pie Donor

Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

A glitch in our software recently left this message untethered from the new Front Porch Forum member who posted it in his/her neighborhood forum… rats! Sorry about that. Too many new members to sort out who it came from. Who is the mystery pie donor?

Hello all! Just moved to the neighborhood in June. I would be happy to be involved in any way I can. I of course always have pies to donate for special events!

S. Burlington Night Out Aug. 7

Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 by Michael • 2 comments

South Burlington, VT will partake in the 24th annual National Night Out celebration on August 7. The Free Press reported yesterday that the organizers are looking for volunteers. Interested? Contact Cpl. Ron Piper (845-4625). Also from the Free Press…

National Night Out serves to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness while generating support for, and participation in, local crime prevention efforts, said Sgt. Thomas A. Fraga of the South Burlington Police Department. It also aims to strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships and send a message to criminals that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

South Burlington will start off the event with a movie and family bingo Aug. 6 at the rotary band shell at Dorset Park. The event at the park will continue at noon Aug. 7 with pony rides, inflatables, and displays from businesses, nonprofits and crime prevention agencies.

The parade will begin at 6 p.m. from the University Mall and progress down Dorset Street until it ends at Dorset Park an hour later. After the parade, the winners of the South Burlington Talent Show and other local groups will perform. A fireworks display at 9:15 p.m. will conclude the event.

This event meshes well with the mission of Front Porch Forum.

Tickets move on Forum

Posted on Friday, July 6, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

I posted a note this morning on Front Porch Forum for seven circus tickets that our family now cannot use for Sunday. By 10 AM we had five requests for 17 20 24 tickets… maybe I shouldn’t have sold them for face value! 😉

Basketball Assault and Neighborhood Response

Posted on Friday, July 6, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

John Briggs writes today in the Burlington Free Press about trouble at Pomeroy Park in Burlington’s Hill-Old North End area. The basketball court there draws a lot of intense games. Neighbors complain of loud explicative-filled language, and games going on outside of allowed hours.

A woman who came out to ask a couple players to tone it down at 3 AM was assaulted recently… a terrible thing. This was first reported on our ONE East Neighborhood Forum and since then has been the focus of dozens of postings among neighbors. The police, parks and rec, and a city councilor have weighed in too on that forum. John writes…

The crime has become a persistent topic on the neighborhood’s e-mail newsletter sponsored by the Front Porch Forum. Some who have written to the forum and others who live nearby say the basketball court, well-known as the site of “high level” recreational basketball, as Parks Director Wayne Gross put it, is out of place in the close-packed neighborhood.

The first round of messages declared outrage and indicated plenty of pent-up frustration about the situation with the basketball court. Then some messages were posted that raised the concern about racism and/or classism. This elicited a strong backlash claiming no racism (although some of the ongoing basketball playing crowd is African-American, the assailants were actually white college students). Now some members of the neighborhood have called a meeting to map out a plan for how to work towards a reasonable solution. The tone of many recent postings has been solution-oriented.

In another case, a woman was shouted down for requesting quiet during late hours. John reports…

She called the police, and the players, in that instance, were ticketed. In a note on the Front Porch Forum, she said “swearing and inappropriate language is used on a daily basis” on the basketball court. In response to the many comments on the forum about the assault, Burlington Police Lt. Jennifer Morrison described the attack as “reprehensible” but added “it is unlikely that the perpetrator will be identified.” She said patrols have been increased near the park since then.

I’m grateful for John’s accurate attribution to Front Porch Forum in his article. Best wishes to all involved in this issue… I’m glad that FPF has proved useful. I also hope that working on this challenge will bring neighbors together in a lasting way that may have not occurred otherwise.

Another Mama-Baby Moose Tale

Posted on Thursday, July 5, 2007 by Michael • 1 comment

Patrick just posted the following moose story on the FPF Westford Neighborhood Forum. I guess I’ve got a soft spot for baby moose tales.

Many neighbors on Brookside Road caught sight of a young moose on the loose in early June. The calf roamed on the road and in our front yard. She/he looked a little lost and perhaps it was searching for it’s mother.

The plight of the baby became a worry of many with whom I spoke. They were worried that Mom and baby were lost to each other.

My wife called the Fish and Wildlife commission to alert officials and to find out what might be able to be done. The official had said that there was no report of a downed moose, and that young moose calves are “hellions”, often betraying parental instructions to stick around.

Although I cannot at all confirm the safety of the baby moose, I can at least confirm that 2 days after the sighting of the baby, a large adult was seen by my wife and I while driving home. The large moose was walking in the thrush along Brookside road, about one mile away from the school.

We speculate that the baby and this Moose are a mother/baby pair and it eased our minds to know that in all likelihood the two were back together.

Kudos for Front Porch Forum

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 by Michael • No comments yet

Burlington seems to be suffering an increase in break-ins, vandalism and the like. Much is shared on the various neighborhood forums hosted by FPF. Local officials weigh in too. Here’s a gem that just arrived on the ONE East Neighborhood Forum from Tim this evening…

I’d just like to offer some kudos here:

* to Front Porch Forum for creating a medium for neighbors to communicate issues quickly and easily
* to the police and government officials of all types for watching and responding to this forum on a regular basis

I think I can speak for most members of the community and say this: Whether or not we are satisfied with every response we receive, we appreciate everything our officials are doing to improve and maintain our quality of life. We have to acknowledge that FPF has created a communication path and that its being used, successfully, by our community.

Thanks Tim!

Congratulations Ms. Moose and Baby!

Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by Michael • 23 comments

HELLO MOOSE LOVERS: Please check out the photos below (and here’s another moose photo taken by a friend in her Vermont neighborhood) and then stop by our core website… the national award-winning Front Porch Forum… 30% of our pilot city subscribes already! Cheers.

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A Front Porch Forum member of the Hinesburg Village Neighborhood Forum posted this today…

Yup, we are still in the sticks, no matter how developed we are. Must be getting crowded in the swamps as well.

Followed by this note from his Colchester, VT friend with these incredible photos…

In my 5 years in Colchester, I have never seen a newborn baby moose. This one was not even a half a mile from our house. The mother picked a small quiet neighborhood and had her baby in the front yard at 5:30 am We were out bike riding when we came upon the pair. The lady across the street from this house told us she saw it being born. We saw them at 5:30 pm . So the little one was 12 hours old. What an awesome place we live in to see such a site.

[See the comments below… seems that this moose mom and babe might hail from Alaska, not Colchester!]