Ghost of Midnight
… about neighbors, community and Front Porch Forum
Two-thirds of Vermont on Broadband; Most of State wants Fiber
According to new study from the UVM Center for Rural Studies, 66% of Vermont households surveyed report having high speed internet access. About 79% said that broadband was available where they lived.
Overall nearly 82% of polled households have an Internet connection. Of connected households, 18% had dial-up, 24% had a cable modem, 42% had DSL, nearly 7% had satellite Internet, 6% had a wireless Internet service, and 3% had fiber-optic or some other service. Generally anything faster than dial-up is considered to be broadband, although speeds may vary.
Lots more detail in the survey results… e.g., 73% of “respondents were in favor of an effort exclusively in fiber-optic infrastructure.”
habitual preoccupation with self
From Scott Heiferman…
Dalai Lama: “the great movements of the last hundred years and more – democracy, liberalism, socialism – have all failed to deliver the universal benefits they were supposed to provide, despite many wonderful ideas… What I propose is… a call for a radical reorientation away from our habitual preoccupation with self. It is a call to turn toward the wider community of beings with whom we are connected, and for conduct which recognizes others’ interests alongside our own.”
BeLocal: citizen empowerment through digital media
Kevin Harris blogs today…
“I’m involved in a new initiative to try and help maximise the potential of digital media for community engagement. In recent weeks I’ve been working with Simon Grice, Steven Feldman and Hugh Flouch (Harringay Online) to set up BeLocal Consulting, starting with a series of workshops. Here’s the blurb:
“BeLocal Consulting contributes to the community empowerment agenda by helping local authorities, community groups and citizens to exploit digital media around community issues.
“With a combination of expertise in community development, new media and service management, we help local authorities through the following process:
- Understanding the issues
- Establishing partnerships and building a strategy
- Supporting implementation of the strategy
- Assessment and review.”
“Now is the time for experiments” -Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky’s much blogged about essay about newspapers is — surprising for a topic so over analyzed — fresh and mind-opening…
… there is one possible answer to the question “If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?” The answer is: Nothing will work, but everything might. Now is the time for experiments, lots and lots of experiments, each of which will seem as minor at launch as craigslist did, as Wikipedia did, as octavo volumes did.
Journalism has always been subsidized. Sometimes it’s been Wal-Mart and the kid with the bike. Sometimes it’s been Richard Mellon Scaife. Increasingly, it’s you and me, donating our time. The list of models that are obviously working today, like Consumer Reports and NPR, like ProPublica and WikiLeaks, can’t be expanded to cover any general case, but then nothing is going to cover the general case.
It’s a thrill to be deeply involved in one such experiment… Front Porch Forum.
On 99-cent iFarts and progress
From MeetUp.com‘s Scott Heiferman’s blog…
@JoeTrippi: “I live in a world in which BILLIONS of people live on less than $2 a day yet many of us will pay 99 cents for an IPhone app that makes our phone fart. But I don’t write this out of guilt or to guilt you. Its just a fact that I find really strange… I am not much of an idealist any more — at least not in the way I considered myself an idealist before I found my way to Africa last year — but I still believe in the power of people conducting simple acts together for the purpose of achieving what is right.”
That’s my approach to Front Porch Forum. It’s not single-handedly finding a cure for AIDS or reversing global climate change… but it is connecting neighbors and leading to increased civic engagement. And there’s something profound about helping humanize the guy next door, while directing people’s attention to local issues, conversations and actions.
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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