Gardeners make great use out of FPF. Are you?
“I would like to thank the residents of Stowe for the, um, overwhelming response to my posting about strawberry plants. I have never gotten quite so many emails and texts all at once. We had more people stop by in the space of an hour then we’ve seen in the past six months.
My takeaways from this experience are:
1. People read Front Porch Forum with a tremendous sense of urgency.
2. The next time the town wants to get us to vote on something or a nonprofit wants us to come to an event, clearly they need to add a note about free strawberry plants.
Those of you who did get plants, when you need to thin them next year, I know how you can get rid of the extras…” • Emily in Stowe
CCTV Executive Director, Lauren-Glenn Davitian, is joined by Front Porch Forum co-founder Michael Wood-Lewis in a new interview that takes a closer look at FPF. Find out more about the business’s mission, behind-the-scenes insights, expansion into upstate New York, and more!
You can watch this program on Channel 17/ Town Meeting Television, on Comcast Cable and Burlington Telecom at the following times:
1 Tuesday July 16, 6:30 PM
2 Wednesday July 17, 6:00 AM
3 Wednesday July 17, 12:00 PM
4 Monday July 22, 2:30 PM
You can also watch the program here:
From Micah Sifry in Civicist 1st Post today
Katy Steinmetz reports for Time magazine on how Instagram is trying to use AI to reduce how much the platform is used for cyberbullying, but as she notes, “it’s much easier to recognize when someone in a photo is not wearing pants than it is to recognize the broad array of behavior that might be considered bullying.” Oh, and the person in charge of this whole effort, Adam Mosseri, previously was in charge of the development of Facebook NewsFeed, so this should inspire confidence. (How does your AI read sarcasm, he asked.)
One problem with Steinmetz’s article is that she accepts the frame of all the blitzscaled platforms, which is that connecting the entire world online requires massively open platforms, unfortunately creating massive toxic effects. But cyberbullying isn’t, as Steinmetz writes, “a problem that crops up anywhere the people congregate online.” It’s a problem that crops up wherever a platform has been optimized for engagement over any other value, and where there is limited to no human moderation. For example, a user of Front Porch Forum in Vermont, where each instance is centered on a neighborhood of roughly 1000 households and a paid part-time moderator helps keep the conversation civil, does not experience cyberbullying, as a recent study found.
A reminder that FPF is expanding to Upstate NY! This piece from the Advokate, a native to the Glens Falls region, gives a good summary of what’s coming and how you can help spread the word.
Residents in Warren and Washington counties, NY, will now have access to their own FPF!
If you live, work, or know anyone in the greater Glens Falls/Lake George area, across the line from Bennington and Rutland counties — ask them to sign up at FrontPorchForum.com and help spread the word!
FPF‘s mission is to help neighbors connect and build community. Our free community e-newsletters go out daily with postings from neighbors, community organizations, and local businesses about everything from lost dogs to plumber recommendations to upcoming community events. Sign up today, and join the conversation!
Do you speak french? Check out this wonderful piece about Front Porch Forum from our neighbors at Radio Canada. Reporter, Janic Tremblay, shares his experiences speaking to FPF members at a screening of the film “The Story of Vermont’s Quiet Digital Revolution.” Attendees share how FPF has encouraged forming positive relationships with neighbors, neighbors who bring their hyper-local forums to life.
Read Janic Tremblay’s article in french here.
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