Archives for March 2007
There’s a new player in local online… at the street level. It’s called StreetAdvisor. Users log on by street address and then rate their street. There’s some social networking elements too. The company plans to advertise locally to get people to start supplying data.
My two cents: As with most [...]
Winters in Vermont are long. When the snow finally starts its final retreat a collective sigh wafts over Burlington… followed by a “Oh sh#t! I just stepped in dog crap!”
I’ve been avoiding this topic (who wants to focus on dog poop?), but the sheer volume of dog poop posting the past week overwhelmed [...]
Ain’t that a pip! Preservation Burlington honored Front Porch Forum tonight at its annual meeting with its 2007 Ray O’Connor Community Improvement Award. Although I got to be the person up front receiving the plaque and certificate, this recognition really goes out to the more than 4,000 people who have signed up and [...]
People report remarkable and routine successes from their Front Porch Forum postings. I find the one just received below to be amazing considering how much the real estate market has slowed locally (e.g., the lovely home next door to ours has been on the market for about a year).
I sent a brief email to [...]
An interesting video from the other side of the puddle about social cohesion in neighborhoods… from Nick Booth at Podnosh, Birmingham, U.K.
Interesting the ways folks are finding to use their neighborhood forums. A recent example covered by Seven Days reporter Suzanne Podhaizer:
The Springflower Market on St. Paul Street in Burlington is up for sale. But, rather than letting real-estate supply and demand determine its next incarnation, residents of the neighborhood want to weigh in. After [...]
What is it about the internet that has most people concealing their identity? On most online forums, mail lists, blogs, etc. you have no idea who’s talking. Compared to conventional soapboxes (letters to the editor, watercooler, public meetings, etc.), this is a big change.
I guess folks are concerned about identity theft to a [...]
I’ve poked around various social networking sites and some impress with a feeling of community among distant strangers, others with sheer size or whiz-bang technology. But I’ve never seen anything that elicits the reaction that we’re seeing to Front Porch Forum in the neighborhoods where it’s really caught on in this corner of Vermont.
The [...]
Today’s senior citizens know about great community because so many of them experienced it in past decades. Now, in their 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond, a collective call seems to be rising from this chorus of elders… “we need to connect with and support each other!”
At least that’s the message I’m getting through a [...]
From the Local Onliner:
Nick Veronis, managing director of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, says [regarding local online]… that it is a very good time for entrepreneurs to raise money and monetize their local investments. But the climate is not so golden for investors. “Valuations are very high right now,” he says.