I just set up the links in the margins here. It’s interesting to see other online efforts attempting to support community within neighborhoods. Each has it’s own approach. Of course, I’m biased and favor the strategy used by Front Porch Forum. I’d love to participate on a panel with representatives of:
Who else?
Please share links to other services focused on local online community-building. Also, I’m interested in social capital, social cohesion, civic engagement, etc. Any good sites to recommend?
Posted in: Community Building, Front Porch Forum, Updates and Admin
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
Hi Michael, welcome to the blogosphere…
I was talking about this with Cathy Resmer and Philip Baruth the other day and I think I’m noticing a definite trend toward the local lately in new online initiatives. FPF is one example of this and the other sites/organizations you mention in this post are other examples. It’s sort of turning the internet on its head. If you had attempted FPF 10 years ago, people would have just shrugged and told you that you were missing the whole point of the internet. I mean, you can *hand deliver* a community newsletter, why use a global telecommunications network to talk to your immediate neighbors??? Now however, I think people are starting to come around to the realization that using these tools to talk to the people we’re immediately adjacent to is every bit as compelling as using them to reach people in far away lands. Your timing for launching the forums (fora?) county-wide is excellent.
I agree. As more and more people get online, I think we’re going to see an increase in people looking to connect with their neighbors. It just makes sense.
When I started a blog, one of my first questions after “how do I embed links?” was “who else around here is online?” Right now, there aren’t many reliable ways to find out, but that’s changing.
I’m also excited about FPF, because it has the potential to function as a mini-community newspaper, something I think my neighborhood desperately needs, but no one can afford to print.
I say “potential” because first someone has to get the neighbors online, which isn’t always an easy thing to do in Winooski.
Thanks, Michael, for getting this going.
[…] So, I appreciate Bill Simmon and Cathy Resmer’s comments about such things. […]