Join us:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/San_Diego
On Thursday, September 16, join E-Democracy Executive Director Steven
Clift for a dynamic and informal discussion among those interested in
online participation, transparency, and all things "2.0" with local
neighborhoods, communities, and government. We will talk about the
spread of CityCamp unconferences as well (we host the online group).
Steve will be speaking Friday on a panel at the California League of
Cities conference hosted by the Institute on Local Government.
* Who: You, please list yourself below.
* Where: Odysea, San Diego Hilton Bayfront
* When: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 16
* RSVP not required, but please list yourself below. Ask for
"E-Democracy" if you have trouble finding us. We will use #citycamp
and #edem on Twitter for last minute updates.
Yes, I am interested in participating - RSVP -not- required ...
Add your name, org, link, etc. below by pressing ...
http://pages.e-democracy.org/index.php?title=San_Diego&action=edit
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
Note, if you attend to be sure to say hello to Julia Opoti and Boa Lee
our Community Outreach Leaders: http://e-democracy.org/inclusion
Early bird pricing through Sept. 7 - Note the special seminar on
"Online Media and Your Neighbor" hosted by Nancy White -
http://www.communitymatters.org/online-media - and a number of "2.0"
themed sessions. - SLC
See:
http://www.communitymatters.org
October 5-8, 2010, Denver, CO
A four-day conference of novel tools and solutions, instructive
discussions and hands-on experiences for citizens and community
builders
...
About CommunityMatters '10
It’s 2010. Your community has never faced more pressing issues, and it
has never had a better opportunity to solve them. Whether you’re
struggling with empty storefronts, changing demographics, or the loss
of local character, your challenges matter. Whether you have years of
experience or you’re just starting out, your ideas matter. And whether
you’re working in a mountain town in the Rockies, a booming suburb in
the heartland, or a rural village in the Northeast, your community
matters.
Why Come to CommunityMatters'10®?
CommunityMatters ’10 is a unique innovation-action experience—a
coalition of leaders, thinkers and doers committed to building strong,
vibrant communities from the ground up. Mind-expanding speakers, a
multidisciplinary approach and the opportunity to build lasting
connections make CommunityMatters’10 invaluable to your life and work.
Come prepared for four days of fresh perspectives, instructive
discussions, hands-on experiences, and novel solutions to the
challenges facing small cities and towns across America. At the end,
you’ll leave with dozens of new ideas and tools, a better sense of
where the world (and your town) is headed, a new network of
relationships and lasting inspiration to help you create a stronger
community and a better world.
What to Expect at CM10
MEET people from communities across the country who are working to
improve their towns;
EXPLORE new and time-tested techniques for citizen engagement,
visualization, decision-making, communications and more;
ENGAGE with others to tackle the most important ideas, challenges and
solutions facing small towns and communities today and into the
future; and
ACT on what you learn by going home with a suite of tools, ideas,
connections and inspiring examples to make your community stronger.
What people had to say about CommunityMatters'07:
"It was great to connect with other practioners who are asking the
same questions and working on creative options. As with last year's
Conference, I left feeling energized and inspired."
"Smart folks taking on big, important challenges."
"I've been to a lot of very good conferences and this was right up
there with the best of them."
"CommunityMatters is helping to build a network that matters, because
it's based around people and places."
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
A discussion started on the Democracies Online Exchange based on some
questions I asked about Your Square Mile:
http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/974
Since this project came up at the pub after the London Networking
Neighbourhoods event - http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/944 - for our
UK-based friends here, what is you take on all this?
Here is the two pager on Your Square Mile:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36624792/The-Essence-of-Your-Square-Mile
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
I finally put up the 20 minute video of my presentation at this London event
along with some links to related blog posts:
http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/944
This should be something all people running local sites keep a watching brief
on. There are two issues that heighten the potential danger.
First is the fact that we're not yet au fait with how to behave on line. On a
good local site, it ought to feel like you're chatting with some friends and
neighbours down at the local cafe/pub/whatever. That'll mean we start behaving
as if we were in such a place with a low need need for defensive thinking.
The second in some instances in the technology. For example, on Ning sites less
experienced users assume comments they leave on another member's page are
private.
That leaves those of us running sites between a rock and a hard place. We don't
really want to be making a big hoo-ha about the potential dangers. (After all
who'd host a cocktail party and greet the guests with an entreatment to careful
what they say since there might be some thieves in the room). But equally who'd
want to be the cocktail party hostess who was in the paper the day after the
party because all her guests' houses were burgled whilst they were
cocktailpartying away.
Our solution at Harringay Online, in the UK, is to keep a close watching brief.
If we see people give out any personal info (address, phone number, email
address, absences from the house), we drop them a short note to ask them to
reflect on whether they really want to be doing that - along with some
reassurance that it's never yet been a problem. Nine times out of ten, people
write back to say thank you and wonder that they've been so careless.
So, actually Steven, I REALLY don't want to see any stories of burglaries
resulting from the unguarded use of a forum, but I'm glad you've aired the
topic.
Is anyone aware of a case where a burglar used a local online
community to plot their next attack?
I've heard of people who apparently hit homes during funerals that
were listed in the paper ... but that might be pretty darn rare or
more of an urban legend.
We've had a big spike in burglaries in my neighborhood recently and
people are using the forum to give each advice on what to do.
I posted a quirky idea about sharing a big eyeball poster via PDF for
people to post near their homes/in the alley with some small text
about the forum for curious neighbors who want to join us. Folks like
the sign idea, but don't exactly want to this expressly invite the
burglars to join our community forum online. I can understand that.
However, even if forum recruitment signs are kept separate from those
trying to let the alley cruising crooks know we are watching, the
issue of bad things that can or might happen based on geographic
online participation is a legitimate concern. In short, I don't want
the rare risk of what could go wrong to limit the willingness of
people to use the online space to its potential.
Any thoughts?
Note some recent topics:
1. My house was broken into
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/37xhXVumGpYWHozOOlPeJD
2. Crime awareness and trends
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/6Rr7P8Dg6nsXYA6SA2BmmS
3. Which led to ...
How can we become stronger as a community when times are hard?
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/7Jw62FcNuSeapiREhJ3E9j
4. Also note this exchange in a neighboring area (with a history of
higher sometimes violent crime, prostitution, etc.):
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/1kAylSh72M6GuUhfJRkccz
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
See:
http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2010/08/10-must-read-sites-for-hyper-local-publishers237.html
From: MediaShift Idea Lab <email obscured>>
Date: Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 7:20 AM
Subject: MediaShift Idea Lab
To: <email obscured>
MediaShift Idea Lab <http://www.pbs.org/idealab/>
<http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/pbs/idealab-feed>
------------------------------
10 Must-Read Sites for Hyper-Local
Publishers<http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/pbs/idealab-feed/%7E3/p_fSS0w51DI/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>
Posted: 26 Aug 2010 11:05 AM PDT
Here at NowSpots <http://nowspots.com> we're developing a new advertising
platform that will let local publishers sell and publish real-time ads on
their sites. In my last post here on MediaShift Idea
Lab<http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2010/08/nowspots-working-to-make-local-web-ads-that-work222.html>,
I explained why real-time ads are a better business model for hyper-local
bloggers and local publishers than AdSense or existing display ad solutions.
Since winning a 2010 Knight News Challenge award to kickstart development of
our new platform, we've been busy meeting with publishers to learn more
about their needs and problems. We've also been busy reading up on what's
happening in the hyper-local publishing space. This week I'm going to share
with you 10 sites I read on a regular basis for news, commentary, and
context about business models for hyper-local bloggers and local publishers.
At the end of the post are links to subscribe to them through RSS or to
follow them on Twitter.
Top Ten
*1. MediaGazer <http://mediagazer.com>*
MediaGazer is a semi-automated aggregator for media news. It's a
dead-simple, one-page site that lists the day's top media headlines from
around the web alongside links to related coverage. What's great about
MediaGazer is that their algorithm makes sure they get just about everything
interesting each day, while their editorial touch makes sure the front page
is always interesting. Not every story on MediaGazer pertains to the local
news game, but anything good that does will be there.
*2. Nieman Journalism Lab <http://www.niemanlab.org/>*
The Nieman Journalism Lab <http://www.niemanlab.org> is a blog covering
journalism's efforts to figure out its future. Moreso than any other blog on
the web, they are squarely focused on introducing new examples of "the new
news" and figuring out what they might lead to. My only complaint is that I
wish they'd post more. Just about everything they run is in my wheelhouse as
a news startup guy.
*3. Lost Remote <http://www.lostremote.com/>*
Lost Remote is focused on "hyper-local news, neighborhood blogs, and local
journalism startups." Originally started by MSNBC.com's Cory Bergman, it is
now edited by Steve Safran. Anything interesting that happens in the local
news space that could impact hyper-local bloggers shows up here. Lost Remote
is the TechCrunch of hyper-local bloggers. A must read.
*4. Local Onliner <http://localonliner.com/>*
Peter Krasilovsky's Local Onliner blog is a repository of analysis pieces on
the future of local online publishing that he writes for the Kelsey Group
blog. As a vice president at BIA/Kelsey, where he works on local online
commerce, Krasilovsky's perspective on hyper-local news, geo-targeted
advertising and the like is worth a look for anyone who wants to understand
the business behind local publishing.
*5. Mashable's local section <http://mashable.com/tag/local/>*
Uber-blog Mashable devotes a post or two each month to the local space, and
its coverage is picking up with the rise of group-buying sites such as
Groupon and location-based social networks such as Foursquare and GoWalla. I
filter down to just posts tagged "local" to sidestep the never-ending
onslaught of headlines about Twitter.
*6. Local SEO Guide <http://www.localseoguide.com/>*
Local SEO is a sharp blog from Andrew Shotland, an SEO consultant who
specializes in local. Every hyper-local blogger needs to be aware of how
findable their content is through search. Shotland's blog offers detailed
rundowns of topics such as why sites like Yelp do so well in
search<http://www.localseoguide.com/yelp-seo-analysis-part-one/>that
can help you better connect with readers through local search.
*7. Hyperlocal Blogger <http://www.hyperlocalblogger.com/>*
Matt McGee's Hyperlocal Blogger pulls together the latest news coverage of
the hyper-local blogging space and publishes regular commentary on issues
affecting neighborhood bloggers. For instance, McGee recently responded to
the
news<http://www.hyperlocalblogger.com/philly-bloggers-feeling-overtaxed/>that
the city of Philadelphia is requiring city bloggers to buy a Business
Privilege License for $300.
*8. Chicago Art Magazine Transparency
Pages<http://chicagoartmap.com/transparency/>
*
A bit of a hidden gem, this series of blog posts by Chicago Art
Magazine's<http://chicagoartmagazine.com/>Kathryn Born covers a seven
month period in late 2009 during which she
launched a collection of websites focused on the Chicago art scene. In these
posts, which carry a bit of a confessional tone, she discusses how hard it
is to sell ads to local galleries, and her philosophy on creating quick
content for the web. They're a great recounting of the trials and
tribulations of starting a hyper-local web publication, and every
hyper-local blogger should read them.
*9. MediaShift Idea Lab <http://www.pbs.org/idealab/>*
The blog you're reading right now has been a favorite of mine ever since I
started Windy Citizen <http://windycitizen.com> in 2008. I love the site for
its great think-pieces about the future of news and updates from Knight News
Challenge winners. We're excited to have a spot of our own now, and we still
drop by regularly to see what's new. For hyper-local bloggers interested in
new ideas about the space, this should be a regular stop.
*10. eMedia Vitals <http://emediavitals.com/>*
eMedia Vitals has an old-school name and takes an old-school approach to
covering tactics and strategies for growing your digital business. Editor
(and co-founder of TechicallyPhilly.com <http://technicallyphilly.com>) Sean
Blanda turned me onto the site at SXSW last year and I've since found their
analysis to be relevant to people working in the local news space.
OPML File and Twitter List
These are the sites I'm reading on a regular basis to keep up with what's
happening in the hyper-local space. I'm sure you may have a few favorites of
your own that I omitted. If so, feel free to share them with me in the
comments below or via Twitter (I'm @bradflora <http://twitter.com/bradflora>
).
I've created an OPML file that you can import to add the feeds for all these
sites to Google Reader. You can find it
here.<http://www.pbs.org/idealab/HyperlocalOPML.xml>
And if you prefer reading your news through Twitter, I've created a list
over on the NowSpots Twitter account <http://twitter.com/nowspots> that you
can follow to add these folks to your Twitter feed. You can find it
here<http://twitter.com/#/list/nowspots/hyperlocalmustreads>
.
Happy reading!
You are subscribed to email updates from MediaShift Idea
Lab<http://www.pbs.org/idealab/>
To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe
now<http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailunsubscribe?k=XGkZl7K2xx_2d5MiYe4FF5X2f50>
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USA 60610
P.S. I invite everyone who attends this event to join their
international peers on the Locals Online space:
http://e-democracy.org/locals
See:
http://lno-unconference2010.eventbrite.com/
London Neighbourhoods Online Unconference, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010 from 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM (GMT)
London, United Kingdom
Event Details
The London Neighbourhoods Online Unconference 2010 is an opportunity
for Londoners running neighbourhood websites to meet up. With the
increasing focus on the importance of local sites by both government
and the media, now is the right time to hear from the experts, share
experiences, learn from one another, network and maybe think about how
to take things to the next level.
The event is organised by Neighbourhood Networks in collaboration with
Talk About Local, London Civic Forum and the Community Development
Network London.
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
Some great stuff from the Journalism that Matters online group ...
Bill Densmore
to rji-fellows, jtmlist
show details Aug 13 (7 days ago)
By Vadim Lavrusik -- The social network of a reader is quickly
becoming their personalized news wire . . . We have gone from
consuming news through traditional media and news websites to having
the news broadcast to us by our social network of friends. In fact,
75% of news consumed online is through shared news from social
networking sites or e-mail. Social news is finding us.
http://mashable.com/2010/08/10/personalized-news-stream/
Jane Stevens
to barry, rji-fellows, jtmlist
show details Aug 14 (6 days ago)
We think baking social media into news sites is the way to go. We
launched our local health site, WellCommons, in April in Lawrence, KS,
using a brand-new CMS we created that integrates social media with
journalism. We gave our community the same tools the reporters use,
and open access to the site (public-facing admin). Our local community
calls WellCommons the Facebook for local health. We addressed the
credibility issue by asking people to use their real names, and by the
structure we developed for group pages. Anyone can start a group page,
but only the "owners" of the group can post into the news and
resources sections. People who join the group as members can post into
the commons section. Over the last four months, we've learned that we
must make those more distinct visually, but we're on the right track.
(We're adding a bunch of other bells and whistles in Sept & Oct.)
Traffic's been growing at 20 percent a month, with 11,000 uniques by
the end of June. We began with 23 groups, and at last count have 103,
most created by the community. Most of the content on the site now
comes from the community.
So, we think it's less about traditional news site design and more
about function. WellCommons doesn't look a traditional news site; it
looks more like a social media site, and definitely functions as one.
We'll be making this CMS available for commercial use, as a hosted
service.
Cheers, J.
From: Jane Stevens <email obscured>>
Date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Subject: Re: {JTM} How News Consumption is Shifting to the
Personalized Social News Stream
To: Ikaika M Hussey <email obscured>>
Cc: <email obscured>, jtmlist Matters <email obscured>>
Thanks, Ikaika!
I've started a couple of Ning groups, but find the system difficult to
navigate. It obviously works for many groups, so I don't mean to
denigrate Ning. It just doesn't work for what we're trying to do,
which is create a safe place and a trusted source for news and
information. Also, the jurno (the person formerly known as our health
reporter) is the touchstone for the community, which is what the
community wanted. While we were developing WellCommons, we met
regularly with a group of about 40 people representing most parts of
the local health community -- nonprofits, health insurance advocates,
physicians, hospital, local food co-op, community organizations, etc.
They were adamant about three things: that people use their real
names, that our health reporter's information was front and central,
and that we carry out our promise to them to manage a civil discourse
on the site. It's been an enlightening and interesting process, and
we'll be doing it with other topic-based niche sites.
How the journalist as touchstone/community manager works: It's my
belief that we journalists still retain our local watchdog role, and
are responsible to make sure our community receives the best possible
information. This played out when a local business announced a
for-profit weight-loss contest. People who advocated a healthy
lifestyle were worried that people might think it's okay to lose as
much weight as you can in a short space of time, and challenged some
of the business' statements on the site. Our jurno put together an
article about weight-loss research (we're lucky to have a world-class
weight research center at KU) that provided the latest, best
information about weight loss that showed that losing a lot of weight
in a short space of time is not healthy and people who do so aren't
likely to keep off the weight, but that a financial incentive to lose
weight can work. She also listed all the weight-loss programs in the
community.
Cheers, J.
Jane E. Stevens
Director of Media Strategies
The World Company
<email obscured>
WellCommons.com, LJWorld.com, KUSports.com, lawrence.com
ReJurno.com
707-495-1112 (cell)
Steve, thanks for sharing this with the group and for the donation!
I'd really appreciate any ideas, experiences, and best practices you can
share with us.
Thanks,
Joseph
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Porcelli - 857-222-4420 - <email obscured>
www.neighborsforneighbors.org - twitter.com/neighbortweet
www.josephporcelli.com - twitter.com/josephporcelli
On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 3:49 PM, Steven Clift <email obscured>> wrote:
> Here is some creative thinking from Joseph. What is informative about
> this, is Joseph is being up front about what it takes to stay open and
> what level of funding is desired so he and others can work on building
> out the network in a professional manner.
>
> I also estimate our own "stay open, hold steady" cost at between
> 10-20K to cover hosting and up to 20 hours/week of basic technical
> user support (which is a scenario where I return to independent
> speaking/consulting ... no need right now BTW). This is on top of the
> 30+ volunteers who put in the most collective time to generating value
> across our network of forums. Even if 90% of our "costs" are borne by
> volunteers, the 10% is adding up as we grow. We've broken through with
> a mix of grants and earned revenue - rural expansion, inclusive
> neighborhood efforts, broader local e-democracy work, but like
> Joseph's experience getting those who benefit the most - the end users
> - to contribute is quite challenging. By making it real - chip in or
> we shut down (I think) - Joseph is challenging his community in an
> important way.
>
> Any advice? Suggestions? Reactions?
>
> Steve
> P.S. I just donated $25, you can too:
> http://www.neighborsforneighbors.org/support/
>
> More info:
>
>
http://jamaicaplain.neighborsforneighbors.org/profiles/blogs/adopt-a-block-update-2125-of
>
>
> Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
> Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
> Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
> New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
>
>
> From: Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain
> Date: Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 12:33 PM
> Subject: We're staying online, for now anyway. Become mayor of your block
> today.
>
>
> Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain
> Jamaica Plain's soundboard for voices and springboard for action
>
> A message to all members of Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain
>
> As of today, Wednesday, August 18 at 1:22 pm we've raised: $2,175 of
> our $12,000 goal. While we've raised enough money to keep the networks
> online temporarily, we need your financial support to keep the
> networks online long-term.
>
> It's costs NFN $500 per month to keep our networks up and running and
> another $500.00 per month for general operating expenses. We have had
> limited money for general operating expenses for the last two years
> and so we have gone without, and I have been personally covered much
> of what was essential. With this said, we really need your support!
> Please give what you can today.
> Donate $50, become the Mayor of your Block by Adopting your Block -
> PLEASE DONATE NOW!
>
> You get to be the the Mayor of your Block for one year.
> Get Invitations to EXCLUSIVE quarterly Mayor ONLY Events.
> A really awesome Mayor decal to proudly display on your building.
> Mayor's business cards to hand out to your neighbors.
> A tax deduction. Sweetness!
> Also, there are rumors that your neighbors will bake you pies and do
> your laundry for you.
>
> Please see FAQ below for details and see the Mayor's map to see if
> your street is still available.
> Don't have $50? How about $25, $15, or even $5. GIVE WHAT YOU CAN NOW!
> Any amount you can give is appreciated! For your donation, you'll
> become a Very Important Neighbors and get a Very Important Neighbor
> Decal to proudly display.
> ________________________________
> FAQ:
> Which streets already have mayors?
>
> See the Mayor's map to see if your street is still available.
> How come Neighbors for Neighbors needs money now?
> First, Ning, the company that develops the social networking platform
> we use generously donated the monthly fees on our networks for the
> first year.
> The year is over. Thanks again Ning! Second, last year we applied for
> a bunch of grants. None came through, even the one we totally thought
> we'd get, we did not. Bummer.
>
> Third. We have no funding sources. We're neighbor powered, and now we
> need to be neighbor funded too. With more than 3200 neighbors in the
> networks, we can keep this going for years to come. Please chip in!
>
> How much money does Neighbors for Neighbors need?
>
> Minimum: We need $6,000 alone just to keep all networks operating for
> one more year.
> To make due: $6,000 more dollars will cover all of our current general
> operating expenses.
> Ideally: $125,000 to staff our operation and cover all expenses. We'll
> take that on next.
>
> What does a block consist of, what will you be overseeing?
>
> A block consists of all homes/plots on one street between two adjacent
> cross streets.
> You must live on the block you adopt.
> There can be multiple mayors on a street, only if there are multiple
> blocks.
> There can only be One Mayor per block.
> There is nothing to oversee. All you have to do is donate. If you want
> to get more involved, great, otherwise, your financial support is what
> we need.
>
> What if more than one person donates on my block?
>
> First donor is the Mayor for one year.
> Subsequent donors will be offered the title of Deputy Mayor but not
> have mayoral privileges.
>
> Special thanks to Michelle C and Ning Y for editing and David K for
> making the graphic!
>
> With much appreciation, your neighbor,
>
> Joseph Porcelli
> Chief Executive Neighbor
> NeighborsForNeighbors.org
> 857-222-4420
> <email obscured>
> @NeighborTweet
>
> Visit Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain at:
> http://jamaicaplain.neighborsforneighbors.org/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
>
>
> To control which emails you receive on Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica
> Plain, click here
>
> Steven Clift
> Ericsson, Minneapolis
> Info about Steven Clift: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/stevenclift
>
> View all messages on this topic at:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/2L3CEOB79gPsWEV69O0egI
> -----------------------------------------
> To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
> Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
> in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
>
> More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood e-lists,
> placeblogs, and community social nets:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
>
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> -----------------------------------------
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>
> Join Locals Online from:
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> Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
>
Here is some creative thinking from Joseph. What is informative about
this, is Joseph is being up front about what it takes to stay open and
what level of funding is desired so he and others can work on building
out the network in a professional manner.
I also estimate our own "stay open, hold steady" cost at between
10-20K to cover hosting and up to 20 hours/week of basic technical
user support (which is a scenario where I return to independent
speaking/consulting ... no need right now BTW). This is on top of the
30+ volunteers who put in the most collective time to generating value
across our network of forums. Even if 90% of our "costs" are borne by
volunteers, the 10% is adding up as we grow. We've broken through with
a mix of grants and earned revenue - rural expansion, inclusive
neighborhood efforts, broader local e-democracy work, but like
Joseph's experience getting those who benefit the most - the end users
- to contribute is quite challenging. By making it real - chip in or
we shut down (I think) - Joseph is challenging his community in an
important way.
Any advice? Suggestions? Reactions?
Steve
P.S. I just donated $25, you can too:
http://www.neighborsforneighbors.org/support/
More info:
http://jamaicaplain.neighborsforneighbors.org/profiles/blogs/adopt-a-block-update-2125-of
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
From: Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain
Date: Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 12:33 PM
Subject: We're staying online, for now anyway. Become mayor of your block
today.
Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain's soundboard for voices and springboard for action
A message to all members of Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain
As of today, Wednesday, August 18 at 1:22 pm we've raised: $2,175 of
our $12,000 goal. While we've raised enough money to keep the networks
online temporarily, we need your financial support to keep the
networks online long-term.
It's costs NFN $500 per month to keep our networks up and running and
another $500.00 per month for general operating expenses. We have had
limited money for general operating expenses for the last two years
and so we have gone without, and I have been personally covered much
of what was essential. With this said, we really need your support!
Please give what you can today.
Donate $50, become the Mayor of your Block by Adopting your Block -
PLEASE DONATE NOW!
You get to be the the Mayor of your Block for one year.
Get Invitations to EXCLUSIVE quarterly Mayor ONLY Events.
A really awesome Mayor decal to proudly display on your building.
Mayor's business cards to hand out to your neighbors.
A tax deduction. Sweetness!
Also, there are rumors that your neighbors will bake you pies and do
your laundry for you.
Please see FAQ below for details and see the Mayor's map to see if
your street is still available.
Don't have $50? How about $25, $15, or even $5. GIVE WHAT YOU CAN NOW!
Any amount you can give is appreciated! For your donation, you'll
become a Very Important Neighbors and get a Very Important Neighbor
Decal to proudly display.
________________________________
FAQ:
Which streets already have mayors?
See the Mayor's map to see if your street is still available.
How come Neighbors for Neighbors needs money now?
First, Ning, the company that develops the social networking platform
we use generously donated the monthly fees on our networks for the
first year.
The year is over. Thanks again Ning! Second, last year we applied for
a bunch of grants. None came through, even the one we totally thought
we'd get, we did not. Bummer.
Third. We have no funding sources. We're neighbor powered, and now we
need to be neighbor funded too. With more than 3200 neighbors in the
networks, we can keep this going for years to come. Please chip in!
How much money does Neighbors for Neighbors need?
Minimum: We need $6,000 alone just to keep all networks operating for
one more year.
To make due: $6,000 more dollars will cover all of our current general
operating expenses.
Ideally: $125,000 to staff our operation and cover all expenses. We'll
take that on next.
What does a block consist of, what will you be overseeing?
A block consists of all homes/plots on one street between two adjacent
cross streets.
You must live on the block you adopt.
There can be multiple mayors on a street, only if there are multiple blocks.
There can only be One Mayor per block.
There is nothing to oversee. All you have to do is donate. If you want
to get more involved, great, otherwise, your financial support is what
we need.
What if more than one person donates on my block?
First donor is the Mayor for one year.
Subsequent donors will be offered the title of Deputy Mayor but not
have mayoral privileges.
Special thanks to Michelle C and Ning Y for editing and David K for
making the graphic!
With much appreciation, your neighbor,
Joseph Porcelli
Chief Executive Neighbor
NeighborsForNeighbors.org
857-222-4420
<email obscured>
@NeighborTweet
Visit Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica Plain at:
http://jamaicaplain.neighborsforneighbors.org/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
To control which emails you receive on Neighbors for Neighbors Jamaica
Plain, click here
Rate and review here:
http://bit.ly/9BPxPz
We've submitted E-Democracy.org's "Neighbors Issues Forums - Inclusive
Social Media" for the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2011 organized by the
Bertelsmann Stiftung which is focused on "Vitalizing Democracy through
Participation". The prize is 150,000 Euros.
From: http://bit.ly/9BPxPz
Neighbors Issues Forums - Inclusive Social Media
No. 89 | 13.08.2010
Location: United States, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota (Also UK
and New Zealand)
Time span: 2008 - Today
Initiated by: E-Democracy.org in association with
government-sanctioned neighborhood councils in Minneapolis and St.
Paul, Minnesota.
Neighbors Issues Forums support online citizen engagement in local
democracy and community. Our special Inclusive Social Media initiative
is pushing this work forward in low income, high immigrant
neighborhoods that are being left completely behind when it comes to
using the Internet for community and democratic participation. Our
Inclusive Social Media effort - http://e-democracy.org/inclusion - is
the specific program we are nominating within our global Issues Forum
network. This program is likely to expand to support inclusion of
participation actions across many more neighborhoods beyond to the two
pilot communities.
In the Pew Internet and American Life Project's "Neighbors Online"
study it found that 22% of American adults "talk digitally with
neighbors." For households with income over $75,000 the participation
rate is 39% and half that at 20% for just under $50,000 and only 12%
for less that $30,000. Further, among Internet users 15% who make over
$75,000 belong to the most intensive and community empowering
neighborhood e-mail lists and forums like our forums. In comparison,
only 2% of those with household incomes under $30,000 participate, 3%
up to $49,000, only 3% of Hispanics (both English and Spanish
Speaking) (while they don’t measure immigrants specifically, our guess
is that the percent would be even lower), and only 2% of rural
residents.
Our nominated initiative targets the least likely areas and
populations to be served by online engagement - the strong majority
East African Cedar Riverside - http://e-democracy.org/cr -
neighborhood in Minneapolis and the plurality ~40% Southeast Asian
(Hmong) with African-American (20%) and White (20%) Frogtown
neighborhood in St. Paul - http://e-democracy.org/frogtown
We also host a forum in a lower income, Native American majority forum
called Cass Lake Leech Lake - http://e-democracy.org/cl - in northern
rural Minnesota. This was part of our previous "Rural Voices"
initiative where we expanded to four rural Minnesota communities with
the support of the Blandin Foundation. Those forums remain open with
support, like almost all of our network, from local volunteers.
The lessons from these efforts need to be shared widely. Inclusive
outreach must be spread across online engagement efforts universally,
or the harsh reality is that efforts to use the Internet in governance
will bring anti-democratic results and simply raise the voices of the
already powerful in society.
Lot's more at:
http://bit.ly/9BPxPz
With your help we can make this the most rated and commented upon
initiative in the bunch. Because our government connection (required
for submission) is via government-recognized and funded neighborhood
associations, our submission is likely the most grassroots in the
bunch. Let's show them what grassroots can do online!
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
Hey all, I wanted to share one more set of numbers Aaron provided me based on
my request:
Here's a comparison of different household income groups based on the
percentage within each group who "talk digitally with neighbors":
Among all adults
Total: 22%
Less than $30,000: 12%
$30,000-$49,999: 20%
$50,000-$74,999: 26%
$75,000+: 39%
Among internet users
Total: 29%
Less than $30,000: 19%
$30,000-$49,999: 26%
$50,000-$74,999: 29%
$75,000+:41%
...
Their study showed similar disparities in income with neighborhood e-mail
list/forum participation and that confirms that in general the "collective we"
are not reaching out or interesting lower income folks in same way we are reach
the over $75K/yr crowd in particular.
Historically most digital divide work - note the Digital Inclusion Network
http://e-democracy.org/di that we also host - has focused on technology access,
skill building, digital literacy and very little on "voice," community
participation, or even content generation.
Our own experience in low income, high immigrant neighborhoods -
http://e-democracy.org/inclusion - suggests that with outreach efforts
(resources) there is no reason to accept a path where "neighbors online" serves
primarily high income areas/people. Hopefully we can all use these numbers to
generate support for inclusion efforts that work.
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org
Ross, I've considered that idea ... we might try it.
Has anyone else? Part of me thinks that automated posting of your "public
life" stuff to your private life network might be too blunt.
We will soon have the share this on FB, Twitter option like Steve. Since
most of users still prefer e-mail what we might need is a share this link
there as well.
Steven Clift - <email obscured>
http://stevenclift.com
http://e-democracy.org
Sent via mobile - +1 612 203 5181
http://twitter.com/democracy
On Aug 17, 2010 12:33 PM, "Steve Magruder - Administrator, Louisville
History & Issues" <email obscured>> wrote:
At Louisville History & Issues, I've made it easy to share topics on
Twitter, Facebook, etc. by integrating the ShareThis dialog. Works very
well.
Just go to a topic page (ex.
http://www.historyandissues.org/louisville/viewtopic.php?t=2223) and
click the link "Recommend to friends" under "Topic Actions".
Also, on most of the board pages, a Facebook fan box is displayed, so
people can easily 'like' the site, and of course, when somebody likes
something on Facebook, their friends sometimes take notice and give your
site's Facebook page (and maybe even the referenced site) a look and
maybe a like.
Steve Magruder
Administrator, Louisville History & Issues
http://www.historyandissues.org/louisville/
On 8/17/2010 1:13 PM, Ross Williams wrote:
> Perhaps this has already been mentioned. But it seems ...
Steve Magruder Steven Magruder
Louisville
Info about Steve Magruder:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/4l8NcAQhZF1RrDJyMkltt8
View all messages on this topic at:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/7g8Yrm6QFzikeYC4fq0Zwd
-----------------------------------------
To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
Use "Re...
At Louisville History & Issues, I've made it easy to share topics on
Twitter, Facebook, etc. by integrating the ShareThis dialog. Works very
well.
Just go to a topic page (ex.
http://www.historyandissues.org/louisville/viewtopic.php?t=2223) and
click the link "Recommend to friends" under "Topic Actions".
Also, on most of the board pages, a Facebook fan box is displayed, so
people can easily 'like' the site, and of course, when somebody likes
something on Facebook, their friends sometimes take notice and give your
site's Facebook page (and maybe even the referenced site) a look and
maybe a like.
Steve Magruder
Administrator, Louisville History & Issues
http://www.historyandissues.org/louisville/
On 8/17/2010 1:13 PM, Ross Williams wrote:
> Perhaps this has already been mentioned. But it seems to me the most direct
> way for e-Democracy to use Facebook is to allow people to automatically
> share their comments on e-Democracy forums with their Facebook friends. This
> could include a link so those friends can join and participate in the
> discussion. The flip side of that is to make it easy for people who are
> using Facebook to share content they create or find on Facebook with an
> e-Democracy forum.
>
> Ross Williams
> Advocacy Technologies
> twitter.com/rosscwilliams
> www.northerncommunityinternet.org
> www.grandrapidscommunityinternet.org
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 10:33 PM, Christoph Berendes
> <email obscured>>wrote:
>
>> Steve - Congrats. I joined<
>> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=90938736285>/
>> liked<http://www.facebook.com/stpaulfrogtown> both Frogtown pages on FB
>> and
>> am looking forward to becoming an Indonesian teen ;-)
>>
>> Here's a strawman "marketing plan":
>>
>> Goals of the "St. Paul Greater Frogtown Neighbors Forum" FB page (in rough
>> priority order):
>> For FB'ers who live in or near Frogtown who aren't e-democracy.orgmembers:
>> 1. to pull them into joining the Frogtown forum on e-democracy.org
>> 2. to attract them to Frogtown forum face to face events
>>
>> For FB'ers (like those teens in Indonesia and elsewhere) not near Frogtown:
>> 3. ???? I could see using the wider community as a sounding board for big
>> issues (e.g. "how has your community dealt with youth unemployment, or the
>> encroachments of a mega-merchandiser?")
>>
>> Any idea how many e-democracy.org Frogtowners have Facebook accounts?
>>
>> You could leverage the overlappers by giving them content that makes it
>> easy
>> for them to, in turn, put Frogtown e-democracy.org info in front of their
>> friends, such as weekly content summaries, the featured Frogtown "story of
>> the month", etc. (I could also see the FB feed being useful for Frogtowners
>> who are taking a break from 5-10 email messages a day, but still want to
>> keep a sense of the Frogtown pulse.)
>>
>> I know nothing about Facebook
>> analytics<
>>
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/06/08/facebook-improves-analytics-should-help-businesses-monetize
>>> (see
>> also<http://www.delicious.com/berendes/facebook+analytics>), but my sense
>> is that you ought to be able to measure all the goals (1-3) above one way
>> or
>> another.
>>
>> Big issue, down the road: Facebook could draw energy from the e-democracy
>> forum, either members in general, or the forum manager that may, on
>> balance,
>> not be worth it. It's important to think through how activity in Facebook
>> should relate to e-democracy.org forum activity, and from time to time
>> review what's actually happening
>>
>> Also, down the road, you may want to experiment with a cross-cutting issues
>> page on FB, one that isn't geographically based. For instance, a FB fan
>> page
>> on community building, where you could raise the question of
>> building/attracting
>> a community newspaper<
>>
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/stpaul-frogtown/messages/topic/2qTlDC8vy1TavYbC0MyKXE
>>> ,
>> and perhaps find out what other localities have done across the country.
>> (This is an expansion of goal #3).
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 2:51 PM, Steven <email obscured>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Another quick update ...
>>>
>>> Thanks to .05 a click ads this group's Facebook Page now has 660 friends.
>>> There might be lots of teens from Indonesia, but I am now convinced that
>>> this is something worth doing. (Actually, we are a hit in Indonesia it
>> looks
>>> like.)
>>>
>>> While I still don't know what it really means in terms of forum
>>> use/value/engagement - that fact that 1175 people now "Like" the Frogtown
>>> forum means that post excerpts now show up in the News Feed of that many
>>> people has to be a good thing. We now know that hundred of teenagers in
>>> Frogtown (we think, many could be from far away) now have access our our
>>> online community forum. (I've started looking at the "Insight"
>> information
>>> on users ... very interesting, lots of youth.)
>>>
>>> In Cedar Riverside I have had to bump up the pay per click to .50 to get
>> it
>>> out there enough to generate enough income for Facebook to run the ad.
>> There
>>> we have 310 "Likers" up 100 over the weekend.
>>>
>>> With our .05 ads for pages tied to our Digital Inclusion Network -
>>> http://e-democracy.org/di - for example, clearly the price we set is
>>> getting us lot of people in Indonesia (you can select up to 20 countries
>> at
>>> time).
>>>
>>> So my big question is - will getting into the "News" stream of perhaps
>>> most? of the teens in Frogtown or Cedar Riverside (if sign-ups keep on
>> going
>>> up) result in their public participation or deliver local information via
>>> youth to their parents? Hmmm.
>>> Steven Clift
>>> Ericsson, Minneapolis
>>> Info about Steven Clift: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/stevenclift
>>>
>>> View all messages on this topic at:
>>> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/1M4ht5PqHbXj4gsKnzBwiY
>>> -----------------------------------------
>>> To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
>>> Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
>>> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
>>> in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
>>>
>>> More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood
>> e-lists,
>>> placeblogs, and community social nets:
>>> http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
>>>
>>> E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules
>>> -----------------------------------------
>>> Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net
>>>
>>> Join Locals Online from:
>>> http://e-democracy.org/locals
>>> Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
>>>
>> Christoph Berendes
>> Capitol Hill, SE, Washington
>> Info about Christoph Berendes:
>> http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/50RnFNyWywRyxmc8zRqbeo
>>
>> View all messages on this topic at:
>> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/5eee6GIxqeU7BOnAltNKrw
>> -----------------------------------------
>> To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
>> Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
>> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
>> in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
>>
>> More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood e-lists,
>> placeblogs, and community social nets:
>> http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
>>
>> E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules
>> -----------------------------------------
>> Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net
>>
>> Join Locals Online from:
>> http://e-democracy.org/locals
>> Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
>>
>>
> Ross Williams
> Grand Rapids
> Info about Ross Williams: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/rosswilliams
>
> View all messages on this topic at:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/1bOXnYkgIuN0v4EFyV3TMB
> -----------------------------------------
> To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
> Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
> in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
>
> More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood e-lists,
placeblogs, and community social nets:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
>
> E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules
> -----------------------------------------
> Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net
>
> Join Locals Online from:
> http://e-democracy.org/locals
> Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
>
Perhaps this has already been mentioned. But it seems to me the most direct
way for e-Democracy to use Facebook is to allow people to automatically
share their comments on e-Democracy forums with their Facebook friends. This
could include a link so those friends can join and participate in the
discussion. The flip side of that is to make it easy for people who are
using Facebook to share content they create or find on Facebook with an
e-Democracy forum.
Ross Williams
Advocacy Technologies
twitter.com/rosscwilliams
www.northerncommunityinternet.org
www.grandrapidscommunityinternet.org
On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 10:33 PM, Christoph Berendes
<email obscured>>wrote:
> Steve - Congrats. I joined<
> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=90938736285>/
> liked <http://www.facebook.com/stpaulfrogtown> both Frogtown pages on FB
> and
> am looking forward to becoming an Indonesian teen ;-)
>
> Here's a strawman "marketing plan":
>
> Goals of the "St. Paul Greater Frogtown Neighbors Forum" FB page (in rough
> priority order):
> For FB'ers who live in or near Frogtown who aren't e-democracy.orgmembers:
> 1. to pull them into joining the Frogtown forum on e-democracy.org
> 2. to attract them to Frogtown forum face to face events
>
> For FB'ers (like those teens in Indonesia and elsewhere) not near Frogtown:
> 3. ???? I could see using the wider community as a sounding board for big
> issues (e.g. "how has your community dealt with youth unemployment, or the
> encroachments of a mega-merchandiser?")
>
> Any idea how many e-democracy.org Frogtowners have Facebook accounts?
>
> You could leverage the overlappers by giving them content that makes it
> easy
> for them to, in turn, put Frogtown e-democracy.org info in front of their
> friends, such as weekly content summaries, the featured Frogtown "story of
> the month", etc. (I could also see the FB feed being useful for Frogtowners
> who are taking a break from 5-10 email messages a day, but still want to
> keep a sense of the Frogtown pulse.)
>
> I know nothing about Facebook
> analytics<
>
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/06/08/facebook-improves-analytics-should-help-businesses-monetize
> >(see
> also <http://www.delicious.com/berendes/facebook+analytics>), but my sense
> is that you ought to be able to measure all the goals (1-3) above one way
> or
> another.
>
> Big issue, down the road: Facebook could draw energy from the e-democracy
> forum, either members in general, or the forum manager that may, on
> balance,
> not be worth it. It's important to think through how activity in Facebook
> should relate to e-democracy.org forum activity, and from time to time
> review what's actually happening
>
> Also, down the road, you may want to experiment with a cross-cutting issues
> page on FB, one that isn't geographically based. For instance, a FB fan
> page
> on community building, where you could raise the question of
> building/attracting
> a community newspaper<
>
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/stpaul-frogtown/messages/topic/2qTlDC8vy1TavYbC0MyKXE
> >,
> and perhaps find out what other localities have done across the country.
> (This is an expansion of goal #3).
>
> Chris
>
> On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 2:51 PM, Steven Clift <email obscured>>
> wrote:
>
> > Another quick update ...
> >
> > Thanks to .05 a click ads this group's Facebook Page now has 660 friends.
> > There might be lots of teens from Indonesia, but I am now convinced that
> > this is something worth doing. (Actually, we are a hit in Indonesia it
> looks
> > like.)
> >
> > While I still don't know what it really means in terms of forum
> > use/value/engagement - that fact that 1175 people now "Like" the Frogtown
> > forum means that post excerpts now show up in the News Feed of that many
> > people has to be a good thing. We now know that hundred of teenagers in
> > Frogtown (we think, many could be from far away) now have access our our
> > online community forum. (I've started looking at the "Insight"
> information
> > on users ... very interesting, lots of youth.)
> >
> > In Cedar Riverside I have had to bump up the pay per click to .50 to get
> it
> > out there enough to generate enough income for Facebook to run the ad.
> There
> > we have 310 "Likers" up 100 over the weekend.
> >
> > With our .05 ads for pages tied to our Digital Inclusion Network -
> > http://e-democracy.org/di - for example, clearly the price we set is
> > getting us lot of people in Indonesia (you can select up to 20 countries
> at
> > time).
> >
> > So my big question is - will getting into the "News" stream of perhaps
> > most? of the teens in Frogtown or Cedar Riverside (if sign-ups keep on
> going
> > up) result in their public participation or deliver local information via
> > youth to their parents? Hmmm.
> > Steven Clift
> > Ericsson, Minneapolis
> > Info about Steven Clift: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/stevenclift
> >
> > View all messages on this topic at:
> > http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/1M4ht5PqHbXj4gsKnzBwiY
> > -----------------------------------------
> > To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
> > Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
> > To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
> > in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
> >
> > More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood
> e-lists,
> > placeblogs, and community social nets:
> > http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
> >
> > E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules
> > -----------------------------------------
> > Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net
> >
> > Join Locals Online from:
> > http://e-democracy.org/locals
> > Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
> >
>
> Christoph Berendes
> Capitol Hill, SE, Washington
> Info about Christoph Berendes:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/50RnFNyWywRyxmc8zRqbeo
>
> View all messages on this topic at:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/5eee6GIxqeU7BOnAltNKrw
> -----------------------------------------
> To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
> Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
> in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
>
> More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood e-lists,
> placeblogs, and community social nets:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
>
> E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules
> -----------------------------------------
> Technical assistance thanks to our friends at http://OnlineGroups.Net
>
> Join Locals Online from:
> http://e-democracy.org/locals
> Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
>
>
Steve - Congrats. I joined<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=90938736285>/
liked <http://www.facebook.com/stpaulfrogtown> both Frogtown pages on FB and
am looking forward to becoming an Indonesian teen ;-)
Here's a strawman "marketing plan":
Goals of the "St. Paul Greater Frogtown Neighbors Forum" FB page (in rough
priority order):
For FB'ers who live in or near Frogtown who aren't e-democracy.org members:
1. to pull them into joining the Frogtown forum on e-democracy.org
2. to attract them to Frogtown forum face to face events
For FB'ers (like those teens in Indonesia and elsewhere) not near Frogtown:
3. ???? I could see using the wider community as a sounding board for big
issues (e.g. "how has your community dealt with youth unemployment, or the
encroachments of a mega-merchandiser?")
Any idea how many e-democracy.org Frogtowners have Facebook accounts?
You could leverage the overlappers by giving them content that makes it easy
for them to, in turn, put Frogtown e-democracy.org info in front of their
friends, such as weekly content summaries, the featured Frogtown "story of
the month", etc. (I could also see the FB feed being useful for Frogtowners
who are taking a break from 5-10 email messages a day, but still want to
keep a sense of the Frogtown pulse.)
I know nothing about Facebook
analytics<http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/06/08/facebook-improves-analytics-should-help-businesses-monetize>(see
also <http://www.delicious.com/berendes/facebook+analytics>), but my sense
is that you ought to be able to measure all the goals (1-3) above one way or
another.
Big issue, down the road: Facebook could draw energy from the e-democracy
forum, either members in general, or the forum manager that may, on balance,
not be worth it. It's important to think through how activity in Facebook
should relate to e-democracy.org forum activity, and from time to time
review what's actually happening
Also, down the road, you may want to experiment with a cross-cutting issues
page on FB, one that isn't geographically based. For instance, a FB fan page
on community building, where you could raise the question of
building/attracting
a community
newspaper<http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/stpaul-frogtown/messages/topic/2qTlDC8vy1TavYbC0MyKXE>,
and perhaps find out what other localities have done across the country.
(This is an expansion of goal #3).
Chris
On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 2:51 PM, Steven Clift <email obscured>> wrote:
> Another quick update ...
>
> Thanks to .05 a click ads this group's Facebook Page now has 660 friends.
> There might be lots of teens from Indonesia, but I am now convinced that
> this is something worth doing. (Actually, we are a hit in Indonesia it looks
> like.)
>
> While I still don't know what it really means in terms of forum
> use/value/engagement - that fact that 1175 people now "Like" the Frogtown
> forum means that post excerpts now show up in the News Feed of that many
> people has to be a good thing. We now know that hundred of teenagers in
> Frogtown (we think, many could be from far away) now have access our our
> online community forum. (I've started looking at the "Insight" information
> on users ... very interesting, lots of youth.)
>
> In Cedar Riverside I have had to bump up the pay per click to .50 to get it
> out there enough to generate enough income for Facebook to run the ad. There
> we have 310 "Likers" up 100 over the weekend.
>
> With our .05 ads for pages tied to our Digital Inclusion Network -
> http://e-democracy.org/di - for example, clearly the price we set is
> getting us lot of people in Indonesia (you can select up to 20 countries at
> time).
>
> So my big question is - will getting into the "News" stream of perhaps
> most? of the teens in Frogtown or Cedar Riverside (if sign-ups keep on going
> up) result in their public participation or deliver local information via
> youth to their parents? Hmmm.
> Steven Clift
> Ericsson, Minneapolis
> Info about Steven Clift: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/stevenclift
>
> View all messages on this topic at:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/1M4ht5PqHbXj4gsKnzBwiY
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>
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>
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>
Another quick update ...
Thanks to .05 a click ads this group's Facebook Page now has 660 friends. There
might be lots of teens from Indonesia, but I am now convinced that this is
something worth doing. (Actually, we are a hit in Indonesia it looks like.)
While I still don't know what it really means in terms of forum
use/value/engagement - that fact that 1175 people now "Like" the Frogtown forum
means that post excerpts now show up in the News Feed of that many people has
to be a good thing. We now know that hundred of teenagers in Frogtown (we
think, many could be from far away) now have access our our online community
forum. (I've started looking at the "Insight" information on users ... very
interesting, lots of youth.)
In Cedar Riverside I have had to bump up the pay per click to .50 to get it out
there enough to generate enough income for Facebook to run the ad. There we
have 310 "Likers" up 100 over the weekend.
With our .05 ads for pages tied to our Digital Inclusion Network -
http://e-democracy.org/di - for example, clearly the price we set is getting us
lot of people in Indonesia (you can select up to 20 countries at time).
So my big question is - will getting into the "News" stream of perhaps most? of
the teens in Frogtown or Cedar Riverside (if sign-ups keep on going up) result
in their public participation or deliver local information via youth to their
parents? Hmmm.
The Rochester Oral History Archive (ROHA) began last February.
http://www.oakland.edu/?id=12627&sid=333
Researchers at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, MI, use digital
recording devices to capture stories about places in the community and
events from older residents. These are stored on a site hosted by the
University. This fall, the University will make the recording of a local
history part of a freshman composition course. It also will meet some
community engagment criteria. They are interested in, eventually, making
this part of the freshman composition curiculum. It looks to me that, if
institutionalized, this could churn out an amazing amount of history into
the community.
On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 11:41 AM, Steven Clift <email obscured>>wrote:
> I presented a webinar yesterday sponsored by the Intergenerational
> Center at Temple - http://templecil.org
>
> A question came up and I pointed them to: http://www.communityalmanac.org
>
> A site built by OpenPlans.org with support from the Orton Family
> Foundation.
>
> I noted that in the UK we run into lots of local history sites like -
> http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk - but they don't seem to be as
> prevalent in the U.S..
>
> I also mentioned the idea of having a local Wikipedia day including
> local senior citizens to bolster the local content and history of that
> site.
>
> Perhaps I am wrong about the lack of collaborative U.S. local history
> sites ... anything notable in your communities?
>
> Steve
>
> Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
> Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org <http://e-democracy.org/>
> Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
> New Tel: +1.612.234.7072
>
> Steven Clift
> Ericsson, Minneapolis
> Info about Steven Clift: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/stevenclift
>
> View all messages on this topic at:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/4UzXy1uQHYjkW8YWkvR8TS
> -----------------------------------------
> To post, e-mail: <email obscured>
> Use "Reply-to-All" via e-mail to post publicly.
> To leave or for daily digest, type "unsubscribe" or "digest on"
> in subject, then send to: <email obscured>
>
> More information about Locals Online - For hosts of neighborhood e-lists,
> placeblogs, and community social nets:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/locals
>
> E-Democracy.Org rules: http://e-democracy.org/rules
> -----------------------------------------
> Technical assistance thanks to our friends at
http://OnlineGroups.Net<http://onlinegroups.net/>
>
> Join Locals Online from:
> http://e-democracy.org/locals
> Also follow via Twitter, Facebook, and Web Feed
>
I presented a webinar yesterday sponsored by the Intergenerational
Center at Temple - http://templecil.org
A question came up and I pointed them to: http://www.communityalmanac.org
A site built by OpenPlans.org with support from the Orton Family Foundation.
I noted that in the UK we run into lots of local history sites like -
http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk - but they don't seem to be as
prevalent in the U.S..
I also mentioned the idea of having a local Wikipedia day including
local senior citizens to bolster the local content and history of that
site.
Perhaps I am wrong about the lack of collaborative U.S. local history
sites ... anything notable in your communities?
Steve
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072