Please Forward ->
* Do you help organize National Night Out on your block?
* Are you a social connector of your nearest neighbors?
* Are you interested in using online tools to better connect people on
your block or in your building?
* Would you like to better organize your block, be it for crime
prevention or to build social/community connections?
If you said yes to any of these, you are invited to join our new Block
Connectors online group.
As an existing E-Democracy, member, simply e-mail:
<email obscured>
In the SUBJECT, write just:
subscribe
For web participants and those new to E-Democracy.org, visit:
http://e-democracy.org/blocks
Share on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/NlgJI8
More details on this online group are available as well.
* Calling All Existing E-Block Leaders
Also, all around town there are isolated block/few block level online
groups on different platforms from YahooGroups to Facebook Groups to
someone who maintains a cc: or bcc: e-mail group. If you know of one,
please invite the leader of that "e-block" to join us. A big goal of
this group is to connect everyone who is already using e-tools on
their block so we can trade notes and help each other find and use
tools that work.
* St. Paul Electronic Block Club Pilots in 2013
Of special note to St. Paul is our plan for a one-two punch -
that combines our very *public* Neighbors Forums with
private block-level nearest neighbor online groups of under
100 households.
Private-only options for online neighbor connecting coming from
a number of new .com start-ups represent a blow to Minnesota's and
St. Paul's tradition of openness and inclusion. They are virtual
gated communities. That said, no one wants their interaction with their
truly nearest neighbors on their block or across the alley in Google.
Therefore, we seek to promote a hybrid public-private network and
hope to make connections between our 16 public forums across St.
Paul and the many individually hosted e-blocks that are wisely
resident-only and private that serve very small areas.
To date our public Neighbors Forums are now reaching nearly 25% of
households or over 1,000 people in some places daily (S. Minneapolis).
We are aware of some long-time YahooGroups and newer
Facebook groups with 80% of neighbors in a very concentrated
area. Unfortunately only handful of blocks in St. Paul have any
kind of automated online group and most of them do not appear
to serve many lower income areas or involve lots people of different races
and ethnicities in the same online group.
So we are seeking special blocks to pilot intensive in-person outreach
combined with a block gathering to demonstrate that all kinds of blocks
and people can benefit from nearest neighbor connecting online. We are
planning to test different technologies (including our own) based on local
leader interest. We will put out a call for demonstration blocks via:
http://e-democracy.org/blocks
Join us!
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org
* Do you help organize National Night Out on your block?
* Are you a social connector of your nearest neighbors?
* Are you interested in using online tools to better connect people on
your block or in your building?
* Would you like to better organize your block, be it for crime
prevention or to build social/community connections?
If you said yes to any of these, you are invited to join our new Block
Connectors online group.
As an existing E-Democracy, member, simply e-mail:
<email obscured>
In the SUBJECT, write just:
subscribe
For web participants and those new to E-Democracy.org, visit:
http://e-democracy.org/blocks
Share on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/NlgJI8
More details on this online group are available as well.
* Calling All Existing E-Block Leaders
Also, all around town there are isolated block/few block level online
groups on different platforms from YahooGroups to Facebook Groups to
someone who maintains a cc: or bcc: e-mail group. If you know of one,
please invite the leader of that "e-block" to join us. A big goal of
this group is to connect everyone who is already using e-tools on
their block so we can trade notes and help each other find and use
tools that work.
* St. Paul Electronic Block Club Pilots in 2013
Of special note to St. Paul is our plan for a one-two punch -
that combines our very *public* Neighbors Forums with
private block-level nearest neighbor online groups of under
100 households.
Private-only options for online neighbor connecting coming from
a number of new .com start-ups represent a blow to Minnesota's and
St. Paul's tradition of openness and inclusion. They are virtual
gated communities. That said, no one wants their interaction with their
truly nearest neighbors on their block or across the alley in Google.
Therefore, we seek to promote a hybrid public-private network and
hope to make connections between our 16 public forums across St.
Paul and the many individually hosted e-blocks that are wisely
resident-only and private that serve very small areas.
To date our public Neighbors Forums are now reaching nearly 25% of
households or over 1,000 people in some places daily (S. Minneapolis).
We are aware of some long-time YahooGroups and newer
Facebook groups with 80% of neighbors in a very concentrated
area. Unfortunately only handful of blocks in St. Paul have any
kind of automated online group and most of them do not appear
to serve many lower income areas or involve lots people of different races
and ethnicities in the same online group.
So we are seeking special blocks to pilot intensive in-person outreach
combined with a block gathering to demonstrate that all kinds of blocks
and people can benefit from nearest neighbor connecting online. We are
planning to test different technologies (including our own) based on local
leader interest. We will put out a call for demonstration blocks via:
http://e-democracy.org/blocks
Join us!
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org
