Venues such as NextDoor, FaceBook, and Twitter plus others, if any, enable
ongoing conversations. None of the eDem forums provide such in that one is
permitted one post per 12 hours. So eDem does not facilitate ongoing
discussion.
Sent from my iPad
John Ferman
Kingfield Neighborhood
Minneapolis, MN
ongoing conversations. None of the eDem forums provide such in that one is
permitted one post per 12 hours. So eDem does not facilitate ongoing
discussion.
Sent from my iPad
John Ferman
Kingfield Neighborhood
Minneapolis, MN
> On Jun 18, 2015, at 7:15 AM, Steven Clift <<email obscured>> wrote:
>
> This shock announcement about the city partnering with NextDoor just
> crossed my radar:
> http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/WCMS1P-142765
>
> Were any neighborhood associations, neighborhood newspapers, neighborhood
> Facebook Group leaders, etc. consulted about this?
>
> Were you???
>
> I can tell you that E-Democracy.org, the Minneapolis-based non-profit that
> connects over 10,000 local residents online, was not.
>
> Was there a public hearing on this? Should there have been (if not)?
>
> It is hard for me to imagine the city announcing a "partnership" with a
> local newspaper or website with local information without a sign-on effort
> open to every organization who loves connecting neighborhoods online.
>
> Using our tax dollars to intervene in the market on behalf of a company
> gearing up to extract local advertising revenue from our cherished
> neighborhood press is very surprising.
>
> I once met a NextDoor rep who commented that they were focusing their
> $200M+ in Silicon Valley venture funds on member growth. When I said that
> geo-targeted Facebook Ads may drive neighborhood press out business before
> they did, he replied, "Facebook can only target to the Zipcode." I don't
> think governments should be propping up the next hopeful Internet
> billionaire. Sorry.
>
> Some people may love the exclusive resident-only gated community aspect of
> NextDoor. Great, use them, but our city should definitely not pick a
> favorite. Honestly, many love the app feature and despite the civic flaws
> in their model, NextDoor is doing more good than evil.
>
> Other models embrace inclusion and openness including small business
> owners, local workers, neighborhood staff, our awesome civil servants in
> libraries, our parks, and in crime prevention, etc. ... so you can join
> Facebook Groups, E-Democracy neighbors forums, etc. ... and be welcomed as
> equal community members. Personally, I have no interest in living in a
> gated community - be it real or virtual. That's not Minneapolis.
>
> Any government endorsement of neighbors online should absolutely be
> non-exclusive and completely fair and balanced. BTW, we link to the many
> forums on different platforms likw Facebook here: http://beneighbors.org
>
> For an inclusive Minneapolis forever!
>
> Steven Clift
>
> P.S. I put in a request to my local council member for a meeting on this
> next week when I return from out of the country. I also Facebooked the
> Mayor asking to meet as well.
>
> If you'd like to join some kind of community meeting on how we restore
> digital fairness in community engagement in our awesome city, please drop
> me a note: <email obscured> clift (at) e-democracy.org
>
> P.S.S. Our awesome participant survey - http://bit.ly/edemsurveyresults -
> found that our members who were also on NextDoor were somewhat whiter,
> wealthier, and more likely to be homeowners than other members. Again
> NextDoor is a fine platform as a choice, but we also need the city to
> endorse more inclusive models that embrace their stated equity goals and
> suspend this announcement until it can be done right.
>
>
> Steven Clift
> Ericsson, Minneapolis
> About/contact Steven Clift: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/stevenclift1
>
>
> ββ
> View topic http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/6A6cBbcRi3x1ql1elHjNmE
> Leave group mailto:<email obscured>?Subject=Unsubscribe
>
> Join Your Neighbors
>
>
> * Exciting E-Democracy Neighbors Forum survey results:
> http://bit.ly/edemsurveyresults
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