Neighborhood Forums Online
description
Transcript of Neighborhood Forums Online
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Neighborhood ForumsOnline
Creating inclusive neighborhood forums – grant proposal update
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Agenda
• 1. Meet and Greet• 2. Quick Overview
– Digital Justice Grant, securing community partners – Kris Nelson
• 3. Small Groups – What is your vision of inclusive neighborhood forums online?
• 4. Report Back – Creating “our” vision
• 5. Outreach Interviews to Diverse Communities – Mahi Palanisami
• 6. Presentation – Learning from the best forums, what’s next – Steven Clift
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Quick Overview
• Digital Justice Grant• Drafting in progress• Gathering input• Seeking commitments for community
partners
• See: http://e-democracy.org/nf
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Small Group Questions
• 1. What words come to mind when you hear “neighborhood forum online”?
• 2. How might you or those you know use such a forum?
• 3. What would make a neighborhood forum attractive or useful to immigrants, low income residents, or communities of color?
• 4. What is your small groups vision for a successful and inclusive neighborhood forum? – To present
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Outreach Interviews
• Online survey ~45 responses• Contact list developed, 40 people -
emphasis on immigrant produced digital content and Internet access or training centers reaching low income– Invited to this meeting and …– Up to 10 in-person interviews on proposal/idea
of neighborhood forums
• Interview highlights from diverse communities
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Learning from leading online neighborhood forums?
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What are neighborhood forums online?
• Based on geographic placewhere people live
Source: Cleveland-Park, DC NHood Forum
Source: Highland Park Community, Pittsburg
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How do they work?
• E-mail discussion lists mostly• Some web forums
• E-mail newsletters are not forums, good starting point
• Most failed forums lack participation, e-mail is key for success
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Visualizing neighborhood
forums
City Hall
“SecondaryNetworks”
e-mail forwards NHood Org
PersonalNetworks
Local MediaCoverage
Librarian
NHood Paper
Art
s G
roup
City Councilor
Neighbor #2
Local Biz
Nei
ghbo
r #1
City Staff
Neighborhood Leader
Renter
Forum M
anager
Neighb
or #2
00Po
lice
Neighbors
NHood Forum
GroupServer e-mails posts
web view
Subscribe onceCommitment securedPost via e-mail/web
New Resident
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Examples
• Two major varieties– Neighborhood “life” - larger
• includes coffee shop bulletin board style announcements
• “who can recommend a good local plumber?”• along with “my house was broken into last night” and
local development/involvement discussions
– Neighborhood organization agenda/politics• “charter” restricted to more formal neighborhood
planning and development issues
– Our vision - Local “charters” can say what is in/out and blend models as desired
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Cleveland Park, DC
• Format: YahooGroups• Members: 4400+• Posts: ~20/day• Recent topics (24 hours):
– Coin sorting bank– Mover recommendations– Volunteer request– Tutors– New deli review– Local candidates– Road work update– Bus public safety incident– Mugging prevention– Curfew questions
• Notes:
The largest and most active neighborhood forum in the world.
Acts like a combination of Craigslist, Freecycle, and an E-Democracy style “Issues Forum”
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Highland Park, Pittsburg
• Format: Mailman E-mail List• Members: Not sure• Posts: ~100 posts/month• Recent topics:
– Stuff for sale– Cleaning help– Burglary update– Plumber– Car windows smashed– Jazz event– Found keys– Looking for daycare– Suicide prevention speaker
• Notes: Good charter, “Messages must be about Highland Park, including its residents, organizations, businesses, and the park; or of specific interest to its residents, including issues relating to surrounding/connected communities such as the redevelopment in East Liberty.”
– Explains volunteer forum management process
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Dimond NHood, Oakland
• Format: Web Forum (PHPBB)
• Members: 107 registered• Posts: Lower volume, can
see “views”• Recent topics:
– Neighborhood events– NHood Meeting Agenda– NHood super clean-up– Earth Day photos– Local elementary schools
• Notes: Shows web forum format. They also host e-mail list. When registered can see what’s new to you.
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Lessons from others
• Extremely local aspects of Craigslist, Freecyle– Nhoods are more
green-friendly, local economy boosting
– Donation/pledge idea to local community groups
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Start One
• 1. You – A leader• 2. Team – 2 – 5 people in the
neighborhood to help promote• 3. Charter – What’s in/out of scope• 4. Technology – Set up on
http://forums.e-democracy.org – “open source” GroupServer tool
combines e-mail list and web forums
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Start One
• 5. Partners – Formal/Informal– Diverse community groups,
neighborhood associations, etc.• 6. Promotion - Online• 7. Recruitment – In-person, 1 by 1• 8. Outreach – Group by group• 9. OPEN with 100+ founding
members• 10. Facilitate - Seed, feed and weed
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GroupServer – E-mail/web
• Easy to find – Next to Mpls Issues
Forum, other Nhoods
• E-mail or web- your choice
• Technology enhancements – Share through open source – Proposal to add “Publicness” options
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Sample Forum
Entering reply here
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Sample Forum – E-mail View
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Grant Drafting - Edit this page
• We are using a wiki to collaboratively edit our grant proposal – join us.
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What’s Next
• Secure community partner commitments
• Finalize “Digital Justice” ~30-40K grant proposal – Coming weeks
• Explore more grant opportunities• Start forums now where volunteers
step forward• See: http://e-democracy.org/nf