January 20, 2007
There need to be more very local community-oriented blogs.
Any distinct neighborhood or area in Richmond can benefit from a neighborhood news blog. I've been running Church Hill People's News for almost 2 1/2 years now and I've seen some really interesting things happen. Neighbors have come together over a rash of problems with stray dogs, a series of robberies this past summer, and the most recent election. We have been able recognize accomplishments and draw single events into a bigger picture.
There have been a recent spate of new neighborhood Yahoo groups springing up various neighborhoods in Richmond (Carver, Carytown, Fulton Hill, Highland Park, Jackson Ward, Manchester, Shockoe Bottom, The Fan, and Church Hill). This can definitely be a good thing, as this provides another and new way for information to be shared. In their speed, informality, and lack of heirarchy, these email lists can be the most immediate and open source of online information on a topic. These don't offer all that a neighbood-oriented blog can provide, however.
I would love to see a neighborhood news blog for each of those area, too. A hoodblog can serve to provide a more broad ongoing record of the events important to a neighborhood. While immediacy is a great strength of the email group, there isn't much in the way of available historical context (for example). A related facet is the level of access available to a website rather than an email list. I've heard from a number of folks new to the area that they found chpn while researching their move. Finding the site in turn led some of them to the Flickr group for the area. And, blogs can feed out to local blog aggregators such as RVAblogs.
Personally, I would like to be able to check in every once in a while with what is going in the other downtown neighborhoods. If anyone out there is interested in setting up something for your area, I would be glad to offer any help that I can.
Posted at January 20, 2007 11:12 AM
Comments
hey, i agree... i would love to do something like what you do for the museum distict/carytown area... hit me up on my email, maybe you can point me in the right direction
Posted by: J in Ric at January 20, 2007 12:05 PM
J,
There are a few things to consider that I think I've learned from running chpn:
The first is whether or not you want to get a domain name and have the site hosted somewhere, or set op a free blogger site or the like. I host chpn.net at http://www.ipowerweb.com and it is a little less than $99/year. First, this gives me the ability to have an @chpn.net email address and my own URL. This serves to differentiate the site from 'mere' blogs lets me front as something akin to 'real media' when it is convenient. Second, this gives the space to add on other pieces to the blog core, like the crime map, classifieds, banner ads, business/churches/organization/etc directory, subscription list and the calendar of events. Even with a smallish business community, I am able to cover my yearly cost by selling $5 banner ads.
The second is how to get the content for the site. I have a group of local news sites and email groups that I check every day for related news. This was a lot of my content at first, though now a decent percentage of the site content come from people sending me ideas or stories.
The third is how much of a publisher's voice to put into the site && how much transparency to have. I try to stay neutral and minimal, in order to let folks have their say. I have had to delete a few comments, though, and at that time I felt like I had to explain what I had done and why. It is also important, I think, to have an 'About' page that explains who is behind the site and why you are running the site. This gives you credibility and clear foundation to act upon.
If you decide to set something up, I would be glad to donate any of my code & tech support that you would like to use. You could have something up in a matter of hours... Let me know what I can do to help.
Posted by: john m at January 20, 2007 2:13 PM
Oh - and get the word out in some kind of non-online way. I made small flyers and put them in the coffeeshops up here and that seemed to work.
Posted by: john m at January 20, 2007 2:16 PM
Also, if possible, put out a call for other folks that are interested before you get too far along.
Posted by: john m at January 20, 2007 7:07 PM
I started a neighborhood Yahoo group a while ago. Like 4 or 5 years ago.
The difference between it and a blog is that its more restricted to neighbors talking amongst themselves.
I agree a blog would be more publicly useful- but don't you get tired of maintaining it?
Posted by: Scott Burger at January 21, 2007 7:30 PM
Scott -- Not really. I'm kind of ravenous for information anyway, so it is what I do. When I'm flipping through local news sites, if I see something appropriate for the site then I just make a post. It takes a few minutes extra a day, but not much more.
Plus, the community feedback has been tremendously positive. I feel like what I am able to keep together is a worthwhile record. I also think about how cool it would be to have something like 10 or 15 years of this kind of on-the-ground running record available.
Posted by: john m at January 21, 2007 8:14 PM
I've actually been planning something very similar for the Forest Hill corridor ever since moving over here in August (name picked out, domain tentatively reserved, rough logo/graphics created), but things like leaky gutters, dying automobiles and 60-hour workweeks have put it on the back burner.
One of these days...
Posted by: BGW at January 21, 2007 10:22 PM
What you are talking about is fairly similar to what I'm working to accomplish at RivaCity.com. I'm creating a forum where neighborhood associations, advocacy organizations, clubs, and citizens can gather to freely exchange ideas and information. The software I'm using is capable of handling RSS feeds though none of the neighborhood groups I'm aware of offer that yet. What I really need to be working on right now is spreading the word about the site which I haven't been doing enough of. Please feel free to visit and let me know what you think! Comments can be made in the forums or you can send me an email at webmaster@rivacity.com.
Posted by: Jeff E. at January 23, 2007 10:53 AM
Actually, I'm not talking about anything like that site.
I'm saying that the neighborhoods could each support their own neighborhood specific site, with a unique and specific voice and look & feel. THe idea is to have something that is focussed on a specific neighborhood or area, something super-local. On those points, RivaCity looks like it is trying to be a city-wide site, and lacks any more of a specific geographic niche. And while the BBS/forum is an useful environment for augmenting an online community, it does necessarily work as a structure for disseminating credible news
And, the site is both annonymously run *and* is something that you have to join to contribute to.
But this is just my $.02.
Posted by: john m at January 23, 2007 5:09 PM
Not certain how having to register can be considered a detriment to the site considering it costs nothing. From my experience anyway anonymous posting only serves to attract flamers.
As far as my site is concerned, I want to offer groups their own individual forums, calendars, webpages etc... So they still have their unique identity but at the same time they are easily accessed by others interested in city-wide or neighborhood oriented issues. To have these groups scattered across the internet on gigantic sites like blogger and myspace seems counter-productive. Apparently I'm having a hard time communicating that idea though ;)
Posted by: Jeff E. at January 23, 2007 5:24 PM
Allowing anonymous posting in a relative civilized environment that has some oversite can be very benefitial. On chpn, we've folks post from inside the police, city hall, and the schools.
I see RVA Blogs as offering that access, or some future aggregator that will come once more local-centric site have been put together.
Having a site on blogger or whatever is neither here nor there. Some of the city's best blogs (eg River City Rapids) are on hosted services. They are hardly inaccessible or difficult to find.
I see what you are tying to do, but I think that the lack of a more specific focus will make getting much traction difficult. You know what would work well as a focus? Something like 'Sports' -- a region-wide site with info and stories and a calendar and forums for local sports of all stripes. This minimal focus would be al that you'd need, and it is an audiance that isn't really being served. (and I bet that there could be some $$ in it, too)
Posted by: john m at January 23, 2007 5:42 PM