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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