Posts

Here are a few interesting links to articles and media discussing the topics.  I really have to spend more time with these things, so i want to do the analysis  part tomorrow.  I have some thoughts about the topic, some feelings, but I want to finish reading what Colin put up in combination with the stuff I have found.

I just am still hesitant about this.  I am hesitant about the amount of people, and I may be underestimating it here, who are deeply interested in what is going on locally.  I recall a few years ago, I am still trying to find the article and the website if they are still floating around, when local blogging became popular.  One of the first instances I can recall of came in the form of a blog centered around Brooklyn-Park Slope to be exact.  The new age hipsters began a blog about all the “goings on” in their local area and the New York Times ran an article which was essentially shocked at the idea that this had potential.

Must find article.

But in the meantime, I have found the following things:

A podcast from the BBC.

A really well done hyperlocal blog for a very specific neighborhood in Seattle.  This is very slick, not cluttered, and well done.  Information is spread out nicely, things are linked to internally, and I think overall a model of success for up and coming blogs.

Top Ten women back in April of 2009 who are changing the field.  Some good internal links in this I suggest.  A blogger in CT, urbancompass.com, made the list!

Good interview with one of the best known and perhaps more influential of the hyperlocal bloggers.

Oh Wall Street Journal circa 2008!

Well it seems if I were to start my own local blog, perhaps about Waterbury, heck can I start a local blog about my work office?  I think that would be pretty damn fun.  I could create the first Trinity Commons blog about my work place.  There might be two or three places people in this building interested in what I have to say.  I can see some of the popular headlines now:

New pictures mounted to our walls!

Do you drink from the water fountain? 

Who keeps leaving their food in the mini fridge?

15 ways to keep your office flu free.

Did you see that student in the dress?  Yikes!

UPDATE:  The microwave is still broken!

Why is there a mousetrap in the woman’s bathroom?

10 Ways to beat the office blues! (here I would ask my followers to participate)

Would my blog make it big?  Maybe I could get my very own Newsweek article.  I think it has potential.  Maybe I could call my blog the Trinity Commons Corner and have a cute little picture of like the Bantam lost in my hallway, then every so often take new pictures.  He could be my blog mascot.  Maybe I could have a naming contest to get more traffic to my blog.  And I would definitely start here, using these tips on how to get this thing off the ground. 

Then, when I snagged hundreds of thousands of alumae, I keep it fresh.

No, seriously, seems like a pretty sweet deal this kid has managed to score from using Twitter.

Tuesday, November 3^rd, proved not to be an interesting day because of anything to do with the outcome of the Waterbury election (which came out as expected).  Instead the really fun thing happened outside of the polls, exactly 75 feet away from the voting booths.

Because people who were involved in the campaign were present during the events, people who eventually became elected later in that evening were involved, I am not going to use any names of actual descriptions.  This blog is still searchable on Google and other engines and really in all fairness, I don’t want to create any problems by using names.  I hope that is understandable.  If not, well, I still won’t change my mind. 

Having moved from Naugatuck to Waterbury and neglecting to register in my new town to vote, I was unable to participate in the actual election.  However, I did spend my afternoon handing out campaign literature and talking to voters last minute outside the polls in Waterbury for the current Mayor (and newly re-elected!). 

One of the many rights of voting passage is that the voters must cross the gaggle of individuals supporting all the different candidates and parties (sometimes the candidates are there shaking hands too) in order to get to the polls.  We stand there with welcoming, warm smiles and materials just waiting to be passed off to you as you walk by.  Sometimes a person running for office will be there and before you get out of your car door, he or she will be standing right there to shake your hand, tell you how much they appreciate your vote and what a fine job they will do.  We remind you of what the individuals running for re-election have done to help the community. 

Yesterday, standing outside one of the polling places in Waterbury, I was such a person.  For three hours in the afternoon I stood behind the coned off area smiling and handing out reminders for a last minute nudge towards my candidate.  With me were fellow Democrats, a few men running for Alderman on the Democratic ticket, a Republican, and a very grouchy Independent.  The law is that you are not allowed to, within 75 feet of the voting booths, be handing out campaign materials, do last minute soliciting, or even appear to have a party or candidate affiliation.  That is the neutral zone.   Maybe you can step over it quickly if you see a friend to give a brief hug or hand shake.  However, you really can’t stand in the middle of it for a long period of time.  You cross over a minute if you need to sidestep someone to get to a different location.

When I arrived yesterday I was alerted to the fact that the grouchiest of all the people there had been having some issues with the other people standing around.  He had been taking pictures and video of workers crossing over for a moment or standing near the cones.  He called several times (enough times for a person to say, really? Oh come on!) downtown and eventually made someone come up to see what all the commotion was about.  This made the recipients of this very unhappy.  They began to tease him by going near the cones.  Cracking jokes under their breath.  While I was there I witnessed the retaliation by people now taking pictures of this man when he accidentally stepped over the line or wandered near it.  At one point the grouch called one of the Democratic supporters “vulgar” and that it was “so vulgar to see the way he treated the process and law that day”.  For my part, well, I cracked a very large and sarcastic joke involving the word “corpulent” that got a lot of people laughing.

Joking aside, this was a serious set of circumstances because if there had been a real breach of law, there would have been major consequences.  While this really wasn’t the case, it was a bit of an odd experience. 

The rest of the afternoon went well enough.  Late on at headquarters, as the tallies came in, people cheered, applauded, puffed up with pride and excitement.  The mayor was re-elected by a 3-1 margin. 

All that was left to do was hang around, eat, and talk.  A good days work had been done.

I really think this speaks to what we are talking about in class today and the Shirky book.  This was first presented at TED and she gives a presentation about the internet helping to promote intimacy instead of shredding it.

Here is more interesting stuff.

I found this to be a really interesting, well-written, and thought provoking post on Shirky's blog.

I will not give an introduction or summary, hoping you will go on your own.