414.org - Want to Help Shape It?

[miltownkid]

A buddy of mine owns this domain and wants to do something with it now. We were thinking about making it into some kind of directory of "hotness" for Milwaukee because as far as I know one doesn't exist (perhaps that OnMilwaukee.com but I still haven't been able to figure that thing out... :P)

Anyhow we're not marketing folk. We're nerds that know how to put the thing together. We're bouncing around ideas about what kind of thing we should turn it into and I thought I would open it up to you all. It WILL be made into something and YOU could be a part of shaping it. :)

There's nothing at that site right now. Just a broken CMS.

[Steve]

i'm interested. let's talk more about it at spreenkler next week. we can open up a group discussion there too.

[Steve]

Casey - I think this could be cool, but definitely needs input from the group at our next Spreenkler meeting. I've got this as a discussion item on the agenda so we can learn more about what you guys are thinking.

[miltownkid]

Here's the software we're going to start testing [Dolphin 6 Smart Community Builder]

[Steve]

Not sure if this applies to what you might be thinking but I'll toss it out there for you. I just set up, though I haven't launched, a network for my actual community. I want to bring neighbors together by introducing themselves, sharing information and getting to know what their neighbors think is important to build a stronger community. What a great way to also discuss issues on taxes, schools, garbage pickup, park revitalization, new business development and more. As a part of the community, you could quickly organize a group and take action. Even more, your elected representative could be part of the online community and benefit from a direct connection to what is most important to his/her constituents.

I used ning to this (you can check it out at gardendistrict.ning.com) but ning is very social based, i.e. MySpace. If something could be tailored to be more community/neighborhood based, that would be super cool. There are many neighborhood associations who still depend on passing out flyers to get the word out on the neighborhood block party, easter egg hunt, or whatever.

Just some things to think about.

[Dan Knauss]

One the nabe associations using paper, that probably has to do with the older age of a lot of their members and the proliferation of online communication options that makes it hard to round up even those who use them. Some of your audience is on Facebook but not Twitter, some are on Twitter, some are on Ning... There is only one really universal interface or medium, and I don't know if that's because it has the longer history (BBSes, Usenet) or makes more sense to people who don't use computers a lot, but it's the forum format, and email lists. Simple reply threads. Forums that can be used via email and/or online seem to do really well for geographic and shared affinity niche audiences.

User buy-in is critical for whatever system you want them to use, and this will change over time, so you have to follow that, but it gets to be like herding cats. The really simple and versatile stuff, like twitter and facebook may end up becoming so widely used that you can count on reaching 90% of your neighbors that way.

Something like OpenSocial wouldn't solve this problem by itself because you need to be able to push information to people who want it but are in a variety of different networks--ning, facebook, whatever--and don't necessarily want to join every networks. Facebook might be the only single network that's widely used enough (in the US) to be good for more serious, grounded organizing and communication, but so far their pages and groups are fairly useless cripples.

I've been doing the kind of thing you are talking about at www.riverwestneighborhood.org for a few years and will eventually revamp using Joomla's social extensions, but if I had to start from zero now I'd use Drupal or Elgg--not Dolphin or Ning.

[blackrat]

This brings up a good point. Social networking sites have to survive in a very dynamic world and fall victim due to changing times (just like search engines in the past 10-15 years). It's king of the hill at the users expense (you have to register again, fill out forms, upload content and hope the site stays up). as you say...facebook and twitter could become depended upon...and they may shut down out of the blue. oops.

If there was a central site that held users of social networking sites' data, that could be pushed to multiple social networking sites, it would remove the task of having to go through a tedious process for every new site you joined (myspace, facebook, ning, etc). basically a central database that housed everyone's data (with standardized field names for all data collected: first name, last name, email, phone, images/media, rss feeds, and more). then the social networking sites could interface with that database to import data and auto populate their own sites templated pages for the users (the users could still customize look and feel based on that social networking sites capabilities). if you know anything about LDAP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol)...this is what im talking about it. actually...the LDAP protocol would work great for this. ; ) and you wouldn't necessarily need a central database then...you could specify the LDAP server (IP address) to query during your setup process at the social networking site of your choice where it would collect all your data on the fly (and you could run your own LDAP server if you knew how or pay someone to host it for you like paying to have your website hosted). perhaps some good hacker out there could create a protocol (like bit torrent) that was built for handling social networking users data in a secure and stable way for the long haul without the need for centralization.

i have setup joomla, dolphin and drupal (among others) and am a big fan of drupal. lots of flexibility, lots of plugins/extras, lots of docs, drupal ftw.

thanks for adding to the discussion dan.

[blackrat]

how about having part of the site be a local based craigslist type of LETSystem as well. taken right from the LETS faq:
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/lets-faq.html

Q.3 Why start a LETSystem?

When ordinary money is in short supply, needed community projects are put on indefinite hold, local businesses fail, people become unemployed, and individuals and families suffer, not because they have nothing to offer, or because they lack skills and abilities, but simply because there is not enough money to go around.

---------------------------------------------------------

money is definitely short around milwaukee (not to exclude the entire world with the same problem)...and we have alot of 'idle processors' that could be joined together to create a 'super cluster' community, much like distributed computing. everyone has something to offer their community. ;]

and by the way!! the CMS is NOT broken...its LOADING!! ;P haha.

[miltownkid]

HA! I actually tried starting a LETS in Taiwan and I know ALL about them. I've made a lot of contacts (around the globe via interweb communicating) in the area of LETS. This is already a part of my "master plan." :)

I would LOVE to see a LETS happen for the city of Milwaukee. My plan was to get one working for my neighborhood community (as a test) and then get it going on a larger scale once people saw a real working model of how cool they are. Perhaps the LETS is something that could be included from the jump.

[blackrat]

well the dolphin software has a 'Classifieds' module that would be easy to alter (have to double-check licensing but it is open source after all) to allow for a more LETS feel rather than a classifieds/craigslist type of setup.

its funny how possible this (this discussion and 414.org master plan) all is when you have the right resources available. ; ] LETS let that be a lesson to us! -- this is like a catch-22. we need our LETSystem built so we can find the right people to help build the system! (well spreenkler does seem to be holdin it down for now). someday...people will say:

"remember when we didn't have LETS? crazy!"

haha.

[Steve]

I think i understand the LETS idea but I'm going to check into it online to learn more. it sounds effective, useful and cool for the community that uses it. you definitely have the support of spreenkler. we've been looking for a project to bring in and grow.

[Steve]

we should make a list of all the things we can't find in the city. i bet they exist.

[blackrat]

do u mean like:

1. Milwaukee's Premier VooDoo Witch Dr.
2. The Miltown Alchemist
3. Shoe Repair (theres 1 in South Milwaukee haha)
4. Free Educational Resources (like free technical college for kids!)
5. Good Italian Food (know of any places?)
6. Quality Martial Arts instruction! (all the 'real deals' hide in parks - they NOT in the yellow pages thats for sure)
7. A house made out of bottlecaps
8. my dignity

peace out!