Weblogs: A Dynamic, Sustainable Form of Community-Building - Lacey Graves. This is the html version of the file WORDfile! http://lay-c.com/log/DGI_LGraves_2003_3.doc.
... provide human resources (to fuel collaborative endeavors), emotional support, and in general, inspiration—qualities that are not only present but also that are necessary in all sustainable and vibrant communities. For a group of webloggers in Chicago, this is how No East, Escaperail and Gaper’s Block came into being.
The online magazine that is known as No East is a collaborative webzine for Chicago webloggers that is produced, ideally, several times a year. No East was begun to harness the creative potential of a group of people, in this case Chicago webloggers. Fine artists, programmers, creative visionaries, writers, musicians and students all have weblogs and yet, individually, may be unable to produce a multifaceted publication indicative of the city in which they live. These individuals magnify each other’s talents and have collaborated on a project that has surpassed previous expectations. On a really good day, my personal website, lay-c.com, might receive 250 unique visitors; but on the launch day of an issue of No East, seven or eight hundred visitors routinely log on.
{ No East Magazine Chicago IL } NO-EAST IS A WEB-BASED MAGAZINE, PUBLISHED QUARTERLY FROM CHICAGO IL USA. IT ISFREEFORM, OF SORTS, AND ENCOURAGES THOSE TO DO WHAT THEY DO BEST WITH WHAT ... www.no-east.com/_issues/02/core.html -
The story of the “Chicagobloggers” began officially in January of 2002 (with the formation of the original Yahoo! Group), though its roots dig deep into the Metafilter archives. Initially, there was a trickle of communicative emails between the owners of weblogs based in the Chicago area. These individuals discovered—and continue to discover—each other in different ways: word of mouth, search engine results, referral statistics and other websites, to name a few. Soon, the network of Chicago weblog-type websites grew from just a handful of sites to dozens warranting a social event. A contingent of about fifteen people met for bowling in January of 2002 and we discovered our numerous similarities and interests and developed friendships. Following the bowling event at a nearby restaurant our conversation drifted almost immediately from amazement at the incredible amount of similarities we shared into taking action.
We talked about possible group endeavors such as an online webzine and/or a neighborhood server we could share. We talked about clients, our jobs, and our vision for the community. We shared our thoughts on the lagging understanding and underestimation of the web and weblogging. We chatted, we laughed, we shook hands, we started a Yahoo! Group, and have since grown from the original twelve to close to 150 members. There are programmers in all languages, designers, students, entrepreneurs, writers, photographers, teachers, activists and artists among our ranks—and our “community” continues to diversify and to grow.
The Need for a New Kind of Community
Blogs have stirred up the interest and creativity of a population starved for interaction, connectivity and action driven by their contemporary interests and talents. They allow people the comfort of solidarity and, when wanted, anonymity, faceless and nameless interaction, and reciprocal feedback from people with similar interests. The medium of weblogging is a powerful example of the kind of integral contact that individuals seek when building a community, whether or not they intend to do so. These nascent communities thrive on new information and are hotbeds of creativity, spawning projects such as No East and Fertile Field. While many are seeking something—whether it is Faith, purpose, or meaning in life—others have found mediums capable of compassion and stimulation: all things needed to grow creative, exciting and vibrant communities.