In my societal commentary,”Orion … A Feline Metaphor for Hybrid Governance,” I proposed a hybrid type of governance as alternative to our current political malaise and civic ineptitude. At the center of this hybrid is the Community 3.0 Front Porch civic network. A Front Porch can be the local pub down the street or the coffee-house you get your morning the espresso from. It can be Bill’s garage where everyone hangs out to watch Sunday football games. It can even be your kitchen table. What happens on the Front Porch is what matters … not what it looks like or where it is.
The Front Porch’s purpose is to identify Solutions, whether they be in response of needs or opportunities. These Solutions are designed to help the community pick up the slack and mend their societal safety net. They can range from organizing a cleanup effort, to fixing a playground, to even spearheading a high school mentoring or apprentice program.
To get a more full understanding of the Community 3.0 Front Porch concept, please read the post, “Front Porches.“
As a part of the Community 3.0 platform we’ve put together a roster of several examples of what can come of collaborations in your community’s Front Porches. Imagine, take direct action … and this could be your community.
One of these examples is “Label the Town.”
Community Landmark QR-Code Labeling
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How much do you know about your town or your even your neighborhood; and how much do your kids know? What do you know about that bridge you drive over everyday, back and forth to work – or that old building at the end of Main Street? Imagine if you knew “everything” about where you lived. Imagine if your children did too.
“Label the town” is a Community 3.0 program designed to energize a community by telling them all about where they live. Through a cross generational effort, school students get an opportunity to interview your town’s “old timers” about the places they take for granted. With this information, the younger generations will create an informational blog containing the community’s historical “places of interest.” The individual entries will be able to be accessed via QR codes mounted on the building, bridge, park, etc. Imagine the tourist interest, as well the learning and cross-generational possibilities for your town’s residents. Through the program “Label the Town” we hope to accomplish the following:
- spur interest by the youth in the community and how it came to be what is
- create a sense of ownership in the community by all residents no matter what age through local knowledge and education
- create cross-generation rapport amongst the youth and the older generations of their grandparents age
- create a community “sense of pride” through knowledge all that is good and unique on their streets and in their neighborhoods
Whether you are a teacher, a student or even just a community member – we need your help. We need the older generations to provide wealth of knowledge to fill in the gaps that written archive material may not be able to do. We need them to provide an account of their experiences that ultimately created the tapestry of your community.
We need to the teachers to be the organizers, the conduits. And plus, the teachers can incorporate the knowledge of the community into their daily lessons as well as shepherd along the students to actually do the research. And most of all we need the youth of your community. For it’s the youth that will do the leg work and make “Label the Town” a reality. They are also the ones that have most to gain. Through their efforts they will see where they really live. They will see it’s more than just a Wal-Mart or a McDonalds. They will see the history of your community and hopefully will wish to continue making that history themselves for generations to come.
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Please help us and join the Community 3.0 “Label the Town” project. Help us create a foundation for which our communities can build on in their quest for self-sustainability and well-being. No matter what role you wish to play; whether it’s directly in your community or you’re someone who wants to lend your experience and expertise to us in devising network-wide programs … we welcome you.
To get a more full understanding of the Community 3.0 Front Porch concept, please read the post, “Front Porches.” Also please follow us on Twitter at @Community3_0, and check out the main 3.0 web site.
And when you’re ready – please comment below, tell us who you are and how you think you can better the 3.0 community.
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Community 3.0 Solutions:
- “Label the Town” ~ Community “places of interest” labeling
- “Pretty Pictures on the Wall” ~ Amateur art showings
- “Is it Art” ~ Vacant area art projects: art, music, theatrical
- “Showing our Stuff” ~ Street fairs
- “Recess Time” ~ Playground restoration
- “Help Me … I’m Dirty” ~ Public and private space clean-up
- “Stop and Smell the Roses” ~ Public and private space beautification
- “Fixing the Neighborhood” ~ Neighborhood renewal and repair
- “Hey … We Need Some Help Over Here” ~ “On-demand” help services
- “Apollo 13 … Please Come Home” ~ “Resource Maximization”
- “Pop-up Community” ~ Vacant building resource maximization
- “I’m Not Alone Anymore” ~ Elderly / shut-in well-being assistance
- “Get Out of the House” ~ Adult athletic and intelligence leagues
- “Love Comes From the Ground” ~ Gardens and farmers markets
- “Play Ball” ~ Youth sports and intelligence leagues
- “Getting Up to Speed” ~ Student tutoring
- “This is What I Think … ” ~ Youth writing project
- “Making the Transition” ~ Apprenticeships and post school transition
- “Leadership 2020 Anti-Congress” ~ Student assembly
