Columbia Citizens

Thank you, Scott, for getting this publicly-shared wiki started, and for nurturing its growth.

I am also aware of a semi-active Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColumbiaCitizens/ . Then I also learned of a private email list that an active neighbor named Marj manages. Those are more good examples of positive grass-roots organizing.

Can someone explain the relationship between them all? Is there a hope to consolidate all three? What's the conversation like between the people who actually have ownership?

I suppose that "ownership" is a bad word to use. Anyone who reads this post or is a participant in any of these efforts probably feels some sort of "ownership" of the grass-roots organizing. As well they should! I guess I should say "What's the conversation like between the people who actually have "admin powers" to those efforts?

Or, is it a secret?
:-)

This is a great conversation that I’ve had with a few people already.

Short answer: I know and appreciate Marj and I know the folks who organized some of the neighborhood email groups. There aren’t any secrets — and free-flow of neighborhood information is the main reason that each one exists in the first place.

Long answer: I think listservs and wikis do different things. The yahoogroup format seems to work well, especially for messages targeted to certain interest groups: neighbor activists, the business associations, etc. It's good for alerts, when information is time-sensitive. It's also good for just dialogue. Yahoogroups don't seem to work quite as well when the group grows or diversifies to the point when many of the messages are irrelevant, or when there's just too much volume. Spam can sometimes be a problem. It's also a clumsy way for several people to collaborate, because everyone gets everyone's input in installments, which can be tough to parse through.

Columbia Citizens provides an online place for any one project or discussion. In a wiki, we can create and update content as if it were in a studio or anyplace where people can design together. The Citizens' Wikli is a good example of a collaborative wiki-project. In a listserv, the ideas can be more like so many ping pong balls bouncing every which way between people — difficult to focus and to form. Unlike a listserv, Columbia Citizens makes it easier for neighbors to casually find content — sometimes months old but still relevant — and to take stock of a work in progress. They can just visit and don't have to sign up to look or to participate.

Columbia Citizens is generally less email-intensive (except when it’s ginning up Wikli interest), which means people have to find their way to each topic, and they need to keep checking in. Wikis aren't as familiar as email. For some people, Columbia Citizens could be more engaging than a listserv, but it can also be more anonymous. Wikis aren’t prone to abuse and tampering, because any changes are pretty easy to wipe away before they get wide readership. Edits in a wiki might be more contentious and frustrating: heck, everyone's a critic, and this could be a critic's free-for-all. So the pros and cons are different.

I think it's possible for the various lists and tools to work together. Any group can talk through its listserv and work together in Columbia Citizens when that format works better. Columbia Citizens has a directory of local email groups out there. If we want this wiki to behave a little more like a listserv, I think I can also figure out how to set up straightforward RSS feeds, which would let people select wiki pages that interest them and receive updates when people make edits.

From: "Marjorie Raunig"
Date: November 3, 2007 4:43:58 PM PDT
To: Jenn
Subject: Re: the wiki, Yahoo group, email list, etc.

The e-mail group that Marj (that's me) "manages" is a block watch alert list. If a neighbor is the victim of a crime, or sees something or someone suspicious, he or she e-mails me and I, in turn, send it out to the n'hood list as well as to our Community Police Team and Crime Prevention Coordinator when appropriate. The purpose is to make us all more alert to crime and safety issues in the n'hood and, consequently, to have a safer neighborhood.

The geographic location is primarily Columbia Heights (42nd to 50th, and Alaska to Dawson), but there are a few people on the list outside of that area. There is no relationship between that list and the others you refer to, other than many people are on both.

I tried to post this to the wiki but was unsuccessful. Feel free to post it if you like!

Marj