According to their web site, E-Democracy uses online tools to support participation in public life, strengthen communities and build democracy. One of the tools they offer is community-based email lists. (They’re available on the web too.) They have done this for more than 15 years. Sometimes conversation on the lists gets heated around policy, sometimes it’s banal – but that’s life with your neighbors. I like best when conversation online makes a difference in the real world.

Recently Steve Clift, E-Democracy’s Executive Director, pulled together a list of examples where lists have made a mark in the real world. With his permission I am sharing his list as a Minnesota Broadband Story of Success. I know you don’t need broadband for email – but you do need a computer and a connection and many surveys have shown that for many households the computer is the barrier. Maybe engagement tools like these will help make a computer more appealing. It’s also worth noting that while these examples are taken from the Twin Cities, there are lists in rural Minnesota (and around the world) as well…

In Minneapolis’ Powderhorn Park, our Neighbors Issues Forum, led by volunteer Sara Bergen, connects about 15% of households everyday (500 forum members in an area with 3,400 household, 9,000 residents with a big urban park in the middle). The recent drive-by shooting of a teen girl and now the recent sexual assault in the park (two incidents, three victims by juvenile attackers) have been major topics of exchange. The Minneapolis Star Tribune picked up on a post from the sexual assault victim and it is now their most viewed news story. The powerful post from the “the ‘mother’ in the news” on the forum.

Her first person report is markedly different than the local media reporting rapes. There was also a on the planning for vigil on Dec 1 in the park. We didn’t create our forums narrowly in response to crime, but promoting safety is one huge benefit of well-functioning neighborhood forums.

Three other examples from just the last couple weeks:

1. In Nokomis East, a burglar is scared off by someone who cites the forum as alerting her to their methods:
   Post 3 – http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/3KlTBueeAzkN6NZ3f3c3tT
   Maps shared – http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/5Hwu9DnKPZbinm7t8AUkHA
2. In Standish Ericsson, someone tells of being a victim of burglary:
   http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/post/7BS0kpGZA211p9lVLwD2wc
   (Click arrow to see full post on web site)
3. In Seward, neighbors react to poor television news reporting on the safety of their community after a shooting:
   http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/4c6hfO7orXJvCWkMiVvva6

For those not familiar with the “Neighbors Online” movement, some 12+ million Americans adults participate in neighborhood e-mail lists/forums/social networks on top of those who visit place blogs. See Pew Internet numbers and my analysis:
http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/858

Our model is somewhat unique in that our forums are be designed “public” so as to attract as many people as possible via Google searches, we require real names (like Facebook but unlike most blog and online news commenters), and we have a city-wide forum where more political issues can rise to a larger more political audience. So, with the mother’s post, it is open and accessible for all to see including the local media. The Powderhorn forum has attracted nearly 50 new members to reach 500 in the last few days due to our intentional openness.