At ThisOldNeighborhood.Net - our goal is to bring neighbors together to reimagine & redevelop our neighborhoods. To organize town meetings, at the subdivision level, that become working groups, that become construction projects to rebuild our homes, landscape, and utilities.
The challenge is how to build community in a time where many of us don’t know our neighbors, much less work together. To channel the energy that goes in to volunteer service days, crisis response, building houses with Habitat for Humanity (or cities in the dessert at Burning Man), campaigning for a political candidate.
I’ve been taken by the new spate of online “campfires,” organized on Zoom, and on the mega-zooms that have brought so many new volunteers to the Harris Campaign (“White Dudes for Harris”) - reminiscent of Sam Adams calling a Town Meeting in Boston.. and the next thing you know, we have a new country.
So, I put it to you: What would get you to the “electronic table?” What processes have you been part of? How might you bring your friends, neighbors, and colleagues into the discussion? Consider this a call to Town Meeting to discuss the question of “How Do We Rebuild our Neighborhoods for a New Millenium?” Please jump in with your comments, ideas, questions you’d like to discuss with your neighbors, visions & ventures that you’d like to promote for your communities.
For me, the “electronic table” (zoom-like gatherings) still needs to be of a size that doesn’t overwhelm but is still engaging to participate in.
This typically means between 4 and 12 people… a number that could fit comfortably around a large living room or library table.
So I am a fan of the QiqoChat platform. It allows one “very large” group to easily and quickly subdivide into subgroups that can be organized randomly or not — and along any particular focus point for the discussion.
One last point here is that I also see value in a post-event survey that helps to link the different group insights together. I can talk more about that if anyone is interested.
For me, the “electronic table” (zoom-like gatherings) still needs to be of a size that doesn’t overwhelm but is still engaging to participate in.
This typically means between 4 and 12 people… a number that could fit comfortably around a large living room or library table.
So I am a fan of the QiqoChat platform. It allows one “very large” group to easily and quickly subdivide into subgroups that can be organized randomly or not — and along any particular focus point for the discussion.
One last point here is that I also see value in a post-event survey that helps to link the different group insights together. I can talk more about that if anyone is interested.
Thanks for this opportunity to post my comment.
-John Spady, Seattle