A Community Blog Gets Some Press
One of the community sites we watch is Northfield.org, which chronicles what’s happening in Northfield, Minnesota. We watch it because Griff Wigley, our technical guru and civic organizing consultant, is the mastermind behind it and because it is innovative.
Today it got touted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune (registration required) in a story about a how a local cop has been using a listserv tied into Northfield.org. The story begins:
Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith, a self-described techie and believer that “police kind of belong to the community,” has found a way to combine those traits in an Internet-based discussion with Northfield residents. Smith is training at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va. But evenings in his dorm room the past two weeks, he addressed questions and comments posed in the Northfield Issues e-mail discussion list.
Participating in the list has been a good opportunity to connect with residents, get feedback, and explain police matters in greater detail than usual, Smith said.
