Julie Fanselow, who managed and wrote content for DemocracySpace until last September, recently wrote an article for the National Civic Review titled "Community Blogging: The Next Wave of Citizen Journalism. While Julie was writing on this blog, she viewed her job as helping individuals create online communities that would benefit their physical communities.
While some view blogs as self-promoting and narcissistic, Julie writes of the potential they have to foster democracy in local communities. In one community, Northfield, Minn., the blogger behind the blog Locally Grown brought to light activities of the local government that community members didn't know about. The blog also serves as a source of on-line organizing that leads to action.
As part of the anti-poverty program Horizons, rural communities scattered throughout the Northwest maintain blogs to keep the community updated on their efforts to address poverty through leadership training, dialogue-to-change efforts and visioning projects.
One of the recommendations from several community bloggers is to keep the blog fun, and to use lots of photos. (Notice the lack of photos in this post!) Through all of the activities within your community, there are bound to be loads of photos floating around! Photos certainly add visual interest to a blog.
All in all, blogging is fun, but it can also serve an important purpose in fostering democracy and helping communities work toward their goals.
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