Local Communities in the Cloud

The internet makes it possible for someone writing from their home to be read anywhere in the world. It's easy to get caught up thinking about the global implications of this, to focus on the online communities made up of residents from many different parts of the planet. Something I have to admit I overlooked for a long time was the ability of the web to enhance our local experience.

Last May Gawker's Ryan Tate wrote this post about the level of scrutiny local politicians have found themselves facing from a combination of amateur and professional bloggers.

I often found that bloggers were the only other writers in the room at certain city council committee meetings and at certain community events. They tended to be the sort of persistently-involved residents newspapermen often refer to as "gadflies" — deeply, obsessively concerned about issues large and infinitesimal in the communities where they lived.

Tate went on to link to a number of articles where the impact of these local "gadflies" was chronicled.

Here in DC there is a vibrant community of local bloggers, from the more professional DCist (part of the Gothamist empire) to blogs focused on particular neighborhoods or subjects, there is a lot to explore.

And blogs have no monopoly on local content. Many DC restaurants have twitter accounts, for example. Other community institutions can be found there as well. And of course, Yelp is a valuable source of information about local businesses in a huge number of American cities.

One of the great advantages of local online communities is that there is so much information that can have practical value. When you're trying to figure out where to go one particular evening, it helps to know what new businesses have opened and what other people's experiences there were like.

Another big advantage is that you actually have the opportunity to meet one another in person. Prince of Petworth every so often organizes a happy hour for readers to get together, for instance.

The global potential of the internet is of course very valuable. But one should not overlook the ways in which the internet is also enhancing people's ability to get the most out of where they live.