Rockville Central To Be Represented On A MoCo Planning Board Panel
Apr 7, 2010 7:54 - 5 Comments
This Thursday, April 8, 2010, I’ll be on a panel arranged by the >Montgomery County Planning Board to explore the relationship between blogging and development. We’re very pleased that Rockville Central was asked to participate.
Here’s how they’re describing the event:
Technology is changing the way we communicate. Our news sources are shifting from print journalism to blogging. How does this transformation affect the field of planning? Does blogging help bring in a broader pool of participants and ideals? Does it make planning more accessible and equitable? Join five local bloggers as we ReThink the way knowledge is shared in Montgomery County.
The other panelists include:
David Alpert, Greater Greater Washington
Dan Reed, Just Up the Pike
Eric Robbins, Thayer Avenue
Barnaby Zall, Friends of White Flint
If you’re interested in attending, ReThink will be held at the Montgomery County Planning Department located at 8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
For those of you who read and participate on Rockville Central, do you think blogging can make planning better and more equitable? Does a blog help more people participate? Do the posts and comments matter? Obviously, Rockville has a separate planning process from Montgomery County, but they’d like to know what we think here in Rockville. If you have any ideas, please let me know in the comments.
Follow on Twitter
First off Cindy (and Brad too by proxy) – congrats on being chosen. I think this topic is certainly worthy of an in-depth discussion. To answer your posed questions – yes I think blogs and on-line postings by jurisdictions and commissions can be a big help. I also think comments can be influential; not mine of course but others.Now for the negative and I can sum it up in two words digital divide. The problem is of course not everyone has internet access and of those that do not every one reads every blog or posting. I have trouble within my own little civic association getting members to read our little web site about neighborhood matters and I’m not just talking about “pre-digital” residents. Expand that to really important matters city or county wide and you can see where a blog or on-line posting still leaves many people out of the loop and the process.This is not to say give up blogging – keep plugging away and someday soon (I hope) we can indeed all be connected and not divided by the internet.
As “a pre-digital” that Chas referred to, I think the issue is to make the blog interesting, not redundant and easy, just as Rockville Central has done. Congratulations on being chosen for the panel Cindy. If it were not for the TCAT meeting, I would go and watch but I’m sure you will update all of us tomorrow.
The digital divide is the gap between those who have computers and internet access and those that don’t. It strikes me as disenfranchising if any government entity declares that any and all discussions and subsequent decisions will be made over the internet via blogs or what have you. No matter how interesting the content of the blog if you don’t have a computer and use it daily to keep yourself informed, you are out of the loop. I don’t have any figures for how many folks in Montgomery County do not have computers but I would bet it is in double digits and that’s a lot of folks to leave out of the process. That’s not to say that all these people would necessarily to town hall meetings and the like but until the number of internet-have-nots is significantly reduced blogging can only serve as one of several ways of informing and discussing.
ReThink was interested in either Brad Rourke or myself to be on the panel, but due to our schedules, we decided I would attend. We’re both very happy that Rockville Central was asked. I agree with Chas. Not everyone has computer access. But for those who do, blogs definitely provide an additional mechanism to reach out to people and include them in public decisions. I am disappointed to miss the TCAT meeting. Who’s going to let everyone know what is said tonight?
The point that Chas raises is important and I am with Cindy in my agreement on it. Blogs can be a useful place for interactions and can provide an important service for local democracy, but they are not the be-all and end-all. Just thinking about Rockville Central, many of the people who comment on a number of items are the very same ones who go to Mayor and Council meetings and write letters to the editor, etc. In other words, in that respect Rockville Central is not adding anything except ease. (At least when it comes to interactivity.)On the other hand, there are definite benefits. I know for a fact that there are a number of people who have entered public life and are speaking up who never had done so before. So bringing new people into the civic life of Rockville is one important benefit that an engaging blog can provide.Also, because it is so easy to comment, even the people who are “usual suspects” are speaking up and sharing their opinions more than they might otherwise have — so policy makers can get a deeper understanding of some of the key issues.All that said, this is an area we struggle with. We don’t just want to be a place that mirrors conversations that can be had elsewhere — we want to add to the civic life of Rockville, not be a substitute. And that involves trying to bridge that well-known digital divide Chas speaks about and also be engaging in ways that official communications cannot be. These are all important pieces of the puzzle. We try to keep in mind that our mission is to improve civic life in Rockville. And above all, we try to keep from thinking that some little web site can do more than it really can!I am looking forward to hearing more from Cindy on how the meeting went.