Going over the Mechanics Again

The recent What I did over the Summer post went over a number of changes made to this blog and related resources.  There were also some additional changes, perhaps not so significant in themselves but it might make sense to go over again the overall organization of this effort to demonstrate how it all fits together.

One objective of this effort is to find new resources on the web to assist in creating new community paradigms.  Another recent change to this blog is that now these new resources are being featured as Daily Updates on this blog after being added to the New Community Paradigms Diigo Group Page.

So far, there are 319 different resources related in some manner to creating new community paradigms under a variety of tags including:

• 66Facebook
• 34community empowerment
• 30sustainability
• 27California
• 25research
• 25governance
• 25cities
• 22article
• 22community planning
• 21economic development

Facebook comes out on top because many organizations, which can be partnered with in creating new community paradigms, connect with members and potential members through their Facebook sites.   The Facebook Connections wiki-page on the Pathways to New Community Paradigms Wiki has a list of these groups organized under their particular areas of concern.  The article tag is for Featured Articles via Diigo found in the right hand column of this blog.  Recent articles posted were Conversation with Jane Jacobs, Green from the Grassroots and What Critics Get Wrong About Creative Cities - Jobs & Economy - The Atlantic Cities.

There are three different sets of tags or labels, blog labels found near the bottom of each blog post, tags for the wiki, and New Community Paradigm Diigo Tags.  The goal is to have them all coordinated across the three separate platforms.  This is still an ongoing process of revisions.

Along with these featured articles, the RECENTLY UPDATED COMMUNITY BUILDING BLOGS section, found immediately under the Featured Articles via Diigo section, provides information and insights on a variety of areas concerned with new community paradigms.  The latest addition to the blogroll is Wise Economy » Blog.

These new resources will also continue to appear on the Economic Development in San Gabriel Valley + World Facebook page.

The first two Daily Updates featured:

Daily Update 08/14/2012 (a.m.)

• Franklin Center
  Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was founded in 2009 to address falling standards in the media as well as a steep falloff in reporting on state government and provides professional training; research, editorial, multimedia and technical support; and assistance with marketing and promoting the work of a nationwide network of nonprofit reporters. Supplementing these efforts is our newly launched Citizen Watchdog program that trains ordinary citizens to report from local communities.
  Tags: transparency, accountability, fiscal responsibility, media, state government, Citizen Watchdog

And

Daily Update 08/08/2012 (a.m.)

• Is Your City a Great City? | Project for Public Spaces
  The Project for Public Spaces offers this checklist to help determine if your city is a "great" city."Community goals are a top priority in city planning:-Citizens regularly participate in making their public spaces better and local leaders and planning professionals routinely seek the wisdom and practical experience of community residents.- Residents feel they have responsibility and a sense of ownership for their public spaces."
  Tags: Project for Public Spaces, placemaking, planning, community attachment, New Urbanism

It is one thing to aggregate resources, it is another to organize them into a conceptual framework.  That is the purpose of the Pathways to New Community Paradigms Wiki.  In addition to the resources already cited, the wiki is broken down into Wiki Sections:

• How to use this Wiki
• Why use this Wiki
• Economics
• Governance
• Places
• Streets and Transportation
• Community Ecology
• Community Management and Technology

These sections are broken down further into wiki-pages.

After finding a resource and categorizing it by assigning it to the correct wiki-page or creating a new one, the next step in the process is envisioning and explaining how to use the resource in creating new community paradigms.  The first part, envisioning, is greatly assisted through the newly added NEW COMMUNITY PARADIGMS SYSTEMS MINDMAP by THEBRAIN.COM.  The second part, explaining the how and why, is done through this blog.

The truth is though that I have far more resources categorized under the wiki than I do related blog posts explaining them so a good deal of time in the future will be spent closing this gap.  

All of this continues as a learning platform primarily for myself providing pathways to new ways of thinking through my online connections, particularly through my LinkedIn groups.  It is at this level that I find the most meaning in this effort.  I am more than glad to share this effort with whomever is interested.