What NEED does this meet?
We would be serving everyone. We would be recreating the sort of old-fashioned community that used to exist by creating a network of websites devoted to individual streets whereby every road in England would have their own website in which they could meet each other, rely on each other, share resources, etc. I have already started one for my road in London SW13 (www.ourlittleroad.com) and it is working. For the first time ever, I am meeting my neighbours and we are helping each other.
What is the APPROACH?
I’m 11 years old. Like a lot of people, I don’t really know my neighbours. Even though I’ve lived on the same road my whole life, I only know one or two of my neighbours so I decided to start a website so we could introduce ourselves to each other and, maybe, make our road a friendlier, happier, safer place to live. My hope was that, once we knew each other, we could watch out for each other, lend and borrow things, do house-sitting and childminding, anything friends would do for each other. Also, the website might be a good place for people to give away things they no longer needed rather than just throw them away. My motto is ‘our best resource is each other’ and that’s what ourlittleroad.com is all about; a sort of old-fashioned approach to what communities used to offer. Progress is slow but, gradually, we are winning people over and hope, some day, to get sponsorship and expand beyond our road to Barnes, to other parts of London and beyond!
What are the BENEFITS to people?
We can share resources. why buy a saw when someone down the road will loan you their’s. Elderly and need some food from the shops? Why get it yourself when someone down the street is shopping anyway and would be happy to get it for you? Have things you no longer need or want? Perhaps a neighbour needs them and so you can make some space in your house and help them at the same time. If you actually know your neighbours, they can help you and you can help them. This website allows people to get over their shyness and introduce themselves to each other.
What is the COMPETITION?
There is nothing like this. This is an individual website for every street in England.
What BUDGETS & LOGISTICS are required?
I don’t think it will be too expensive as, once it’s up and running, it will run itself.
Ash says:
Hey,
it’s a good idea. However, having looked at the site I did wonder one thing.
How do you stop people who are not from those streets abusing the site, and signing up to the forums under false IDs?
How do you avoid the situation where someone poses as a different person on their street and abuses residents on the forum?
Otherwise, great idea!
written on May 19th, 2006Jake Cracknell says:
If someone is not from our street, they are still welcome to post on our forum. As far as ‘abuse’ goes, we haven’t had any problems yet and, if we do, we would just delete any abusive emails as one would with any forum. I’m not sure why anyone would ‘pose’ as another neighbour but, if they did, they’d be obviously found out pretty quickly and, again, their posts–if abusive– would be deleted. So far, it’s working well. Thankyou for the feedback. As we’re new to this, all feedback is greatly appreciated.
written on May 19th, 2006David MacKay says:
I suggested much the same idea May 30th 2006 under the name KOODLE. I address ideas for handling the security/abuse side of things there. (Are you really 11? You write really well!)
written on May 29th, 2006David says:
It’s a great idea, and a lovely site. It would be great to see this rolled out on a wider scale. It is, in a way, a companion to Knowhere UK, with the added attraction of being run by locals who have a longer-term interest in seeing the site reflect their feelings and aspirations.
written on May 30th, 2006Hilary says:
I’d like to see this work, and believe it can. However, I’m struggling now with a community website for a small group of streets around where I live (http://www.elevenstreets.org.uk) - do you have any tips for how to bring people online when they haven’t yet grasped the concept of a website as an interactive tool rather than something that someone manages/publishes?
written on June 15th, 2006Alan Ray-Jones says:
I live in a delightful village in Devon where there is already quite good community feeling, but still there are lots of people who never show up at the village hall. We have a very good news sheet, but its only a paper thing and sometimes it’s difficult to find something two or three issues back. Something like this should be in a form to enable it either to be the website, with flexible space as part of the package, or to be added to an existing website.
written on July 13th, 2006Barry says:
Hi Jake, more power to your elbow, heard you on the radio, I wish you were my neighbour, good luck with your excellent idea Barry
written on August 22nd, 2006Danny Bull says:
This is the same reasoning with which I created My Neighbourhoods - www.myneighbourhoods.co.uk - to build an online community for local communities. Our site allows you to get know people not only on your street but in your postal area. You can also communicate with members throughout the UK, buy and sell online for free and find out more about your area.
Good luck with the site and don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can help.
written on January 3rd, 2007