nstn
09-15-2004, 12:31 AM
The following 'I-Neighbours' article (see below) describes a new web site with the basic objective of helping to build neighbourhood relationships. A downtown 'neighbourhood' site has already been established on the site for Kingston. You can join for free and set up new neighbourhoods to broaden the discussion on your local neighbourhood issues.
I-Neighbors seems like a good exercise in developing community and neighbourood interaction. The site could be a good complimentary resource to the information and opinions found here on the Kingston Electors web site.
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World Wide Web links locals: MIT
Test site embraced by suburbanites
Apartment dwellers had less use for it
RACHEL ROSS
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER Toronto Star September 13, 2004.
The Internet makes good neighbours, according to a recent study.
Three years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has revealed that communities can benefit from certain online services.
"There are all these really interesting and positive social benefits," said MIT professor Keith Hampton, who headed up the research.
Hampton and his students developed a package of online community-oriented services for the project, called I-Neighbors. The I-Neighbors Web site let participants set up a neighbourhood e-mail address list, build a personal profile, connect with neighbours that have common interests, post photos, conduct surveys and review local services.
Participants were interviewed once in 2002 and again a year later. Each time they were asked about their social interactions in the community.
The study found that, on average, suburbanites with access to the I-Neighbors Web site met nine new neighbours that year. Suburbanites without access only met an average of 0.13 new neighbours. Those with access to the site tended to e-mail and phone their neighbours more often, too.
According to Hampton, the services also made many neighbours feel safer. Forty per cent of suburbanites who could use the service said it increased the neighbourhood's ability to respond to important issues or emergencies.
"Having access to something as simple as a neighbourhood e-mail list allows you and your neighbours to organize so much faster and so much more efficiently," said the Calgary native. "It's much more efficient than knocking on doors."
The online personal profiles helped participants find others in their community with similar interests, as well.
Hampton said normally that kind of neighbour matching is based on obvious visual cues, such as gender, race or pet ownership. A woman with a dog, for example, might approach someone else with a pooch in the park.
The I-Neighbor profiles gave neighbours a chance to delve deeper and find other similarities. "People formed more diverse social ties as a result," he said. The results of the I-Neighbors study were so significant in terms of how it impacted the community he decided to open the site to the public.
Anyone in Canada or the U.S. can sign up for the free service at http://www.i-neighbors.org.
The positive social impact of such services was not quite as impressive outside of the suburbs, however.
Apartment dwellers involved in the study used the I-Neighbors Web site less often, despite being technology savvy.
Hampton said he believes people who live in apartments tend to be more transient and less likely to have children, and perhaps less interested in building direct ties in the community.
The MIT study also found the typical friendship formed online wasn't very strong.
The average person has 12 core people that they can count on for support, Hampton said. But Internet use, in general, has very little impact on which people provide that support.
"From what we've observed, the types of social relationships you build online tend to be weaker social ties. That doesn't sound great but these relationships are still important," Hampton said.
In particular, those weaker ties with neighbours are good for gathering novel information. If you're looking for a new job, for example, these are the people who can let you know about positions you might not have heard of otherwise.
The I-Neighbors project was inspired by a similar study Hampton completed at the University of Toronto, where he studied the effects of broadband access on a Newmarket suburb. That study found that broadband access got neighbours more involved in the community.
I-Neighbors seems like a good exercise in developing community and neighbourood interaction. The site could be a good complimentary resource to the information and opinions found here on the Kingston Electors web site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
World Wide Web links locals: MIT
Test site embraced by suburbanites
Apartment dwellers had less use for it
RACHEL ROSS
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER Toronto Star September 13, 2004.
The Internet makes good neighbours, according to a recent study.
Three years of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has revealed that communities can benefit from certain online services.
"There are all these really interesting and positive social benefits," said MIT professor Keith Hampton, who headed up the research.
Hampton and his students developed a package of online community-oriented services for the project, called I-Neighbors. The I-Neighbors Web site let participants set up a neighbourhood e-mail address list, build a personal profile, connect with neighbours that have common interests, post photos, conduct surveys and review local services.
Participants were interviewed once in 2002 and again a year later. Each time they were asked about their social interactions in the community.
The study found that, on average, suburbanites with access to the I-Neighbors Web site met nine new neighbours that year. Suburbanites without access only met an average of 0.13 new neighbours. Those with access to the site tended to e-mail and phone their neighbours more often, too.
According to Hampton, the services also made many neighbours feel safer. Forty per cent of suburbanites who could use the service said it increased the neighbourhood's ability to respond to important issues or emergencies.
"Having access to something as simple as a neighbourhood e-mail list allows you and your neighbours to organize so much faster and so much more efficiently," said the Calgary native. "It's much more efficient than knocking on doors."
The online personal profiles helped participants find others in their community with similar interests, as well.
Hampton said normally that kind of neighbour matching is based on obvious visual cues, such as gender, race or pet ownership. A woman with a dog, for example, might approach someone else with a pooch in the park.
The I-Neighbor profiles gave neighbours a chance to delve deeper and find other similarities. "People formed more diverse social ties as a result," he said. The results of the I-Neighbors study were so significant in terms of how it impacted the community he decided to open the site to the public.
Anyone in Canada or the U.S. can sign up for the free service at http://www.i-neighbors.org.
The positive social impact of such services was not quite as impressive outside of the suburbs, however.
Apartment dwellers involved in the study used the I-Neighbors Web site less often, despite being technology savvy.
Hampton said he believes people who live in apartments tend to be more transient and less likely to have children, and perhaps less interested in building direct ties in the community.
The MIT study also found the typical friendship formed online wasn't very strong.
The average person has 12 core people that they can count on for support, Hampton said. But Internet use, in general, has very little impact on which people provide that support.
"From what we've observed, the types of social relationships you build online tend to be weaker social ties. That doesn't sound great but these relationships are still important," Hampton said.
In particular, those weaker ties with neighbours are good for gathering novel information. If you're looking for a new job, for example, these are the people who can let you know about positions you might not have heard of otherwise.
The I-Neighbors project was inspired by a similar study Hampton completed at the University of Toronto, where he studied the effects of broadband access on a Newmarket suburb. That study found that broadband access got neighbours more involved in the community.