Northfield's civic blogosphere

(Updated: 12.17.05)
It's starting to happen: a cluster of weblogs in a small geographic area that are at least occasionally devoted to civic matters -- Northfield, Minnesota's civic blogosphere. (Definition of blogosphere: the intellectual cyberspace occupied by a subset bloggers.)

Northfield Citizens Online Board members and volunteers have been working on making weblogs a tool for strengthening the civic fabric of the area, both for individual citizens, local leaders, and local non-profit organizations.

Why?

We think it's good for democracy for citizens to be more than passive consumers of media. We see weblogs as a tool that can be used for "conversational journalism" or "citizen-driven journalism," a unique way to have a dialogue among separate sources of information that's not otherwise easily done.

We think it's possible that the collective wisdom of Northfield's Civic Blogosphere (citizens, community leaders, public officials, government staff) can help improve the effectiveness of local government.

If you're interested in having a weblog, talking to someone about weblogs, know of another weblog in the area that should be listed here, or in helping us with this effort, Contact Us.

Civic Leader Weblogs

• Diane Cirksena, Board member, Northfield Public Schools
• Ray Cox, Minnesota State Representative, 25B
• Ross Currier, Executive Director, Northfield Downtown Development Corporation
• Tracy Davis, Member, Northfield EDA
• Tim Goodwin, Director, Northfield School of Arts and Technology (ARTech)
• Bruce Morlan, Dundas/Bridgewater Township Planning Commissioner
• Jim Pokorney, Member, Northfield City Council, Ward 1
• Jessica Peterson, Member, Rice County Board of Commissioners, District 2
• Elizabeth Schott, Executive Director, Northfield Area United Way
• Gary Smith, Northfield Police Chief
• Griff Wigley, Executive Director, Northfield Citizens Online

Non-profit organization weblogs:

• ArtOrg
• Center for Sustainable Living
• Friends of Way Park
• League of Women Voters Northfield
• Northfield Buddhist Meditation Center
• Northfield.org/Northfield Citizens Online
• Northfield Area United Way
• Northfield Downtown Development Corporation
• Northfield Garden Club
• Northfield Historical Society
• NHS Sesquicentennial
• Northfield Soccer Association
• Northfield Survivors
• Northfield Union of Youth/The Key
• RENew Northfield

Civic-oriented citizen weblogs

• David Bly
• Chip Cuccio
• Kathleen Doran-Norton
• Adam Gurno
• Sean Hayford O'Leary
• Carol Overland
• Scott Schumacher
• Griff Wigley: Citizen Wig