Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by EA on February 18, 2009 at 10:39am

I'm not just saying this because I have already built the site that you are talking about - but I am feeling that there is a lot of reinventing the wheel on these transition town sites. There are so many sites and orgs working on 'green issues' that I feel we are all spending too much time online and not enough building! Just my feeling at the moment...

Permalink Reply by Zev Paiss on February 18, 2009 at 10:59am

Liz - If this site exists then by all mean lets use it. I am not in favor of reinventing anything since time is so short. It this the localvore website?

Permalink Reply by Carol McFadden on February 18, 2009 at 11:51am

Liz, I have forwarded information to the head of Grow Local Colorado in hopes that they might connect with Hyperlocavore instead of building another wheel.

Permalink Reply by Zev Paiss on February 18, 2009 at 10:53am

Stephen - You are right on. I am talking with two organizations — American Community Gardening Association and Freedom Gardens— in addition to our own Les Squires here on Transition, about using existing social networking and mapping technology to document this One Million Garden campaign.

Permalink Reply by Jerry Diamond on February 18, 2009 at 11:08am

Freedom Gardens has a world map of gardens, so we might look at that and see if it will work. It is a google map driven one, so it looks like it should work. We are targeting new gardens, correct? So that would be key from the outset.
I agree, we do not need another similar, but a little bit different, transition site. Reinventing the wheel is time consuming, and counterproductive.
I just saw the " Hyperlocavore.com" for the first time, yesterday. kudos!!!
As to how to track, I agree that square footage might be a factor. We might put in 2 acres of potatoes, and someone might put in a 10 by 10 patch in their lawn; a bit of a difference.
Also, a new greenhouse should count as a garden I would think, since it has the potential of providing starter plants for several gardens, and even though it might be small, can produce very well compared to a garden, by extending the season.
jd

Permalink Reply by EA on February 18, 2009 at 4:06pm

Hey Carol... Thanks! That's pretty much how I see it. I can see the appeal of quantified goals...but my main aim is to support people growing their own and the building of community on the ground...I think the numbers will blossom organically - ahem.
I have been active for about 30 years...and can't brook another meeting.

Permalink Reply by EA on February 18, 2009 at 4:12pm

Les - the way to do it is to use existing systems, and then tag and encourage others to tag all info related to the campaign with the tag "1milliongardens" or another distinctive "tag"

If anyone is interested I have linked to a lot of really helpful videos about new web technologies that may get you grounded in how to use the newest of web tools.

RSS
Social Networking
Social Bookmarking


If these are new topics - head over to hyperlocavore and scroll down to the video section on the front page "Some Helpful Videos about the Internet"

So for instance you might use Platial or GoogleMaps and set up a map called 1 Million Gardens and then just ask and promote it across gardening blogs and sites.
If that is your goal.

Permalink Reply by EA on February 18, 2009 at 4:16pm

Stephen - I would say you DONT organize it...the map would be an emergent artifact of a global movement that is much bigger than the transition towns frame...as appealing as it is! I am really enjoying the handbook by the way!

I recently moved to a tiny town of 250 people in rural Eastern Oregon...I can see the hard old ranchers and the woo woo hippies both getting behind a transisiton approach!

Permalink Reply by Zev Paiss on February 18, 2009 at 5:01pm

I agree with Liz.
Our job would not be to organize anything except a resource where all these new and existing gardens are added into a searchable database with a real time counter so we can promote the campaign and help build the momentum.

Zev

Permalink Reply by Sandi Brockway on February 20, 2009 at 6:18pm

I setup Platial a few months back on my TN, MN, MI, transitionearth.ning.com, and currently on CA, under MAPS in TOOLS tab.

http://transitioncalifornia.ning.com/page/map-tools

what is great about PLATIAL is that no matter where I set it up, all the additions are being added at the Platial site. I also announced here months ago that a eco mapping organization was interested in working with us designing a custom map for Transitions. Platial also wrote back to me saying they could do custom maps for us. This was so long ago, and no one here was interested in it or my google and wiserearth searches.

US should start thinking about being more of a support site for regional activists and sites and providing the tools. For instance, we might boot off regional groups here now that they found a home in their states, unless it is a national groups or a topic/issue group. Just an idea. Group info can be imported RSS from all 50 states and rotated, or the cvs coudld be fed into excel and a map could be made. i think that google maps or platial can take in the feed and program a map. i just noticed now there is no feed or downloadable files for groups, only members in form of cvs database ap.

I have started experimenting on transitionearth.ning.com. at the CA i combined feeds for 16 discussion groups to come into my workgroups group. i am going to start experimenting on transtionusa.ning.com soon.

Good information and networking sites do not happen over night. The key is to be strategic, and avoid duplication. Sure, i would love to be painting my deck, planting my garden, and getting my teeth fixed, but who is going to take care of this campaign and build coalitions? Obama did not get elected because people left their computers.

over in BUILDING T COALITIONS, our case number one gave this suggestion list for his volunteer list

Here are the technologies we considering for the Volunteer Group:

A. Google Docs Spreadsheet + Email
B. Basecamp
C. Yahoo Groups
D. Ning
E. Constant Contact
F. Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager

But, would CLASSIFIEDS by another name, work?

http://transitioncalifornia.ning.com/classifieds/index/categories