I love halloween. I think it's my favorite holiday.
The thing that I like about it the most is that it's one of the only days of the year where you have a reason to go out and meet all of your neighbors. I spent a while last night walking around the neighborhood with Theo and Brieza, having conversations with my nearest neighbors, most of whom I hadn't spoken to before (we've lived in our current place for just over a year). It was really nice.
If you think about it, it's kind of astonishing the extent to which we typically don't know our neighbors. I can't speak for everyone, everywhere, but it seems like a reasonably safe bet that most of us don't know the vast majority of people who live within a one-block radius of us.
Why is that?
To some extent, it's probably a deeply rooted sense of fear and privacy.
But I suspect it's also a practical matter -- there just aren't convenient, socially fluid (i.e., non-awkward) ways to connect with your neighbors. That's part of why Halloween is so great. It's a fun, easy, light-touch excuse to walk around and say hi to everyone. No big commitment, no awkward over-staying the moment. In the best case, just enough connection to reasonably say hi to someone next time you see them on the street. For sure this is not a whole lot, but it's a whole lot more than normal.
I love halloween. I think it's my favorite holiday.
The thing that I like about it the most is that it's one of the only days of the year where you have a reason to go out and meet all of your neighbors. I spent a while last night walking around the neighborhood with Theo and Brieza, having conversations with my nearest neighbors, most of whom I hadn't spoken to before (we've lived in our current place for just over a year). It was really nice.
If you think about it, it's kind of astonishing the extent to which we typically don't know our neighbors. I can't speak for everyone, everywhere, but it seems like a reasonably safe bet that most of us don't know the vast majority of people who live within a one-block radius of us.
Why is that?
To some extent, it's probably a deeply rooted sense of fear and privacy.
But I suspect it's also a practical matter -- there just aren't convenient, socially fluid (i.e., non-awkward) ways to connect with your neighbors. That's part of why Halloween is so great. It's a fun, easy, light-touch excuse to walk around and say hi to everyone. No big commitment, no awkward over-staying the moment. In the best case, just enough connection to reasonably say hi to someone next time you see them on the street. For sure this is not a whole lot, but it's a whole lot more than normal.
Another factor here -- and another reason why this is hard -- is that you actually need to be really careful making these connections. By and large, these are people you are stuck with for some period of time, so you want to tread carefully and make sure you don't create a situation that's weird, or too intense, etc.
So it's not surprising that no one has cracked the "social network for neighborhoods" problem. It's hard on a number of levels - the sensitivities mentioned above, the widely varying levels of comfortability with technology, etc. But if you look at the success of platforms like Facebook (networking for colleges) and Yammer (networking for businesses), there is a proven path of starting with an existing community and building a platform from there. So I still think there's an opportunity here (that folks like CommonPlace, LifeAt, Front Porch Forum and to some extent SeeClickFix and Neighborland are looking at).
Maybe the way to think about this is bringing Halloween to every day? That's clearly wrong, but maybe there's something right in it.
In her bathroom, a friend of mine has some really beautiful illustrations of posts from the Craigslist Missed Connections section. If you've never looked at missed connections, you should -- there are some really wonderful notes in there (also some sketchy ones). Here's a beautiful one from today:
We were sitting opposite each other on the train. We caught eyes early in the ride, but you nodded off through most of it, but looked up as I was getting off. As the train moved you kept looking at me walking to the stairs. All I want to tell you is that you have the most beautiful clear blue grey eyes.
What's striking is how many of the missed connections take place in the subway. I've said before that transit is a uniter not a divider; these posts confirm that, and are a really nice view into that slice of NYC life. The "ad hoc groupings" that take place on the subway also really resonate with the ideas in Dave Weinberger's Small Pieces Loosely Joined, which I'm reading right now. Dave talks about how on the web, groups take on a new meaning -- they form and unform quickly, and can be formed by very loose connections (such as commenters on a blog post). The city is the same way -- the people I'm standing with on the subway are an ad-hoc group that unforms just as fast as it forms. But there's definitely a connection. Typically, it takes an event of some kind, like a man talking into a banana phone or two people having a loud argument, to draw more outward communications among riders. But underneath it all, there's a hidden set of communications going on, and it's really beautiful to see it unearthed through Missed Connections. It turns out the posters are by a Brooklyn-based artist named Sophie Blackall, who has a whole poster series + a blog on Missed Connections. Really nice.
Another factor here -- and another reason why this is hard -- is that you actually need to be really careful making these connections. By and large, these are people you are stuck with for some period of time, so you want to tread carefully and make sure you don't create a situation that's weird, or too intense, etc.
So it's not surprising that no one has cracked the "social network for neighborhoods" problem. It's hard on a number of levels - the sensitivities mentioned above, the widely varying levels of comfortability with technology, etc. But if you look at the success of platforms like Facebook (networking for colleges) and Yammer (networking for businesses), there is a proven path of starting with an existing community and building a platform from there. So I still think there's an opportunity here (that folks like CommonPlace, LifeAt, Front Porch Forum and to some extent SeeClickFix and Neighborland are looking at).
Maybe the way to think about this is bringing Halloween to every day? That's clearly wrong, but maybe there's something right in it.
In her bathroom, a friend of mine has some really beautiful illustrations of posts from the Craigslist Missed Connections section. If you've never looked at missed connections, you should -- there are some really wonderful notes in there (also some sketchy ones). Here's a beautiful one from today:
We were sitting opposite each other on the train. We caught eyes early in the ride, but you nodded off through most of it, but looked up as I was getting off. As the train moved you kept looking at me walking to the stairs. All I want to tell you is that you have the most beautiful clear blue grey eyes.
What's striking is how many of the missed connections take place in the subway. I've said before that transit is a uniter not a divider; these posts confirm that, and are a really nice view into that slice of NYC life. The "ad hoc groupings" that take place on the subway also really resonate with the ideas in Dave Weinberger's Small Pieces Loosely Joined, which I'm reading right now. Dave talks about how on the web, groups take on a new meaning -- they form and unform quickly, and can be formed by very loose connections (such as commenters on a blog post). The city is the same way -- the people I'm standing with on the subway are an ad-hoc group that unforms just as fast as it forms. But there's definitely a connection. Typically, it takes an event of some kind, like a man talking into a banana phone or two people having a loud argument, to draw more outward communications among riders. But underneath it all, there's a hidden set of communications going on, and it's really beautiful to see it unearthed through Missed Connections. It turns out the posters are by a Brooklyn-based artist named Sophie Blackall, who has a whole poster series + a blog on Missed Connections. Really nice.
. I'm very much looking forward to the event, because among other things, one of my fellow panelists will be the new MTA Chief, Jay Walder. Here, I'll give an overview of what I'm hoping to discuss on the panel; any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Before I get to that, though, I should note that it's been an interesting journey working with MTA on its open data and developer relations policies over the past year. In a nutshell, it's gone from a highly
. That led us to dip our toes in the world of transit data -- since you need to know the routes and schedules to do tracking and predicting -- and introduced us to some of the challenges in getting accurate and up-to-date NYC bus schedule data. Over the next 9 months, we
that they'd be launching a developer outreach and open data program. We believe that most of the credit for making this dramatic change happen goes to Chairman Walder and his conviction that open data would lead to innovation and ultimately better service for riders. In his words at the time of the MTA dev center launch: "We need to get out of our own way and instead get out in front of the data sharing revolution" (via
, and the rest of the transit team here at OpenPlans for their hard and important work in helping to organize the NYC transit developer community, and in helping to identify and work through the sticking points regarding open data policy with the MTA. Back in August 2009, I got an email from Nick to the effect of "This is going to be really big, and we need to step up and get involved." That prompted us to start the
, and develop a more serious and structured conversation about open data with the MTA and the developer community. Thanks Nick; you were right (as usual), and I'm really happy that I listened to you (as usual). Fast forward to today. MTA has open data, a growing developer community, and is
. From our perspective, they seem to be heading in the right direction. So, that begs the question, what should they focus on next? Here are a few things that I'll be interested in hearing about & talking about on Wednesday:
Within MTA, which datasets would be the next easiest to expose? Of those, which would be the most interesting to developers?
What can we do to increase data sharing among other regional transit agencies? Last I checked, NJ Transit was the largest agency without open data according to City-Go-Round.
Let's think beyond just transit data to transportation data. When it comes to planning trips, modes should be abstracted out of search. What other datasets (outside of the ones in the MTA's control) would be required to make some really interesting things possible? (I'm thinking DOT for traffic, TLC for taxi data, paratransit, etc.)
(Imaginary readers out there...) If you could ask Chairman Walder one question, what would it be?
That's it. Have a great weekend, and here's to smart transportation and open, interoperable cities... // Heart shaped subway map by ZEROPERZERO
MTA Developers Unconference
. I'm very much looking forward to the event, because among other things, one of my fellow panelists will be the new MTA Chief, Jay Walder. Here, I'll give an overview of what I'm hoping to discuss on the panel; any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Before I get to that, though, I should note that it's been an interesting journey working with MTA on its open data and developer relations policies over the past year. In a nutshell, it's gone from a highly
. That led us to dip our toes in the world of transit data -- since you need to know the routes and schedules to do tracking and predicting -- and introduced us to some of the challenges in getting accurate and up-to-date NYC bus schedule data. Over the next 9 months, we
that they'd be launching a developer outreach and open data program. We believe that most of the credit for making this dramatic change happen goes to Chairman Walder and his conviction that open data would lead to innovation and ultimately better service for riders. In his words at the time of the MTA dev center launch: "We need to get out of our own way and instead get out in front of the data sharing revolution" (via
, and the rest of the transit team here at OpenPlans for their hard and important work in helping to organize the NYC transit developer community, and in helping to identify and work through the sticking points regarding open data policy with the MTA. Back in August 2009, I got an email from Nick to the effect of "This is going to be really big, and we need to step up and get involved." That prompted us to start the
, and develop a more serious and structured conversation about open data with the MTA and the developer community. Thanks Nick; you were right (as usual), and I'm really happy that I listened to you (as usual). Fast forward to today. MTA has open data, a growing developer community, and is
. From our perspective, they seem to be heading in the right direction. So, that begs the question, what should they focus on next? Here are a few things that I'll be interested in hearing about & talking about on Wednesday:
Within MTA, which datasets would be the next easiest to expose? Of those, which would be the most interesting to developers?
What can we do to increase data sharing among other regional transit agencies? Last I checked, NJ Transit was the largest agency without open data according to City-Go-Round.
Let's think beyond just transit data to transportation data. When it comes to planning trips, modes should be abstracted out of search. What other datasets (outside of the ones in the MTA's control) would be required to make some really interesting things possible? (I'm thinking DOT for traffic, TLC for taxi data, paratransit, etc.)
