"Democracies Need Physical Spaces" ?/ Midterm Revision

As I mentioned in my previous post, the purpose of this blog has somewhat changed.  I originally had set out to explore public places in Los Angeles because it became apparent to me that I had (and still have) very little physical interaction with the outside world, that is, the world outside my car, my home, the store, school, etc. And in the process of trying to discover the outside world, I have largely been disappointing.  I have yet to experience any rel interaction with strangers.  This is in part due to the types of outdoor activities I've attended (Cinespia's outdoor screening series, Glow) where there has always been a main attraction.  People go to see the movie screening or the art, not the people. Since then, I have become interested in another public space: the internet, which is a digital rather than physical "space" (is there such thing as space when speaking in digital terms?)

I just finished reading an interesting blog post from Dirt about the need for physical public spaces in urban cities (ie: parks) to enable "'non-structured and non-goal-orientated' interactions among many kinds of people. To cite the blog which cites Sarah Williams Goldenhagen

“[America[]has become more an archipelago than a nation, increasi

Social Media and Civic Engagement

So far, most of the topics on this blog have dealt with physical public spaces within an urban environment (ie: Los Angeles.) However, I'm hoping to change the direction of this blog a bit, focusing on public spaces and how we interact with each other in urban environments, but I will be focusing more on technology and the internet (the most public of spaces) and how those can contribute (if they contribute) to how citizens of an urban environment engage with each other.)

Here's a review on an article I read about how local governments are trying to use social media to create civic engagement in their communities:

Mann, Bonnie. "Cities embrace social media for public engagement." Nation's Cities Weekly 13 Sept. 2010: 3. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.

Bonnie Mann’s article on social media as a tool for public engagement argues that social media, a product of web 2.0, has enabled the development of activities that integrate technology, social interaction and content creation. However, in spite of this, many local government’s have been slow to pick up on this technology as a way of engaging with citizens and allowing citizens to engage with each other.
Mann brings up examples of certain local governments who have adopted this technology and the effectiveness of the social media. The authors relies mainly on facts and data to develop her argument (which, in essence is that social media can create lively and productive communities.) This article is more about presenting information rather than arguing the theoretical implications or what it means for the future of local politics in terms of their use of social media as a tool for productive civic engagement. Nonetheless, Mann’s tone seems optimistic, or at the very least, she is convinced that social media, as it continues to develop, will become a common tool utilized by local governments.
The article’s main strengths are its use of examples and its data, which could be utilized in a research paper about social media and civic engagement because of the empirical data it presents. Also, the article refers to various organization dedicated to the study of technology and government (Public Technology Institute, Fels Institute of Government,) which would be useful resources for a research paper. This is very current article, written a little more than a month ago so as far as the field of social media is concerned, which seems to be transforming and evolving constantly, is pretty relevant. Because of it’s brevity and length, the article serves as a good introduction to the topic of social media/civic engagement.

WHERE

anddd, I commented on another blog called Where on a post about the creative class:

I definitely see what I guess you could call the dangers of inviting the creative class into a city, and in doing so, risking gentrification.  You can see this happening (or it has already happened) in Silverlake and Los Feliz.  And even earlier than that Venice, Ca.  Importing or giving incentive for the “creative class” to enter a city has its ups and downs, and I don’t necessarily think that cities need to be reinvigorated with outside talent when that talent could very well already exist within that city and just needs to be found.

The “creative class” connotes, a certain hierarchy, that, just looking at local examples of this “creative class,” is young, middle class and white.  In effect, living in places like Los Feliz, became to expensive to live in (which is a good sign of economic progress) making it difficult the existing population could no longer live there (which kind of sucks.)  I wonder if there is a possible equilibrium between these different groups (or I guess you could say “classes”.)

allaboutcities.ca

hey,

So I recently commented on the blog allaboutcities that "explores the economy, society, communities, people, businesses, organizations, infrastructure, civil society and government of cities -- and the tensions and connections between them":

If found this post on wifi in cafes to be really interesting and I do see the value in places that are unplugged. However, as a college student without an internet connection in my apartment, cafes with wifi are a lifesaver and a necessity. My alternative is going to the library however I find that going to a café is more comfortable for me mainly because there is more freedom there (ie: not restrictions on food.)
As far as your comment that “reeloading internet access off restaurants and cafes may start to become very ‘low brow’ or ‘un-hip,’” I can see that happening to some customers but for customers like me, I don’t feel comfortable working on my computer in a café unless I see someone else with theirs. And to be honest, although I live and have lived in an “urban” city my whole life (Los Angeles,) I don’t really do so to “experience other people.” A problem, I know, but living in an urban city also grants me a sense of anonymity, even among a large group of people, say at a coffee shop, which allows me to get my work done. That is not to say that I do not want to experience others. I believe that getting experience is a problem in itself in the city I live in, and I am sort of curios how coffee shop socializing actually plays out and if engagement really does occur. Among what type of people? Someone commented about tiers of coffee shops resulting from wifi offerings and essentially choosing with coffee shop meet your needs. Would these “tiers” begin to distinguish one coffee shop goer set from another and in what ways? I think I may be taking this too far and I definitely am overanalyzing but is essence, I am interested to see what comes of these developments in terms of urban life.

GLOW

A few weekends ago, a friend and I went to GLOW, an outdoor, all-night, arts festival held in Santa Monica, CA.  Although not what I had originally anticipated,  glow embodied the type of integration of the public space, art, entertainment and community in a city I feel typically is unconcerned with this fusion.

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, doing anything in Los Angeles is contingent on ones access to transportation, the most convenient being a car.  One major issue Los Angeles has, that all of my friends who come from somewhere other than Los Angeles, and even those who have lived here their whole life, complain about how difficult it is to get around without a car, and getting from West LA to East is a feat that, if lucky, takes 2 hours and a couple confusing transfers (all of which is a topic for another blog post.)  Going from USC to Santa Monica would have been really difficult (and even with a car, it was somewhat inconvenient to the increased traffic caused by the event and also the cost of parking....argh.) In fact, one of the reasons why I decided to attend Glow was because my roommate (who does not own a car...or a drivers license) asked me for a ride.