building_communities_futures

Daily Clicks around the trintraweb looking for interesting reading – for October 27th

• Solving real world problems through online social networks – A poignant illustration far removed fro me-mail Me-Tube and Facebookme – a study into Kozarac.ba – a Bosnian site setup for the town of same name after the population was killed and expelled using eliticide, murder and ethnic cleansing.

  Lee Bryants study highlights a community existing in online until a brave few trickled into the ghost town of Kozarac 10 years after being forced to leave. A Fire Service born in the online community is now an official town fire service, serving Bosniak *and* Serb areas while other towns would not.

  Connecting people with a common purpose is central goal to building communities online. What other examples exist of these networks. I outlined some previously in my post 'Bridging the gap'. Can purpose be implanted onto existing networks like Facebook? Can the Me quotient be replaced by 'We'? Leave your thoughts in the comments by clicking on the speech balloon.

• Facebook in a Crowd – NYTimes.com – Man has 700 friends, and organises Facebook party. How many turned up?
• The heating challenge – Anne at Downshiftingpath.blogspot.com shares a strategy for keeping the heat turned down over winter. Heating costs in the UK have risen over 40% – an incredible amount. Keeping doors shut and only heating the room you are in is a great start.