The state of ProgressiveWayneCounty.org
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A few people have asked me recently about the state of ProgressiveWayneCounty.org, and given the ups and downs of site activity, it's only fair that I provide a bigger-picture update on its status. About a year ago, this site was created to promote and chronicle the efforts of progressive people around Wayne County. It's been successful in the sense that now a medium exists with that focus, and anyone can easily submit their news and events, start a blog, or join in our discussions and chat.
However, as we've noted a few times, the site's usefulness and interestingness depends a lot on those activities actually happening - we need people to use the site as intended in order for it to fulfill its purpose. It's kind of a chicken and egg problem...people tell me "I would visit more often if it there were more activity," but I suspect there is an equal number who also think, "I would submit news and events and blog entries more often if there were more people visiting and participating."
In the end, the solution to this stagnation either involves (A) lots of time, money and energy to promote the resource and get the world out so people start using it enough to build critical mass, OR (B) an increasing general interest in using such a resource that makes the site more relevant (perhaps out of frustration with other information sources that don't really engage progressives), creating a critical mass more organically.
The bottom line is that (A) isn't happening right now, and so we'll need to creep up on (B). If an organically grown user base happens, GREAT! If it doesn't, then either there isn't a sustaining demand for this kind of resource, or something else is wrong (and if you think you know what that is - fill us in!).
Whatever the future holds, for now ProgressiveWayneCounty.org is ready and waiting for those who want to shape it into something useful and relevant to local progressive interests. At the same time, we won't pretend that the site is where it could be in terms of value and relevance, and so the frequency of non-user-contributed site updates will reflect that (again, for now).
access to stats helpful
I'm interested in access to the traffic stats for the website, either publicly or personally, to get a better sense of the effect of the content I contribute. Knowing I had an audience would encourage me to contribute more.
I think you do...
Mark, I think you already do have access (through your affiliation with the company that hosts the site). If you take a look and want to summarize for others what seems relevant, that would be great. Otherwise, I'll get around to posting some stats soon.
I suspect traffic is low these days, for the reasons stated above.
Relevance of PWC
The mere presence of the PWC website and "community" is heartening. It seems the only thing better than a good idea is a good idea with persistence. It takes lots of time, and belief in the goodness and creativity of people to transform stagnant ways of thinking into relevant, uplifting, workable ways. PWC is on my toolbar, and I check on it often enough to be encouraged by the blogs and such. I am thankful for this source of inspiration. It has helped me finally adopt Richmond as "my town," after having lived here for four years already. Let's not underestimate the power of a good idea.
relevance of pwc
i heartily agree with Kurt!