Jan. 15, 2013. Interested in learning more about the Connect Boone campaign to create a local social network? Come meet with members of Generation One, a new local social enterprise working to launch the Boone Community Network. The event starts tomorrow at 7 p.m. with a presentation at 7:30 p.m. in the High Country Press/SOS Printing building front lobby. Hot and cold drinks will be provided.
After months of collaborative brainstorming, the group announced in December plans for a Boone Community Network (BCN), a social networking site intended to create connections within the social, civic and economic circles of Boone and the surrounding community.
The site is scheduled to launch in late spring 2013.
“I like to tell people it’s like a cross between Facebook, Wikipedia and Craigslist,” said Generation One member Rio Tazewell. “Social networking is so prevalent these days. There are social networks for all different things, so I don’t even see this as all that revolutionary, it’s just taking it a step further and using this social networking technology to connect the Boone community.”
In recent months, ASU alumni Tazewell and Brian Swanson, of Generation One, have been “crowd sourcing” the community, asking individuals to take online surveys specifically catered to their demographic – businesses, civic/religious groups, citizens – to assess which social networking features would be most beneficial for them and the community.
So far, two main anticipated site features include a public access network, similar to Facebook, which enables community members to tag their own interests and connect to others with similar interests and a virtual bulletin board for local businesses and civic/religious groups to learn about and promote their events and social gatherings.
The site will also feature a community exchange marketplace, similar to Craigslist, that utilizes a “Time Bank,” an alternative economic model which uses people’s time as a form of money and matches peoples’ skills with their needs.
“I’ve made progressive environmental and social change a big part of my life for the past five years, and this [BCN] project is really just a culmination of all that for me,” Tazewell said. “It’s not just a platform for people who want to do activist work, but also for people who want to promote their business or sell their art. It’s a platform for public engagement.”
Over the next few months, Tazewell and Swanson will continue collaborating with students, businesses, church groups and other community members to form five BCN committee groups including: education and outreach, event planning, media and public relations outreach, information technology design team and business development team.
The High Country Press/SOS Printing building is located at 130 N. Depot St. in downtown Boone. For more information, visit connectboone.net.
- Megan Northcote contributed to this article.
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