COMMUNITY BUILDING SUPERSTAR

John Murden made his claim on local efforts at virtual community building several years ago when he launched Church Hill People's News. Not long ago, he ranted a bit about there not being enough neighborhood weblogs in town, and offered to help interested locals jump the technical hurdles.

Two new sites have emerged out of Murden's call to action -- Petersburg People's News just launched this week, and West of the Boulevard in Richmond.

One of the best aspects of neighborhood weblogs is the personal and microscopic view they provide of a sub-community. They have an opportunity to go beyond the predictability of a community newsletter -- events calendar, classifieds, warnings and announcement -- by spotlighting the more esoteric, unusual or human aspects of a geographic subset of our city. West of the Boulevard has done a great job of this with two recent profiles of the neighborhood's rising stars -- Tanya Cauthen of the Belmont Butchery and Stewart Watkins of The Yarn Lounge. (They could stand to develop a good archiving system, especially as they continue publishing!)

Community weblogs can also provide residents with information they may not discover on their own -- again, WotB is a prime example with their spreadsheet of vacant properties in the city.

Three cheers for Murden's initiative in kick-starting new voices in our community. And six cheers for the folks behind Petersburg People's News and West of the Boulevard for taking on the challenge.