International Handbook of Internet Research by Jeremy Hunsinger Lisbeth Klastrup & Matthew Allen

Author:Jeremy Hunsinger, Lisbeth Klastrup & Matthew Allen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht

Citizens First Community Organization

Citizens First for Blacksburg (http://www.citizensfirstforblacksburg.org) emerged in 2003–2004 as a grassroots community group dedicated to transparency in local government and civic engagement.  In spring 2004 Citizens First (CF) raised citizen awareness, public deliberation, and voter turnout for local Town Council elections through face-to-face meetings, public petitions, and notifications sent by e-mail or listserv to interested citizens. Several major issues of concern made the elections more contentious than usual, such as the decisions surrounding a town sewer project and confusion around proposed changes to the Town Charter. In the 2004 Town Council elections, with support from CF, reform-oriented candidates won contended seats in a landslide victory with record voter turnout. CF gained trust through its track record of providing interested citizens with timely information and background.

CF became a political action committee in December 2006, with a formal charter and mission to enable Blacksburg area citizens to work together, with public officials, and with other civic groups and stakeholders to research, understand, and shape the quality of life in the community. While CF is not affiliated with any political party, among its goals are to endorse and support candidates for public office and to promote responsible growth. The foundational premise underlying the CF mission is that democratic processes work best with an active electorate that is aware of community needs, uses information, respects divergent views, seeks consensus, resolves conflicts, and supports principled public policy. Citizen information takes the form of research findings, position papers, platforms, analyses of alternatives, and viewpoints to aid public information, dialogue, and advocacy. CF facilitates citizen information and involvement through the printed word, public discussion, and electronic media.

In order to reach as broad and diverse a population as possible, the CF website links to excerpts from other relevant public records, reports, and documentation that provide a basis for discussion, both online and offline. For example, CF linked excerpts from the 35-page report (released June 4, 2007) by an independent marketing firm hired by the “Blacksburg Partnership” a formal organization representing the downtown merchants of Blacksburg with representatives from the town government (also representing the public, of course), the university (Virginia Tech), and local businesses. The Downtown Market Assessment and Marketing Plan for Blacksburg (Arnett Muldrow and Associates, 2007) provides diverse information about current trends and suggestions about best practice for revitalization attempted in other similar (university) communities.

The link to these excerpts includes many helpful recommendations from the Downtown Market study that is intended to stimulate further discussion on the CF website. Such online discussion would (hopefully) spill over into face-to-face interactions (and vice versa) among citizens and could lead to greater participation in this and other important long-term deliberations and collective decision making. Similar background documentation that is helpful in fostering debate is posted on the site regarding recent developments for a “big box” store (subsequently identified in town documentation as a Wal-Mart) with opportunities for online public discussion and comment among interested citizens. In doing this, CF is attempting to supplement face-to-face discussion with an online environment that might inform and sustain further discussion with a wider population.

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