For over 10 years, I’ve been
engaged as a volunteerdedicated to making greater use of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) in
order to strengthen a sense of community, by bringing people together to reach
a common objective. As I read my daily
dose of eNewsletters, I often come across references to a “coming together”
metaphor that dates back to the 18th and 19th Century – Barn
raising.
The Argus-Courier even
used these words in an article describing how the “Folks in the Westridge
Knolls area have banded together to form a Neighborhood Emergency Response
Team.” I was quoted as saying, “This is an electronic barn raising project.”
Since that article appeared last April, a dozen NERTs have been created,
and a major role of each NERT is maintaining communications as it brings
neighbors together to help one another in the event of a disaster such as a
flood or earthquake.
I wonder if the folks who started
this tradition, ever thought that the term, “barn raising,” would be used as an
analogy for describing the process of bringing neighbors together so that the
“collective good will can be harnessed to do even greater things” in the 21st
Century. A Google or Yahoo search engine will generate from 166,000 to 203,000
links related to “barn raising” activities and events in less than 0.30
seconds. The term, today, is used more often than not as a metaphor for “online
communities” as well as a local community event. In either case, “barn raising”
activities –
*Create benefits for a community
*Generates a sense of
accomplishment within a short period of time
*Strengthens existing social
bonds
*Brings people together, even
though individual motivations may differ
*Requires trust, commitment,
humility, and accountability by the participants
*Are a perfect example of
PetalumaNet’s main slogan, the greatest resource of any community is the
collective wisdom, knowledge, and creativity of its citizens.
BTW, did you know that we had a “barn raising” event in
Sonoma County as recently as 1997? The Annual Open House Gala at the Gold Ridge
Farm, held during Sebastopol’s Apple Blossom Festival, reconstructed the
original Luther Burbank barn from an old photograph. The original barn had
burned down in 1967.
I’m not sure why I got off on
this “people coming together” theme, today. Perhaps it is related to recent
national and international events. Maybe it’s the current holiday season spirit
or possibly, just the wandering thoughts of a senior citizen. Maybe it is simply
a flashback to historic times, when neighbors used to come together – more
often than they tend to do today – in order to tackle a common need or problem
and solve it without wasting a lot time.
Stay tuned – maybe the time has
come for Petalumans to step up to the plate, roll up their sleeves, mobilize
the necessary resources, and raise a few more barns – together.