neighborhoods.net: Who we are and how to join

stuff to do

visiting

neighborhoods.net
front page

Read

A publication of neigborhoods.net

Current issue

sunny plane scallop

Who we are and how to join

Neighborhoods.net is a voluntary, membership-run and -supported collaboration of community webmasters. It grew out of a series of informal discussions which began in the spring of 1997. The neighborhoods.net site, which provides links to the member sites, as well as group content, went online in the summer of 1997, and has been evolving ever since. Over the past several months, we have begun to formalize our structure, objectives and governance through online and face-to-face group discussions and votes.

Neighborhoods.net holds regular meetings (currently quarterly) at which members can meet and discuss the issues surrounding community-based websites. Recent discussion has focused on:

Peer networking and support
Shared content, particularly regional content
Shared facilities - Search engine, Conferencing, BBS, Calendar.
Funded projects - sponsorship, visibility, advertising

Neighborhoods.net member sites are varied in content and format, but we all share certain traits, which also serve as standards for considering new members:

An intent to serve and promote your community, above and beyond
promoting a personal business or interest.
The ability to facilitate communication within the community.
Content or services that represent a resource for the comunity.
Links to other community sites or applicable Internet resources.
Original content or presentation.
Regular updates and current information.

In keeping with our group's vision of community service, we also expect that member websites meet certain additional criteria:

The website must be publically accessible to the widest possible audience. For sites which restrict access, charge for content, or require unusual software or hardware, only free, un-restricted material that can be viewed through a standard web browser is considered when evaluating a site for membership.
The website in question must be "permanent" in the sense that the author fully expects to continue updating and maintaining it for the forseeable future.
The website must be under the editorial control of the webmaster, or of a small, community-based organization (e.g. a business association, a small business, a civic group). The webmaster, must be a resident of the community or have a strong connection to the community. Sites which serve multiple communities will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
At least 60% of the site content must be community focused, rather than material that promotes the personal gain of the site owner.
Sites must, to the best of their knowledge, contain only public domain or original material. neighborhoods.net will not condone copyright infringement of any kind.

Lastly, there are three responsibilities of membership that we ask our member webmasters to honor:

Place the neighborhoods.net logo/link in a conspicuous location on the members site.
Pay annual dues (currently $20) toward the costs of our basic web site.
Participate in the groups' activities by signing up as an officer for a year or by agreeing to create a future "in the neighborhood" page or other content on the neighborhoods.net site.

Neighborhoods.net is an ambitious effort, and we are still growing, both in the number of communities we represent and in the scope of the projects we undertake. Your participation would be a welcome addition.

We hope you will consider this invitation to join our group. Any comments or questions can be directed to Editor.

Contact Neighborhoods.net

About neighborhoods.net
Who we are and how you can get involved.

Last updated: 24 April 2003