Suzanne Morse, President of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, regularly comments on effective strategies, new initiatives, funding opportunities, and nationwide events that are affecting communities at her fine Smart Communities blog.
We were pleasantly surprised and grateful to be included in a Feb. 22 post which we are sharing here:
Most Engaging - Pittsblog and Smart City Memphis
Blogs are about storytelling -- either personal stories or stories told from a particular point of view or philosophy. Could there be a better match for the blog format than cities and communities which have ever-unfolding stories about their own development? Probably not. That's why the first entry of 2007's "Most Engaging Blogs" is devoted to two which do a great job telling the story of the city in which they are situated.
Devoted to all things Pittsburgh, Pittsblog falls squarely into this category of blogs. The posts cover a broad array of topical matter but generally vary between highlighting or promoting the best the city has to offer and examining Pittburgh's economic possibilities for the future. If you think this isn't terribly broad topical matter then think again. This month's posts have included one on Pittsburgh's first major hip-hop star, another on the biotech industry, one on venture capital in high tech industries, and another on the"Pittsburgh-style" sandwich. While this may sound a bit offbeat it's actually a really nice way to give a well-rounded look at a city and makes for a really enjoyable read.
Another blog that is telling the story of a city's development is the Smart City Memphis blog. Here you won't find the latest on Memphis-specific music and food but you will get to read some extremely comprehensive blog entries on the successes and challenges facing Memphis. There is some mention of national news but mostly in the context of its meaning for the city. What's remarkable here is the amount of effort that's clearly devoted to each blog topic. The blog is not updated every day, more like once or twice a week, but each entry is fairly lengthy and substantive. A really impressive job by the Smart City folks.
Both blogs approach their community's development from different angles, Pittsblog seems a little more devoted to economic development and Smart City Memphis toward a more comprehensive community-wide approach, but both are telling compelling stories about their cities and are well-worth a look.
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2 comments:
Congratulations on well deserved recognition!
If the President of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change knew how smart the writer of this blog is about government and public policy, she would clearly understand why SmartCityMemphis ranks among the top blogs in the country. Now, if only our elected leaders could figure that out....
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