I still love the Davis Wiki. I’ve been back more than once. Each entry contains not only detail actually relevant to the process of living in that town, but also evidence that someone else exists in the community who cares enough to supply it. Such information is especially useful for transient types who don’t have the traditional amounts of time to explore and integrate into their communitys through traditional channels – such as much of the population of a campus town, or me wherever I go. It isn’t necessarily unbiased or objective information, but very little about community is so maybe that’s appropriate. It isn’t commercial anyway, and since commerce is normally left to provide most community information (via advertising) we can be forgiven for thinking the nature of our communities is mostly commerical. The wiki disproves that. Commerce is certainly a component, but people are the nature.

This is the guy who once assured me he already had my soul and had no reason to offer me anything to reacquire it. Hmm.

I also have discovered that the wiki contains this phenomenally useful map interface. As a fan of community mapping and a grudging user of GIS, I’m enchanted by this wonderful incarnation of both.

Last night I wrote an entry for the open container ordinance, which I submitted this morning. I feel like a bit of a dork writing wiki entries for a town I no longer live in and probably never will again, but, well I’m a dork. That’s nothing new.

Coincidentally, today I got an email from one of the people responsible for creating the site, which is fun (and strange timing). Here it is:

Hello, my name is Mike, and I’m one of the creators of Davis Wiki.
The other co-creator sent me a link to your blog, and we both thought
your December 15 entry about our little project was very insightful.
With the wiki we hope foster a meaningful sense of community through
the use and collaborative creation of a useful resource. Many people
live in Davis and leave it behind without truly feeling at home. I
have just graduated in December, and, while I don’t feel like I ever
held back from making Davis my home–in fact I was very happy living
in Davis–I have learned more about the town and the people in the
last four months since creating the wiki than I had in the previous
three years. I have met many fantastic people as a result of the
project, and I really feel a deeper, more meaningful connection to
Davis. It’s amazing how well Davis Wiki has been received, and it’s
very rewarding to learn that people like yourself appreciate what
we’re doing and share some of our thoughts about the need for a
project like this. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about our
project.

Sincerely,
Mike

I sure wish there was a Front Royal wiki.