What's the Big Idea?

Ok, should I do this smallest to biggest, or biggest to smallest? Smallest to biggest:

I want to make a website.

I want to create a place online where Cincinnatians can be more involved in and informed about the direction the city is moving in. Think: a wiki for city and regional planning.

I am deeply influenced by the web and web culture. For example I am far more familiar with the work of Clay Shirky, than say Le Corbusier. So it's not surprising that I would see a website a solution. I do think that there is some precedent out there for things like this being useful, like the Melbourne planning wiki.

I also want to put things on this site about the structure and activities of the entities that "rule" the city ranging from politicians to large corporations. I think transparency has an enormous role to play in proper planning and governance and I think that a lot of the relationships in the upper echelons of leadership are unknown or unclear. A good first project would be wikifying Dan La Botz' 2007 study entitled "Who Rules Cincinnati?"(pdf). Beyond the idea of a collaborative website for "planning" I want to foster in a larger way, the idea that communities of people should be the owners of what happens to their regions.

The second biggest inspiration and purpose of the website is Kevin Kelly's quiz called "The Big Here". My first thought when I encountered the quiz is that people should share the answers with each other. I would like to see a place where people can gather information that is otherwise obscure. I think enabling this kind of regional awareness is important not only for "planners" but for all citizens. Answering some the questions of current conditions is the first step toward finding solutions.

So in the spirit of the web, open source, sustainability, and democracy I hope to build a place online for people to work together toward a better understanding of what's going on in the community and where the region is going. In doing so, I hope I can inspire people to the open, participatory way of thinking and doing. And who knows, maybe it will make Cincinnati a better place than it already is.