gatewatching

It’s good to get offline for a while now and then. Last night I went to the Belgian Beer Cafe in Brisbane with some colleagues and friends. The mussels were lovely (as was the beer), but as well as getting some nourishment and giving my eyes a rest I got to hear about an interesting local campaign: Save Our Kenmore!

The reason SOK is of interest here is that they’re using blogs and social networking to coordinate protest about a controversial freeway development in Brisbane’s west. Some background: the plan being protested is part of the (ahem) “Moggill Pocket Sub-Arterial”, known as the Kenmore bypass, but its most controversial element might be that it doesn’t actually “bypass” Kenmore. The road is a State Government initiative intended to speed car travel from the leafy western suburbs into the city. Admittedly, the traffic situation on the western arterials is horrendous, but many Kenmore folk are worried about the impact on their suburb, lifestyle and land values, especially since it isn’t clear how directly the road will advantage them. Some residents (including my informant) are being threatened with resumptions.

As SOK’s main site puts it:

This site represents the effort of a large community united to find a better alternative to the Moggill Pocket Sub Arterial (Stage One and Two), which includes the so-called Kenmore Bypass. This proposed major road would slice through the reserve corridor from Kenmore to North Tivoli and many suburbs in between. Stage One starts by dividing Kenmore, and this is where all the threatened communities must make their stand to stop Stage Two.

Kenmore is a pretty solidly middle-class suburb, and obviously there are more than a few web-literate folk who are opposed to this road. They not only have a blog (which seems well-patronised) but a Facebook group!

Increasingly, one imagines, this sort of local activism will find a home online. SOK can keep information flowing, direct emailing campaigns, and “gatewatch” mainstream media coverage of the bypass in-between face-to-face meetings and protests. Interestingly, the Facebook group in particular seems to have given rise to more general community discussions. It’s probably not news that protests can build solidarity in a community, but when it branches out into online forums in this way, it may be easier to maintain links after the battle is won (or lost…)

Anyway, I often wonder whether this kind of hyperlocal activism and community building will turn out to be one of the most powerful affordances of blogs (and even social networking services). There’s certainly a contrast between the conflicts between personal blogs that we’ve been talking about here recently, and this kind of purposeful, community-directed use of online social and publishing technologies.

I find it fascinating to think about the warp and woof of on- and offline conversation and sociability that’s clearly happening here. I’ll be curious to see whether this community spirit is maintained online after the bypass battle has come and gone. It also makes me aware, once again, that digital literacies need to be extended so that all suburbs and community groups have access, in principle, to this kind of organising capacity.

Anyway, let’s hope some solutions are found for Western suburbs transportation that are satisfactory to everyone. (Ferries, a branch of the train line or a busway extension all occur pretty forcefully to me as good options).

Hat tip to Jules for letting me know about this.