Community Research

Sat 15 Dec 2012, 15:40

I am now at a stage to begin writing my report so I don't need any further details. Thank you to everyone who responded. Your words have all been helpful.

Merry Christmas, Charlbury.

Tue 11 Dec 2012, 11:38

Richard, having an active website reflects the nature of the community. We have the highest election turn-outs in the County, the largest audiences for hustings for a town of this size ( in the Euro elections about 4 times that of Oxford!). Residents continue to support local causes and fight for resources and the website enhances communication for these campaigns. I don't see any downside only benefits.

Tue 11 Dec 2012, 11:03

Really interesting question.

I think the crucial thing about the Charlbury Website is that it expressly tries not to be a "virtual community". Rather, it's an electronic facility for the existing "real community". That's why we insist on real names (which is very rare among online forums) and have a…

Long post - click to read full text

Mon 10 Dec 2012, 07:57

Hello Scott

I'll DM you tonight

Sun 2 Dec 2012, 19:31

Hello Susie,

Thank you for your response. The information is of great help.

Sorry for the slip up with the name, I notice I corrected myself then slipped up again!

Kind Regards,

Richard

Sun 2 Dec 2012, 14:30

Hi Richard, first of all its Charlbury, not Charlsbury!! This town has always had a vibrant community and I find that this website just helps us to be part of the 21st century. I think you will find that this website has enabled us to be more aware of events which are occuring within the Town, people have a chance to advertise goods they wish to sell.

I wouldnt say that there were any downsides to having a community website and in fact during the floods and bad weather, there was better and more informed information on this site than on the county council website. So in this respect it really helped our community find out which roads were open, trains running etc.

On another plus side, it has been able to advertise for people to help with certain community activities, eg Street Fair and the CSA were able to ask for more cakes when selling them at the Wilderness Festival as they had run out!!

This site has evolved over time and Richard Fairhurst who has written the site should be congratulated. He does this out of the goodness of his heart, and refuses to accept any money from the Town Council for the hosting etc. If you would like any further information you can always email me on here.

Susie

Sat 1 Dec 2012, 18:15

Hello all,

I hope you don't mind my intrusion in your forum, as I am not a resident of Charlsbury. I am student that is currently researching the effects that virtual communities have on real communities. The Charlbury website really caught my interest; it is informative and well designed, and it is my impression that it serves a vibrant town community. Due to this I wondered if I could get some feedback about Charlsbury and its community. For example:

Has the community website made significant changes to the actual community? If possible, can anyone give an impression of was the community was like before the website and forum was setup?

Has anyone become active / continued being active in the community because of the community website? Or vice versa.

Are there any downsides to having a virtual community? E.g, does having such a good website with facilities for discussion confine participation to the internet, detracting from real world participation.

Do you have a specific story of how the community website / forum as helped, or maybe even been detrimental to the community?

I understand that it is a busy time of year, but if anyone can give any information at all it would be much appreciated. In any case, I thank you for spending the time reading this post. Information that is given will only be used to serve my university report. If anyone wishes to remain anonymous, or to respond privately that is fine.

Many thanks,

Richard Scott
3rd Year student, UWS University