These last two years have taken a toll on retail establishments. Small retail businesses, particularly those which focus on selling non-essential items, or competing on service and experience rather than price (basically doing all the things we’ve been telling them to do) have been particularly hard hit as consumers tighten their belts and count their pennies. The Labor Dept. reports that an additional 85,000 jobs were lost in December and that national unemployment remains around 10.0%. Not good statistics for anyone hoping consumer spending will bring us out of the recession. Consumer optimism may indeed be improving, Wall Street may be improving; however, people still have to have money to spend money.

As I watch rural communities struggle with how to revitalize downtowns, I become more and more convinced that we need to take another look at the questions we are asking. We need to go all the way back to the original “why”. “Why go downtown?” Not why shop downtown vs Walmart or the strip mall, but simply “why go downtown?” When I do follow-up survey work with local constituents the “because” is the interesting part of the question’s answer.

Fr’instance, when talking to a local trustee at a community I was working in he insisted that a particular building needed to be refurbished and a restaurant tenant needed to be found. When I pointed out that that particular building was far from the vibrant corners of the street and that rents for the building were higher than those in a nearby more populous community, he countered with: “When I was in high school, this is where everything in town happened. People came in from the country to get together and hear the bands. Weddings were held here. It was the spot in town where everyone came together.”

He was describing the community’s third place. [the first place is where you live, the second where you work, the third where you gather] What we need to understand is what functions as third places in this community today and how foster that in the downtown. People may continue to go elsewhere to shop for low prices, parking convenience, whatever, but where and why do they gather?

This is a conversation I will be watching. What about your community? What are third places that work for you?

Will the Coffee Shop Gallery find a new owner?

Photo by Mandan Lynn from Igougo.com

Scuttlebutt on the street and in the shop is that the Coffee Shop Gallery will be shutting its doors after the Christmas holidays if it does not find new ownership.  Michelle Mechling, longtime owner of the shop, has been trying to sell the business for some years now.

The Coffee Shop Gallery has long been the place to go for a good cuppa, and the place to go if you’ve been off in the world and are back in the Verm for a visit or for good.  It’s the place to connect and reconnect with friends and strangers alike over great food and beverages in a cozy atmosphere.

And, it’s a cornerstone of downtown Vermillion life–a hang-out and a jumping-off and resting point for shopping excursions downtown.  A place for a casual lunch, snack, class meeting and meeting with friends.  It’s a place where the arts culture of the city is expressed through poetry slams and regular art shows from the area.

And it’s going to be gone.

Already the shelves are looking meager–the once-full tea display is rapidly emptying, and the whole bean coffee selection is half-gone.  The economy has taken its toll on the numbers of clientele, and on many afternoons, there are fewer customers lounging on the couch or clicking at their keyboards.

The Coffee Shop Gallery has long been Vermillion’s best all-ages third place–a place away from home or work where community can be forged over cups of steaming coffee and espresso beverages or icy Italian sodas.  Its downtown corner location offers a good amount of parking, and it’s a favorite walking and biking destination as well.

As one who has worked in the food service industry–four coffee shops, a couple of restaurants, a couple of bars, and a bakery–I’ll be the first to say that working with the public isn’t always easy.  It’s long hours; it’s making up shifts for people who call in sick (or simply don’t show); it’s dealing with prigs and a tight bottom line.

It’s also forging friendships and putting smiles on faces–making a special treat they’ve never tried before and making them feel at home, making someone just what they wanted in a world where that doesn’t often happen, making them feel like someone listened to them–even if it wasn’t their boss, but their barista.  It’s about making people feel special.

According to the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) page on Ray Oldenburg, author of The Great Good Place:

In contrast to first places (home) and second places (work), third places allow people to put aside their concerns and simply enjoy the company and conversation around them. Third places “host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work.” Oldenburg suggests that beer gardens, main streets, pubs, cafés, coffeehouses, post offices, and other third places are the heart of a community’s social vitality and the foundation of a functioning democracy. They promote social equality by leveling the status of guests, provide a setting for grassroots politics, create habits of public association, and offer psychological support to individuals and communities.

This is the function that the Coffee Shop Gallery has been fulfilling in the Vermillion community for years now–from its cramped but intimate beginnings on East Main between the Vermillion Beauty Shop and Uncle John’s (do you remember when?) to its much-expanded digs on West Main and Market’s lively corner.

My dream for the Coffee Shop under new ownership is more of a bakery and cafe atmosphere, where the yeasty heat of high-quality fresh-baked breads, scones, and cookies mingles with the enticing aroma of fresh-brewed coffee and perfectly-steeped teas.

Where the sandwiches are made on the same breads baked in the back kitchen, and where the soups and salads are as high-quality and homemade as they have been under Shelly’s direction.  I envision a place where service is friendly and efficient, but customers (friends!) feel free to linger in that warm, inviting haven.

I see a press pot of black tea ready for to-go orders alongside the urns of coffee.  Sorry, flavored coffee fans–those chemical-soaked beans don’t figure in my fantasy.  Why not try a latte or an Americano with a half-shot of flavored syrup?  Trust me, I’ve seen how they flavor those coffees, and that’s not something you want in your body.

I also envision the possibility of a proper Sunday brunch for a change–though to really do it right, you’d have to take a page out of Emma’s Kitchen past and get your beer and wine license to serve mimosas along with the quiches and French toast, the muffins and–can we have marmalade to go with that rye bread?  I’m in heaven….

If you’re up for the challenge of running the most important meeting place in town (sorry, City Hall, you’re way too stiff-looking for that honor), contact Shelly and get on it right away.  We can’t afford to lose our hangout, our haven, our third place.

And the ideas above are completely free for the taking.  What can you imagine?

Reprinted from “Bright Ideas,” an online newsletter by The Woolbright Group.

Using Social Media to Engage Your Alumni and Donors – Part I
Interview with
Mary Ann Cicala
Associate Director of Alumni Relations, Emerson College, Boston, MA

Jennifer Conboy
Associate Director, Electronic Communications
Office of University Advancement
Boston College

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) defines “social media” as: “Media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.”

To find out how colleges and universities are harnessing the power of social media as an element of a broad-based communications strategy, we turned to two forward thinking advancement professionals for their perspectives.

WG: Let’s start with the basics: please define “social media” –and why do you think it has become such a phenomenon?

Mary Ann: I believe that social media is a catch phrase for all online venues that have become the modern day “Third Places.” Urban Sociologist, Ray Oldenburg, describes the concept of Third Places in his book, The Great Good Place. It’s a place where anyone can socialize or hang out. Cafes, coffee shops, bars, and other centers of the community are instrumental in the culture of our country. Like these civic venues, virtual communities provide a sense of place and become informal gathering places where people feel at home.

There are three essential ingredients to a well functioning third place: they must be inexpensive, highly accessible to neighborhoods or a regular part of one’s routine, and should be a place where large numbers of people gather regularly to feel welcome and comfortable. The varieties of social media platforms online provide synchronous and asynchronous social interaction between media and consumers—in other words, the audience can easily be both producers and consumers. This ability to engage in dialogue in a public forum enriches public life because it invokes a sense of civic pride while providing opportunities for companionship and relaxations after a long day of work or school.

I believe that “social media” has become a phenomenon because one no longer has to leave the home (first place) or the office (second place) to interact socially because these virtual environments have the potential to function as new (albeit digitally mediated) third places similar to pubs, coffee shops, and other hangouts. The irony is that it is not uncommon to see consumers engaging in third places provided by popular social media platforms while actually sitting in, say, a coffee shop!

WG: Which platforms are you currently using, and please give us some specific examples of how you are using them.

Jen: At BC we have created a presence on Twitter (@BCAlumni), Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Twitter has been our focus recently since we started “Tweagle (as in twittering eagle) Tuesday.” Every Tuesday we ask a question relating to something on campus. Once responses come in, we re-tweet them, and the re-tweet spawns more comment. On Facebook we have a fan page dedicated to graduates of the last decade and we try to provide event updates and other content relevant to this group on the page. Our YouTube presence isn’t something we promote directly, but more that we use it to store all the videos we create. When we want to drive traffic to a specific video, we generally point alumni to our web pages where the video is embedded. Lastly, LinkedIn isn’t something that we officially manage from BC, but we work closely with the volunteer that created the general Boston College Alumni group.

Mary Ann: The alumni relations team at Emerson College incorporates online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr. My favorite example for how Emerson is using social media is through Facebook groups and “fan pages.” The Emerson College Alumni Association has a Facebook fan page that links all of the official clubs, groups and other fan pages. For example, volunteers built a fan page for the class of 1999 as they planned their 10 year reunion. The Facebook fan page enabled the volunteers to encourage classmates to post updates similar to class notes, share and comment on photos that encouraged nostalgic conversations, and send personalized notifications to specific regions. Building on the momentum of the “25 Random Things” fad, one reunion committee volunteer posted a note entitled “Top 10 Favorite Things About Being A Class of 1999 Emersonian,” then “tagged” all of her classmates and encouraged them to repost their own list. This became viral and soon classmates all over the country began posting and commenting on each other’s notes and lists.

Emerson recently had a tough month with some bad press. But what’s interesting is we have alumni engaging in this conversation. Someone might post a negative comment, but then others will post a counter-point. So there is opportunity in a crisis situation! You want it to be organic, you don’t want to stop the conversation.

WG: What do you consider to be the greatest benefits of using social media?

Jen: One of the major benefits that I’ve seen is that we can immediately tell how interested alumni feel about the messages we post by their interactions. Using http://bit.ly links we can track how many clicks we are getting on our posts to Twitter or Facebook. Facebook also has a feature to “like” posts that alumni find interesting. Our goal is to continue to provide content that alumni are interested in getting so that they feel that BC has helped them in some way. Also, if they feel this content is interesting, they will be more likely to pass it on to other BC friends in their networks.

Mary Ann: Social Media provides multiple touch points. It’s viral when friends are invited to download items, newsfeeds share updates with friends and contacts; and the third party platform [can be used to] send emails and reminders–thus making it a softer touch point for the institution.

In our presentation [Jen and I] talk about your “three places:” home/work/where you socialize. I think that what the phenomenon is – social media is replacing the traditional third place.

Another of my favorite examples is one alum’s use of the Emerson College Alumni Association discussion group on LinkedIn. While many alumni successfully take advantage of this networking platform to post job openings, brand themselves, and seek insight in their career paths, this alumnus posted the question, “Who was your favorite professor?” To date, this is the most popular discussion with 130 responses in the form of “comments.”

WG: Do you consider social media to be an integral facet of your communications strategy?

Both: Without a doubt! It’s part of the discussion in everything we do now.

WG: Do you have a formalized social media strategy? If yes, what are its components?

Mary Ann: Emerson College is currently formalizing a social media strategy. In June, the College formed a “Social Media” working group. To date we have published white papers on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The group meets monthly and reports to the Vice Presidents for Communication and Marketing, Institutional Advancement, and Admission. The goal is to have a unified and branded image and to advise the institution as we work towards a formalized media strategy.

Jen: We don’t have a formal strategy yet. We are spending more time strategizing about the messages we are sending out in general and how those are communicated via our website. From there, we will use social media sites to drive people back to the web site. To help with this process, we have added another position to the Advancement Communications and Marketing team; there are now three positions dedicated to the web: Web Specialist (technical), Electronic Communications Specialist (manages all emails), and Associate Director of Electronic Communication (pulls it altogether).

WG: Do you use these tools differently in relation to your various target audiences, ie, alumni, donors, prospective donors?

Jen: We do not differentiate between donors and prospective donors when targeting social media sites. We did, however, reach out to donors specifically during our Neenan Challenge last fiscal year. During the challenge we asked donors to help us share our email messages across their BC networks. We included a “share” button (by addthis.com) on every message so that our donors that offered to help out could easily pass along our email messages.

Mary Ann: In the beginning, Emerson College used the various online tools differently to
target our audiences. For example, LinkedIn, was originally the best choice to engage more experienced alumni (15 years and out) while Facebook and Twitter were the best platforms to engage younger alumni. However, this is no longer the case. Alumni of all ages and backgrounds can be found on the many social media platforms.

It is important, however, to note that print communication should still be factored in with marketing and communications. While the majority of alumni can be reached through social media platforms, and while these platforms provide much more cost efficient means of communication—there is still a large enough population who are resistant to social media. At Emerson College, we will sometimes limit our mailings to alumni who are not registered on our online communities, or for whom we do not have working emails.

WG: Do you find that your audience segments tend to self-segregate, ie, gravitate to one version of social media vs the others?

Mary Ann: In the beginning Facebook tended to be for a younger audience. Now we’re finding that [alum from the] mid 70s – 80s are participating. LinkedIn is a more mature audience. Twitter started out young, but the alum who are on Twitter are very savvy social media users.

Jen: Because our Facebook presence is geared toward alumni 10 years out, we don’t know if an older audience might participate otherwise. Twitter seems to be used by a broad range of class years and I would agree with Mary Ann that they are usually more savvy social media users.

WG: Who implements, monitors, and maintains your blogs, and/or Facebook, LinkedIn, or other platforms?

Mary Ann: The alumni relations team at Emerson College delegates the day to day operations of electronic communications to one member of the staff. However, the entire team is fully engaged in monitoring and maintaining the various platforms. Many of these platforms are also managed by an army of volunteers.

WG: Do you twitter? If yes, please explain what role it plays as part of the mix.

Both: You bet!

Mary Ann: Emerson College is, in fact, “Twitterpated.” Twitter allows the alumni association to use a mix of formal and conversational communication styles when posting news about the college, its current students and student groups, and celebrate the successes of individual alumni.

We have found that Twitter is not only a tool for broadcasting information: it is a powerful way to monitor the Emerson College brand. Twitter allows users to search for keywords or phrases that appear in other tweets. Searching can be achieved on Twitter’s website or through third-party websites that expand searching options, like Monitter (http://monitter.com/), and Tweetdeck (http://tweetdeck.com/beta/).

For example, a search for “Emerson College” on Twitter on September 2, 2009 yielded a tweet from a user stating, “Emerson College & others using social media for student orientation; ‘same message, new delivery’ http://tinyurl.com/kwnwoo.” The link provided in the tweet directs to a Boston Globe Higher Education story about how area colleges and universities are tapping social media to welcome incoming freshmen and orient them to their campuses and Boston

Monitoring Twitter not only gives Emerson the opportunity to view tweets about the college, but also provides an immediate way to respond to individual concerns or complaints. Twitter allows users to publicly reply to another user’s tweet by posting the ”@” symbol and the username. For example, if a user named ”TheMACDoodle” posted a negative experience about Emerson, we could quickly reply by posting a tweet saying, “@TheMACDoodle, if you’d like to provide suggestions on how we can improve, we’d love to hear them.” Emerson can instantly connect to the needs and wants of other Twitter users, as long as we are monitoring information posted there. Another benefit of monitoring Twitter is the ability to foster real-time conversations with followers, humanizing the institution’s online presence.

End Part I. Look for Part II of this interview in the February issue of Bright Ideas.

A “third place” is a social space that is distinct from the two “usual” environments of home (i.e. “first place”) and work (i.e. “second place”). In both popular press accounts
and marketing/consumer research, third places are often characterized as readily accessible social venues frequented by regulars but open to all comers. Something like a community center, coffee house, cafe or “mom and pop” restaurant. Third places become community congregation points and, importantly, provide a centralized “sense of place” that facilitates creative interaction among people. This interaction can amount to “everyday” social engagement (i.e. water cooler chat, gossip, laughing with friends), but hopefully also includes civic discourse. The idea is to give folks an outlet to talk to one another, and address issues that are important to them as a community.

Compared to what I have experienced abroad in the tea shops and espresso houses of Asia and Europe, the United States has a relatively underdeveloped “third place infrastructure.” I have not examined the historical evidence, but I believe during the early development of the nation, citizens participated more in third place interaction.

Chalk it up to modernization and the rise of digital interaction, but the third place seems to have diminished in importance in American society. While I still see vestiges of third place interaction at Starbucks or even discussions among neighbors in the parking lot at Wal-Mart, these outlets are “impromptu” third places and do not constitute a consistent, welcoming space for regular engagement, which is an important criterion for being a third place. In the case of Starbucks, despite presenting a seemingly inviting space with soft couches and hip jazz music, their coffee shops are largely designed to maintain customer throughput, not congregation.

Perhaps the loss of the third place banter has something to do with the ongoing outbursts and general lack of civility during town hall meetings across America (which seems to have spilled over into congressional engagements). Dramatic changes (perceived or otherwise) in the way the nation is being governed is certainly an impetus for the passionate exchanges during these meetings. But could it be that the prior lack of ongoing face-to-face discourse and dialogue — impromptu town hall meetings on a small scale via third places — has contributed to the current powder keg?

I just read about the concept of “third places” and am only just formulating thoughts on it in the context of education. From the Project for Public Spaces’ profile on Ray Oldenburg comes this quote:

Oldenburg identifies third places, or “great good places,” as the public places on neutral ground where people can gather and interact. In contrast to first places (home) and second places (work), third places allow people to put aside their concerns and simply enjoy the company and conversation around them.

In the context of education, the first places are homes and the second places are schools and school-like places. I think that third places includes social cyberspace.

At the moment we limit the “education” of our learners largely to the first and second places. These places are structured, inflexible and devoid of real world context. Third places are informally organised, customizable to learner needs and rich in context.

We don’t yet take advantage of those third spaces. Not much anyway, but we should. It is where our learners already interact, play and reside. It is where our workers already make contacts, build relationships and do business.

Lange mit Andres K. telefoniert, der in Köln arbeitet (Postproduktion, Bildbearbeitung, Reinzeichnung), wir kennen uns aus meiner Kölner Zeit, ich müsste mal wieder nach Köln fahren. Hab hier in Darmstadt wieder einige öffentliche (Beton-) Tischtennisplatten entdeckt: Im Schulhof der Bernhard Adelung-Schule in der Vogelsbergstrasse 50 stehen zwei, im Block hinter der “Eisboutique Da Carlo” am Riegerplatz steht eine Platte (durch die Einfahrt in der Kaupstrasse rechts vom Da Carlo gehen und dann links von der Tiefgarageneinfahrt die Treppe hoch durch das kleine Tor in den inneren Block gehen) und zwei Platten stehen hinter dem Spielplatz der in Verlängerung der Pankratiusstrasse über den Rhönring in den Bürgerpark hinein auf dem Weg zum Berufsschulzentrum (davon eine allerdings mit Löchern). Mehr Tischntennisplatten in Zukunft in dem Weblog Location Tischtennis.
Obwohl ich diese langen exakten Beschreibungen liebe, hätte ich gerne eine kleine kompakte Kamera, die mir die GPS-Daten zu einem Bild mit speichert. Bei Gelegenheit mal erkunden, was es Erschwingliches gibt (mit über 2.000 Euro zu teuer ist mir die mit “GPS-Karte und Outdoor-Schutzmantel ausgerüstete Ricoh Caplio Pro G3″, heise-online, 8.9.2005, …mehr).
Ich schreibe hier nur, wenn ich was sagen will. Dieser ganze Twitter-Facebook-Xing-WerKenntWen-Hype nervt mich da, wo die Leute alle soviel erzählen, ohne dass sie was zu sagen haben. Ich werde auf zu viele “Events” eingeladen, weil alle “networken” wollen. Darf ich ehrlich sein: Ich habe weder über Xing noch über eins der anderen Netzwerke je einen Kunden bekommen. Das funktioniert bei mir weiterhin über Telefon-Akquise,direkten Kontakt oder Empfehlung, das heißt, jemand der mich im wirklichen Leben kennt empfiehlt mich weiter. Meine eigene Website und mein Xing-Profil sind dann wie umfangreiche Visitenkarten, mehr nicht.

Ich habe diesen Blog begonnen, um die Materialien für meinen Ratgeber “Frieden durch Faulheit – Mehr Zeit, Mehr Geist, Mehr Lebensfreude” (Arbeitstitel) zu sammeln, zu strukturieren und zu veröffentlichen.  Ich möchte einen Verein gründen, ein Buch schreiben und diesem eine CD-Kompilation mit Musik zum Thema beilegen. Meine Zielgruppe bin ich selbst und alle, die freiberuflich oder festangestellt manchmal das Gefühl haben, das Leben rauscht an Ihnen vorbei und sie bräuchten mal wieder Urlaub.  Meine Devise soll sein: “Ein Leben zu leben, von dem ich keinen Urlaub brauche.”

Der Münchner Publizist und Journalist Christian Schütze hat 1990 in einer Ausgabe des Magazins Geo einen Artikel mit dem Titel “Frieden durch Faulheit” veröffentlicht. Titel und Inhalt haben mich nachhaltig beeindruckt (damals bedeutete dass den direkten Weg zum Kopierer um den Artikel an Freunde zu verteilen und zu senden). Am 22. Juli 1990 hatte ich mit Rosy E. die Idee zu einem Verein “Frieden durch Faulheit”, der sich der geheimen Sehnsucht nach Faulheit “aktiv” widmen sollte.

Christian Schütze schrieb in dem Artikel unter anderem: “Der dem Menschen von Natur aus angemessene Zustand ist nicht der Achtstundentag, sondern die Nichtarbeit. Die Ausbreitung des heutigen Typs von Homo Sapiens über die Erde begann vor etwa 40 000 Jahren, der Arbeitszwang ist erst 4000 Jahre alt – ein Folge unkluger Vermehrung. Die Verklärung der Arbeit zur heiligen Pflicht, der Irrtum, daß der Mensch den Sinn seines Lebens arbeitend erfahre, ist noch kein 2000 Jahre alt.”

Welche Themen hier angesprochen werden, wird sich zeigen, auf jeden Fall werde ich die Orte in meiner Stadt und an anderen Stellen vorstellen, wo ich mich zum Arbeiten und Nichtstun wohl fühle (die vom Soziologen Ray Oldenburg so genannten: “Third Places – Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons and other Hangeouts at the Heart of a Community”. Dazu bei Commercial Communities: “Oldenburg nannte solche Treffpunkte “third places”, neben und zwischen dem eigenen Zuhause als “first place” und der Arbeit als “second place”, und begriff sie als unverzichtbare Verbindungsglieder, deren privilegierte Aufgabe es ist, zwischen Individuum und Gesellschaft zu vermitteln, und die zugleich ein „soziales Zuhause“ anbieten, wo man sich jenseits von Familie und Arbeitsplatz in Anwesenheit von anderen aufgehoben und geborgen fühlen kann.”).

Ich schreibe das in Darmstadt, in der kleinen Bibliothek im Prettlakschen Haus, die über den Prinz-Georg-Garten zugänglich ist. Hier stehen drei Tische mit je vier Stühlen, auf drei Seiten Bücherregale und eine Fensterseite mit Blick in den wunderschönen Prinz-Georg-Garten. Den Raum betritt man über einen Teppich mit einem großen hessischen Löwen, der den Dreck von den Schuhen aufnimmt (!).  Sehr ruhige, entspannte Stimmung, ab und zu kommen Leute zum Büchergucken. Es gibt hier keine Toilette, kein Wasser, kein Strom, nur den Raum, Tische, Stühle und die Bücher. Sehr angenehm. Öffnungszeiten: März – Oktober täglich von 07.00 bis 19.00 Uhr, November – Februar täglich von 08.00 bis 17.00 Uhr.

Besonderer Tipp: In der Gärtnerei nebenan kann man Pflanzen und Gemüse aus dem ehemaligen Großherzoglichen Garten kaufen.

Habe einen neuen Blog begonnen, um die Materialien für meinen Ratgeber “Frieden durch Faulheit – Mehr Zeit, Mehr Geist, Mehr Lebensfreude” (Arbeitstitel) zu sammeln, zu strukturieren und zu veröffentlichen.  Ich möchte einen Verein gründen, ein Buch schreiben und diesem eine CD-Kompilation mit Musik zum Thema beilegen. Meine Zielgruppe bin ich selbst und alle, die freiberuflich oder festangestellt manchmal das Gefühl haben, das Leben rauscht an Ihnen vorbei und sie bräuchten mal wieder Urlaub.  Meine Devise soll sein: “Ein Leben zu leben, von dem ich keinen Urlaub brauche.”

Der Münchner Publizist und Journalist Christian Schütze hat 1990 in einer Ausgabe des Magazins Geo einen Artikel mit dem Titel “Frieden durch Faulheit” veröffentlicht. Titel und Inhalt haben mich nachhaltig beeindruckt (damals bedeutete dass den direkten Weg zum Kopierer um den Artikel an Freunde zu verteilen und zu senden). Am 22. Juli 1990 hatte ich mit Rosy E. die Idee zu einem Verein “Frieden durch Faulheit”, der sich der geheimen Sehnsucht nach Faulheit “aktiv” widmen sollte.

Christian Schütze schrieb in dem Artikel unter anderem: “Der dem Menschen von Natur aus angemessene Zustand ist nicht der Achtstundentag, sondern die Nichtarbeit. Die Ausbreitung des heutigen Typs von Homo Sapiens über die Erde begann vor etwa 40 000 Jahren, der Arbeitszwang ist erst 4000 Jahre alt – ein Folge unkluger Vermehrung. Die Verklärung der Arbeit zur heiligen Pflicht, der Irrtum, daß der Mensch den Sinn seines Lebens arbeitend erfahre, ist noch kein 2000 Jahre alt.”

Welche Themen hier angesprochen werden, wird sich zeigen, auf jeden Fall werde ich die Orte in meiner Stadt und an anderen Stellen vorstellen, wo ich mich zum Arbeiten und Nichtstun wohl fühle (die vom Soziologen Ray Oldenburg so genannten: “Third Places – Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons and other Hangeouts at the Heart of a Community”. Dazu bei Commercial Communities: “Oldenburg nannte solche Treffpunkte “third places”, neben und zwischen dem eigenen Zuhause als “first place” und der Arbeit als “second place”, und begriff sie als unverzichtbare Verbindungsglieder, deren privilegierte Aufgabe es ist, zwischen Individuum und Gesellschaft zu vermitteln, und die zugleich ein „soziales Zuhause“ anbieten, wo man sich jenseits von Familie und Arbeitsplatz in Anwesenheit von anderen aufgehoben und geborgen fühlen kann.”).

Ich schreibe das in Darmstadt, in der kleinen Bibliothek im Prettlakschen Haus, die über den Prinz-Georg-Garten zugänglich ist. Hier stehen drei Tische mit je vier Stühlen, auf drei Seiten Bücherregale und eine Fensterseite mit Blick in den wunderschönen Prinz-Georg-Garten. Den Raum betritt man über einen Teppich mit einem großen hessischen Löwen, der den Dreck von den Schuhen aufnimmt (!).  Sehr ruhige, entspannte Stimmung, ab und zu kommen Leute zum Büchergucken. Es gibt hier keine Toilette, kein Wasser, kein Strom, nur den Raum, Tische, Stühle und die Bücher. Sehr angenehm. Öffnungszeiten: März – Oktober täglich von 07.00 bis 19.00 Uhr, November – Februar täglich von 08.00 bis 17.00 Uhr.

Besonderer Tipp: In der Gärtnerei nebenan kann man Pflanzen und Gemüse aus dem ehemaligen Großherzoglichen Garten kaufen.

If you know anything about doozy, you would have heard about an idea to run a cafe or a ‘commercially viable community hub’ or something of that kind of nature as the main meeting point for our faith community.

I was skim-reading “Exiles – Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture” and I was reminded of the ‘Third Place’ terminology. Frost quotes from sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s 1990 book “The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffe Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and How They Get You Through the Day.“

Oldenburg tells us that Third Places are crucial to community because they are distinctive informal gathering places, they make the citizen feel at home, they nourish relationships and a diversity of human contact, they help create a sense of place and community, they invoke a sense of civic pride, they promote companionship, they allow people to relax and unwind, they are socially binding, they encourage sociability instead of isolation, they make life more colourful and they enrich public life and democracy.

Our first place is home, our second place is work, and the third places in our societies are the bedrock of community life and provide all the benefits that come from social interaction. They can be restaurants, bars, coffee shops, the beach, the shopping centre – it’s the place where you just like to relax and be you.

I’d imagine peoples best ‘churchy’ experiences are ones where they discover a third place which is their church community. I want to create a third place for our faith community which is also a third place for lots of other people in the wider community.

For Oldenburg a functioning third place must be free or at least inexpensive, there must be food and drink, they must be highly accessible to the neighbourhood so people can make it a regular part of their routine, a lot of people should be able to walk to it from their home, it should be space where people regularly go on a daily basis, where people feel welcome, comfortable and it’s easy to enter into conversation, and where a person can find both old and new friends on each trip to the place.

So how do we create a cafe or community hub which is a functional third place????

I was thinking:

1. Free water, tea and coffee (of the instant variety – people can pay for the good stuff) – that way no one is excluded if they don’t have the money…
2. Free internet use for those with a concession card…
3. Cheap but classy snacks like spicy sausage hot dogs and Italian style pizza slices…
4. Some kind of arty/creative expression people can participate in…

I’m sure there are other ideas out there – the trick is having the space as inclusive, commercially viable and meaningful all at the same time – good luck with that Doozy!

I’m also wondering whether the technological advancement since the early 90s have changed the nature of Third places?  Are online communities fulfilling that function more and more?

Christian Mikunda (Wien) ist Spezialist für dramaturgische Lösungen und hat zwei Bücher geschrieben: “Kino spüren – Strategien der emotionalen Filmgestaltung” (1986) und “Der verbotene Ort oder die inszenierte Verführung” (1996) zum Thema des ‘unwiderstehlichen Marketing durch strategische Dramaturgie’. Mikunda unterrichtet an der Universität Wien und entwickelt dramaturgische Lösungen und Konzepte für Shopping Center, Museen und Brandlands. Eine seiner Spezialitäten sind ‘Lernexpeditionen’ – minutiös vorbereitete Reisen mit vielen Stationen und Vor-Ort-Lectures, die an ‘Third Places’ in Städten wie New York City, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Tokyo oder Wien führen. Er arbeitet zur Zeit an einem neuen Buch zum Thema ‘Third Places’. Seine Homepage (under construction). Dank an J. für den Hinweis auf Mikunda, nachdem ich im Gespräch “Third Places” erwähnte.

Die Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt (im Schloss) hat JEDEN Tag von 8.00 bis 2.00 Uhr geöffnet. Guter Platz zum Arbeiten, WLAN muss ich noch checken.

2 Tischtennisplatten im Hof der Kyritzschule in der Ploennisstrasse (von der Pallaswiesenstrasse aus vor dem Torbogen links auf den Schulhof, dort stehen untern den Bäumen links zwei Platten.
1 Tischtennisplatte hinter dem Gebäude des Aktivspielplatzes im Herrngarten.

Mehr Tischntennisplatten in Zukunft in dem Weblog Location Tischtennis.

Third places heisst nicht nur Café, Bar oder Tischtennisplatte, sondern auch der Einzelhändler mit kompetenter und freundlicher Fachberatung, bei dem ich dann auch ausschließlich meine Bücher, meine Kamera, meine Blumen kaufe oder meine Wäsche wasche (ausser, wenn ich die Maschine meines Bruders nutze, Danke Bruder) und die Fotokopien mache.

Bei Holm Friebe und Sascha Lobo: Wir nennen es Arbeit: Die digitale Boheme oder: Intelligentes Leben jenseits der Festanstellung von dem amerikanischen Soziologen Ray Oldenburg gelesen und dort dem Begriff der Third Places: “Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons and other Hangeouts at the Heart of a Community”. Dazu bei Commercial Communities: “Oldenburg nannte solche Treffpunkte “third places”, neben und zwischen dem eigenen Zuhause als “first place” und der Arbeit als “second place”, und begriff sie als unverzichtbare Verbindungsglieder, deren privilegierte Aufgabe es ist, zwischen Individuum und Gesellschaft zu vermitteln, und die zugleich ein „soziales Zuhause“ anbieten, wo man sich jenseits von Familie und Arbeitsplatz in Anwesenheit von anderen aufgehoben und geborgen fühlen kann.”

Im Rahmen meiner unermüdlichen Bemühungen, mein Leben und meine freiberufliche Arbeit zu meistern, habe ich heute am 9. August auf dem Notebook meines Sohnes und im Carpe Diem in Darmstadt sitzend diesen Blog eröffnet und beginne damit, meine mir hier in Darmstadt wichtigen “Third Places” zu sammeln. Für andere und für mich zur Erinnerung, wenn mir zu Hause in meinem Büro, die Daten und Projekte auf den Kopf fallen und mir so “den Weg” versperren.

Bistro Carpe Diem, Schuknechtstraße 1, 64289 Darmstadt, 06151 79181. Angenehm zum Arbeiten und bei Bedarf nachmittags in der Sonne sitzen. Freier, gesicherter WLAN-Zugang, von der Bedienung bekommt man auf Nachfrage den Schlüssel.

Tischtennisplatte hinterm Haus des Verein Aktivspielplatz Herrngarten im Herrngarten Darmstadt. Gut zum Spielen, Mitspielen und zugucken. Johannes und Julia hatten uns dort die Idee eines regelmäßigen Tischtennis-Rundspiel-Treffens beschrieben, mal sehen, was draus wird.

Stadtbibliothek Darmstadt: Hab ich noch nicht ausprobiert, aber scheint mir ein wunderbarer Platz zum ruhigen Arbeiten am PC zu sein.

Die kleine Bibliothek im Prettlakschen Haus, das über den Prinz-Georg-Garten zugänglich ist. Öffnungszeiten: März – Oktober täglich von 07.00 bis 19.00 Uhr November – Februar täglich von 08.00 bis 17.00 Uhr Besonderer Tipp: Verkauf von Pflanzen und Gemüse aus dem ehemaligen Großherzoglichen Garten.

Mondo Deli Bistro in der Grafenstrasse 31. Wunderbares, entspanntes Bistro mit leckerem asiatischem Essen und WLAN-Zugang, an der Theke nach dem Schlüssel zum WLAN-Netz fragen.

Do we have a problem of place in America?

As suburban sprawl expands its reach, commute times between work and home steadily increase, and big box retailers have replaced store fronts once owned and managed by the members of local communities, many scholars — whether in sociology, urban planning or political science — are concerning themselves with this question.

In his book, The Great Good Place: Cafes, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, hangouts and how they get you through the day, Ray Oldenburg laments that Americans are becoming estranged from one another as a result of these physical transformations of space, and he calls for a renewed attention to the cultivation of third places.

What is a third place? Let us begin with the definition of first and second places. For Oldenburg, the first place is the home; the second place is where an individual goes to work. At the time that Oldenburg penned this book, the first place was the space where individuals spent most of their time, but this is less and less the case for Americans who work long hours and commute great distances each day. Oldenburg introduces the theory of a third place as a much-needed neutral space for “public relaxation” and social interaction. As the title of his book suggests, these places are barber shops, bars, cafes, beauty parlors, parks, and community centers: the spaces where people used to gather to socialize publicly with other members of their community and discuss issues of the day in a casual environment.

Oldenburg contends that as neighborhood landscapes lose these spaces and the constraints on American’s leisure time steadily increase, we have turned our attention to products for third place escapism: home entertainment centers, video game systems, smart phones. Thus, Oldenburg worries that we are becoming a society of isolated individuals, perverting our pastimes into acitivities that center around passive consumption. He writes:

“In the sustained absence of a healthy and vigorous public life, the citizenry may quite literally forget hot to create one…. enjoyment of strangers is not much in evidence in the United States. It is replaced by a set of strategies designed to avoid contact with people in public, by devices intended to preserve an individual’s circle of privacy against any stranger who might violate it” (13).

Writing in 1991, Oldenburg could not account for many of the new media technologies that have fostered novel interactions between people: social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook, blogs, user generated news, and mobile phone devices. So what do third spaces look like in 2009, and why should we care?

A 19th century downtown center vs. an online social network. Image on the right taken from www.queticointernetmarketing.com using TouchGraph.

First and foremost, let us consider whether online spaces can serve as third places. While Facebook cannot offer users face-to-face interaction with strangers, it does provide a module for communication between individuals and their constructed network: acquaintances, peers, colleagues and friends. Can an online space like Facebook transcend the physical spaces that are rapidly disappearing? Can I be transported to a neutral environment when I login to my Facebook account while sitting on my living room couch? Can texting or tweeting count as civic dialogue between me and members of my extended community (which, in my case, does include civicly-minded individuals and organizations like Rachel Maddow and the ACLU)? Of course, these technologies are transforming our sense of community all together. One could argue that communities no longer exist in a physical space, but rather in mediated environments.

The larger question for me amidst this discussion of third places is the aspect of civil discourse and whether we are becoming an ever more fragmented and individualized society with our increasingly online lives. Can Twitter feeds and Facebook notes serve as new tools for civic engagement and thus extend the breadth and reach of our social interactions? Are these REALLY one-to-many conversations, or merely monologic postings that engage little more than the mind of the poster?

Clearly the slow death of physical third places should give us pause and perhaps even cause for lamentation. But the real question is what will remain when the dust settles. Will new media technologies and their ability to create mediated space for interaction be an enhancement or a detriment to our civic culture?

I have decided that I am going to try and make Fridays my book review day – at least for the next couple of months as I continue to read through the mountain of books I have accumulated on different aspects of community.

My best book for this week is The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg.  It explores the need for third places like cafes and coffee shops which provide an important place for people to gather in communities. These places provide a gathering place in which people from all backgrounds can gather without feeling inferior or judged, a place where race, culture and belief don’t matter and where everyone is allowed a voice without being threatened by the need to believe certain things or act in certain ways.  “a transformation must occur as one passes through the portals of a third place.  Worldly status claims must be checked at the door in order that all within may be equals.” p25

Oldenburg believes that third places are essential to community because they encourage civil discourse, political discussion and creativity within an informal setting that affirms the place of all members of the community.   I love his assertion that the word idiot comes from the the ancient Greeks who equated privacy with stupidity.  “Idiots were those who only understood their private worlds and failed to comprehend their connection to the encompassing social order.” p71

The best known third places are probably the English pub and the German beer garden. “The pub… is the only kind of public building used by large numbers of ordinary people where their thoughts and actions are not being in some way arranged for them.” p47

I found this book both stimulating and thought provoking particularly as he indites the church as a destroyer of third places and therefore by implication a destroyer of community mindedness.  How does the church destroy thrid places – by forbidding dancing, smoking, alcohol and some cases even “loitering on street corners”.  These social activities provide gathering places in which people can share ideas, tell jokes, relax and unwind without feeling judged or criticized.

Interestingly the way the author describes third places is reminiscent of the gatherings of Christains we read about in Acts where there was “neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free”.  The egalitarianism of the early church fostered the kind of community  Oldenburg speaks about but somehow we lost it and replaced these informal community gathering places with formal institutions in which one needed to colour inside the lines in order to be allowed through the doors.

I think that one of the driving forces of the emerging church is the recognition of this need for a Third Place where people feel free to voice their disagreements, express their doubts and encourage their creativity.  I think one of the reasons we are losing young people from the church is because of this lack of third places.  Being told how to act, and what to believe without any place for dissent or doubt is destructive of the very kind of community we say we want.  I wonder if we would have less teenage rebellion and lose less older people from our churches if we fostered third place gatherings rather than the often boring and formally regimented segregated groups that many churches still encourage?

Yes I am deliberately trying to be provocative here, partly because I am concerned that we do not encourage questioning and healthy disagreement in our church gatherings and in the process are contribibuting to the isolation and loneliness within our society. What do you think?

The Food’s Good, So’s The Coffee, But What About The Culture…?

As far as so-called “third places” go, Panera has always been a tolerable alternative. The food is pretty tasty and reasonably priced. The coffee is strong and refills are free. And, often enough, the music is decent – especially off-peak hours, when they turn on the real jazz, the kind with edges, not “smooth,” in other words…

But there’s always been a nagging question in our minds here at Palookaville: Where do they get their art?

Well, we had that question answered for us the other day. As well as a few others that were equally enlightening…

We were having a business meeting at one of their area locations – there have at least six in the Greater Triad area – with a local artist, filmmaker and entrepreneur. It occurred to us that a Panera might be an ideal location to host a local arts exhibit. They make a point of marketing themselves as “Your Neighborhood Bakery” and they have art – granted, it’s all in some fashion bread-related – adorning every inch of available wall-space. So it might not be entirely unreasonable to expect they might be interested.

We asked to talk to the manager. A few minutes later, he came out and we put our question to him.

He could see where we were coming from, he said. But, unfortunately, it wasn’t possible. For one thing, all the art displayed at a given Panera’s had to be approved by corporate HQ. In fact, there was a catalogue provided to all franchise owners, from which they could select pre-approved works of art featuring loaves of bread, steaming cups of coffee, tasty sandwiches – or any combination thereof – rendered in every conceivable style and artistic technique.

But what you couldn’t do, what Corporate simply wouldn’t stand for, was to put on a show where works of art would be on display which any segment of the patronage might find disturbing, controversial or even just unattractive. Panera was not a location for local activity, not a venue for local exhibition. In fact, the only thing Panera was for (in any sense of the word) was the vending of foodstuffs and coffee-related products.

What it was not was a “third place” – a space that is neither home nor work, which encourages repeat patronage, as well as the regular influx of newbie walk-ins, under the aegis of fostering social networks, let alone civic involvement, both of which are traditionally seen as functions of these “third places”.

Truly disappointing. And, might we add, contrary to the public “persona” of the company.

There is a group of kids that come into the library fairly frequently. First they are there to use the internet, then when their time is over they disappear out of the view of the circ desk and make messes, be loud, and other disruptive things. They also talk back to any of us who address them. It’s been very frustrating for us all. While they are there all I can think about is catching them doing something so that I can kick them out.

However, when I look at this in retrospect, it makes me more convinced that we are providing a disservice to these kids and that our library needs some sort of teens’ services program. I’m not sure how it would look. I know it could possibly involve board game tournaments or movie nights, but I don’t know how it could look on the everyday scale. In our town there is nothing for teens to do, but walk around, bored looking for something to amuse them. The library is somewhere they can go to when there is nowhere else to go.

I imagine ideally there would be a teen space where they could gather and socialize (in a reasonable manner) or perform some sort of task where socializing would accompany it. (Such as the aforementioned board games). But how do you create that atmosphere in an existing space that wasn’t designed for it?

This post is primarily questions, but I believe it has a lot to do with the idea of third places and creating a community focused civic space. When there is nothing else to do, how can we create a space in the library that fits the needs of teens.

I stumbled across this article from the project for public spaces. It is an article discussing making libraries matter in the 21st century.  I think it is a great article that expresses what I feel the new library should embody. I aspire to create a place like this.

‘but they [libraries] still garner respect, praise and even adoration on account of their innovative management and programming–as well as design that supports a multitude of different uses. They are taking on a larger civic role–balancing their traditional needs and operations with outreach to the wider community–thereby contributing to the creation of a physical commons that benefits the public as a whole. If the old model of the library was the inward-focused community “reading room,” the new one is more like a community “front porch.”‘

So I actually got to thinking about this issue before I watched that awesom video that Aaron posted about public spaces. More or less it started when I was listening to Thomas Friedman’s new book in my car on the way to orchestra rehearsal. He too discusses the lack of meaningful spaces in his book. I wish I had a copy of it, but alas, I had to return it to the library! His reasoning differs in that he was examining international travel and discussed that people from other countries don’t visit the US as much as they used to. He feels a part of this is the seeming lack of care we take in our appearances. This relates to Kunstler because no one wants to look at Wal-marts.

While I don’t buy Kunstler’s idea that meaningless spaces creates a feeling of anxiety, I do think it creates a feeling of disassociation. If there is no meaningful PUBLIC space, no one will care what happens. I feel a library can be that public space. A library is not just  a place to house information anymore, it is a community space that can host teen movie nights and wii sports tournaments as well as summer reading program events. I believe that the library should do as much outreach as possible because the more we present our institution to the public as a true service to the community, the more the community will engage with us in return.

As the digital society grows so does the need for places that strike you with ambiance, your favorite coffee special, working space and enormous people-watching/working possibilities. You all do have one: your favorite coffee shop you would visit every day (no, I can’t imagine a life without this one anymore!):

credit: liebling

But I propose it is time, to bring the “St. Oberholz style” on a whole new level. Let’s dig into design.
Even my personally not so beloved coffee shop Starbucks is rethinking its entire interior strategy.
As impressively bespoken by the Architect Magazine they will implement a new design for its 15,000 stores, the roll out to be set in 2009.

Time for contest: five teams of architects shared their visions of the 21st century coffee shop. I loved to watch the draft of designLAB Boston answering the question of how to satisfy both: the desire for atmosphere and coffee culture as well as the urge to get your quick coffein shock in your daily hassle.
Their answer: two concepts, maybe two (sub-) brands: BARbucks who is your place if you wanna get this “Kaffeehaus” feeling while AUTObucks serves as your lovely but efficient gas station. If they manage to do so, I might consider to give them a second chance (no queuing anymore, yeah!).

I was totally inspired after viewing Kunstler’s Tragedy of Suburbia lecture to begin looking at our civic infrastructure from a standpoint of design and usability.

I was was struck by a statement made by my son about his school, Mcclure on Queen Ann hill that it looks like a “giant imposing fortress or battleship.”  With that in mind, I went to go snap a few pictures of the school:

They give you the instant feeling of greatness. They let you experience more than those just four walls. They fulfill your longing for transcendence. And they are the icons of illustrious room design. You might guess it. I am talking about those:

Vancouver Public Library, credit: selva

Seattle Public Library, credit: rbanks

BTU Cottbus, credit: cgommel

I can’t imagine getting trough my studies without heading everyday to the Neue Staatsbibliothek at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz which everybody would call the “marriage market” (fashion crisis every single morning…). Pushing the doors open and climbing up the stairs would always make my heart bumping and it felt like all brain cells would start glowing and blinking. I guess libraries are way ahead of our contemporary co-working spaces which start popping up in the creative centres of metropolis. If your mind needs a little push to be refocused, invite it to one of these amazing places.

While we’re checking out neighborhoods and homes in Greenville, we also want to take a spin around the city to get a feel for it (it’s been years since I’ve been there, and although Laura grew up 45 minutes from there, the city has changed dramatically since her younger days).

One of the things I want to do in Greenville is make and multiply disciples, and thus plant churches, in Greenville’s “3rd places.”  3rd places are those places you hang out when you’re not at home or at work (your 1st and 2nd places)–restaurants, bars, pubs, coffee houses, etc.  So, we will try to cruise around and find out where many of these places are, start praying for them, and start dreaming of what can happen.

This part of our trip will be, at least for me, the most important part… it will start to become real, that this city will become Ground Zero for me and my family, that this will be the place we call home, that this will be our immediate mission field.

We’ll be driving home tomorrow, so hopefully we were able to make all this happen!