Welcome to the Commons...

When we went "live" with the Dunstable News site, in August of 2004, we thought that the town needed a newspaper, but even then we thought that it needed more. Kathy often joked that at the next town election she was going to run for "Town Crier," and I liked that image as a pretty fair description of what she was doing, as well as being a nod to New England tradition, but what we really wanted was to foster communication, rather than just broadcast the view from our little window on Dunstable life.

For the challenges that we face, as a small town with a growing population, declining revenues, and diverse needs, we need more than to simply be informed. We need to cultivate sources of positive ideas. We need to negotiate and to compromise. We need to talk with one another about some of the things that currently divide us. We need to construct a vision of a future for Dunstable that will unite as many of us as we can. And for all these things, we need to have lots of people talking with each other.

Certainly, another New England tradition comes to mind when we talk about public discourse, and that of course is the town meeting. Dunstable town meetings are a great way to participate in the discussion and decision-making that will largely determine what kind of town we are to become, what kind of life we will share, and even whether people will choose to move here, stay, or leave.

However, we need more than just the occasional town meeting. When Dunstable had a population of 300 people, rather than 3000, it might have been possible for all of those who felt strongly about issues to express themselves, but it certainly isn't possible now. I doubt that even with a smaller population those meetings have ever done much to produce new ideas, to significantly bridge differences, or to change the mindset of more than a few of those present. Hard chairs, nodding heads, and grumbling stomachs aren't conducive to the patience required to change people's minds.

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We have tried to bring us all just a little closer together, and now we want to try to do an even better job of this by tempting more voices to be heard, and more ideas to find their expression, to further enrich our community life.

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I came to New England twenty years ago to join some friends in a venture that sought to promote many-to-many discourse through the distinctly non-traditional mode of computer communication. That's right... an internet startup in 1986. We were not only one of the very early internet startups, we were one of the first internet bubbles to burst.

Even though our timing was off, we find that many of our ideas, which seemed so revolutionary then, are now in the mainstream. The percentage of the population that has come to rely on email, websites, chat rooms, internet messaging, discussion forums, blogs, and other online communication resources is now quite high. In fact, we are quickly approaching a penetration of 50% of Dunstable homes with our own email newsletter.

Common sense tells us that whenever you pick a time for a face to face meeting, if the number of potential attendees is very large, a significant number won't be able to make it. I know from the research that preceded my earlier startup business that there are some people who are quite comfortable standing up and expressing their views in meetings, and others who are at best uncomfortable, and perhaps unwilling, to do so. Some of these people have been liberated by computer communication, which allows them to communicate when convenient, and to thoughtfully compose and edit their expressions before making them public. (I am one such person.)

So we want to take a new stab, in 2006, at offering such an opportunity - a mode of interchange tailored to our own town's needs. We love our town meetings, and see this as a complement to such meetings, to Dunstable's community access TV channel, and to informal exchanges, over a slice or a cup of coffee, at the Convenient Mann. We want to offer this new vehicle to local clubs, sports teams, scouting organizations, reading groups, and all manner of other community organizations, large and small, formal and informal, that might benefit from a common point of contact.

When Kathy and I think of this, we don't think of stuffy meetings. We think of those wonderful summer concerts at the commons, with people relaxed in chairs, chatting with their neighbors, listening to the music, and watching the kids frolic and dance on the benches in front of the band stand. We picture other events at that venue, as well, where artisans and craftsmen proudly exhibit their creations to the delight of passersby, and kids find out about the Dunstable police, the volunteer fire department, the highway crews and the tree trimmers by talking with them in their vehicles. All that we think of, when we think of the commons, are images of townspeople coming together, learning about one another, and taking joy in each other's company.

We have taken great pride in Dunstable News. We have appreciated the support of our contributors and advertisers, and we have been rewarded by frequent expressions of gratitude from our readers. We have tried to bring us all just a little closer together, and now we want to try to do an even better job of this by tempting more voices to be heard, and more ideas to find their expression, to further enrich our community life.

Please join us in this passage, and say hello to your neighbors on the Dunstable Commons.