At a recent panel organized by Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post at 92Y in New York, Craig Newmark of Craigslist spoke about the “Craigslist For Services” idea that is being developed by partners of the new administration. He said that about a year ago he saw the term ‘Craigslist For Service’ used in Obama messaging and wondered what it meant to help each other our when we were all in such a hurry. He told the large audience that attitudes are changing and that doing some sort of service should be expected of us (the citizens). Newmark said:
“Something is different, something is happening… This service will help people who want to help, serve and help people who serve.”
Although he will not have a direct link with the project, he has been providing advice to a collaborative team working on it, made up of large technology companies including Google. In December 2008, Newmark blogged on the Huffington Post some more ideas about the concept:
While “a craigslist for service” is just a metaphor, as customer service rep and founder of craigslist, well, seems right to stand up and say something about this… Here are four possible aspects of “a craigslist for service.”
1. If you have the time and inclination to get out, you might volunteer for an existing service organization, probably a recognized for-profit. There are sites which make this relatively easy, the most effective of which is VolunteerMatch.org.
2. You might have some cash you’d like to pool with others to get something done. Sites which make that happen include DonorsChoose.org, funding classroom projects, or Kiva.org, which provides micro-finance loans to small businesspeople.
3. You might have the time for traditional civic engagement, where you participate in local governance. For example, you might join the PTA, or just attend local city council or board of education meetings, or join the board of a small non-profit. That’s traditional grass-roots democracy, an important American tradition.
4. Online, you might get involved in the new grass-roots democracy, where you get increasingly smart about some aspect of national governance.
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Someone please edit the spelling of “Craig” in this article please.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Done – thanks for the catch!
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
An edited video of the panel discussion encapsulating the evening, including Craig elaborating a bit on what you note above, is up at the 92Y blog here, http://blog.92y.org/index.php/weblog/item/92y_video_the_huffington_post_in_residence_the_year_ahead/
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
sounds like a living blog.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:16 pm