Interview with DC Blogger, Geoffrey Hatchard April 28, 2008

My semester project explores how Internet platforms, like blogs and social networks, either do or do not translate into true communities and social capitol such as civic engagement. My interview with Mr. Hatchard was purely to get at the root of why he feels compelled to write about his neighborhood, which I believe to be civic engagement in and of itself, and also to get insight onto how the blog helps him engage with his community both on and off line.

Below is the full transcript of my interview with Geoffrey Hatchard, writer of Bloomingdale (for now)

According to your blog profile, you started your blog Bloomingdale (for now) in September 2005. Why did you start this blog?

I actually started the blog in December of 2006. I was reading a lot of other neighborhood blogs at the time, focusing on neighborhoods like Shaw, Brookland, and H Street NE, and I thought that I had a lot to say myself and wanted to add my voice to the mix. At first, I was concerned that there was already a blog about Bloomingdale, and that I would be stepping on someone else’s turf, but I quickly realized that there’s no reason that multiple people can’t blog about the same place.

What inspired you to write a blog about your neighborhood?

The thing that really inspired me, specifically, was the potential for commercial development on the block I live on, and the neighborhood in general. There is so much vacant commercial space, and it’s a shame because we could have a vibrant little corridor if the right businesses moved in.

How often do you post to your blog?

I usually post 3-4 times a week, but it can fluctuate wildly. Sometimes I can put up 6 posts in a day, and sometimes I go two weeks without writing anything. I don’t want to feel that I *have* to put something up there every day, but at the same time, you don’t want it to go fallow, for fear that interest will wane.

What type of topics/issues do you usually discuss?

As I said above, I like to focus on commercial happenings in the neighborhood, but since those are few and far between, I tend to throw a lot of minutiae in the mix. It seems, and probably is, uninteresting or even pointless to most people, but I have a small group of readers who are interested in everything going on in the neighborhood, so it’s good to know some people share the same interests.

In a typical month, how many people visit bloomingdale (for now)?

I’m not sure that this last month has been typical, but since it’s only been a month since I set up a counter on the site, I can just give you that number. According to Google Analytics, I have had 3,130 individuals view the site in the April.

You get a fair amount of comments on your posts. How would you characterize the comments (friendly, combative, angry, celebratory?)

I would say most of the comments are supportive or that they agree with my assertions. I try not to say anything *too* controversial or be overly combative, so I think that keeps the angry/ranting comments to a minimum.

Do you respond to the comments you receive? To your knowledge, are most of the comments from people who live in Bloomingdale?

I do respond to a lot of the comments, and you can tell that a good number of those are coming from people in the neighborhood, given their intimate knowledge of some of the details.

Do you personally know any of the people who comment and/or subscribe to your blog off-line?

Has a conversation from your blog ever inspired you to meet someone off-line?

I do know some of the people in real life, and I have met some people since they became commenters on the blog.

Your blogroll contains links to bloggers who write about other DC neighborhoods and DC. How often do you read these blogs? Did you add them to your blogroll so that your readers would know about the sites? Or did you add them as a convenience (instead of an aggregator or feedreader service)?

I read those other blogs regularly. It’s how (in addition to neighborhood newspapers) I manage to keep up on tons of small things going on around the city. I added the blogroll initially to help myself keep track of people I wanted to read, and when I finally started using an RSS reader to keep my blog reading more organized, I just left it there as a guide for others to see where I’m getting some of my inspiration.

Do you feel that you are better known in the Bloomingdale and D.C. communities because you have a blog?

Definitely. When I introduce myself at times, people immediately say “oh yeah, I read your blog,” and they’d have no reason to know me otherwise. In the end though, given the demographics of the neighborhood blogging set, I think that we all know each other much more than I might be known in my neighborhood.

Do you feel more civically engaged because you write about and sometime critique the neighborhood, your neighbors, and DC?

Absolutely. When I decided I was going to live full time in DC, I decided that I better start having some opinions on things and being involved in things. I go to a lot of meetings, and I think the fact that I may end up reporting on those meetings gets me more involved and engaged than I otherwise might be.

How involved are you in community activities off-line? Please discuss some of the community events you attend and/or participate in?

I’m somewhat involved in community activities off-line. There are groups that I volunteer with that work city-wide, and I have done some things with Bloomingdale-specific groups, though not as much as I could. There are only 24 hours in a day, though…

Has your blog ever been picked up by mainstream media (like newspapers, magazines, etc.) and/or other blogs?

Yes, washingtonpost.com has directed people to my blog, as well as dcist.com, dcblogs.com, and other neighborhood sites around DC

If you move, will you write a blog about your new community?

Yes. The title of the blog [bloomingdale (for now)] is a direct reference to that. If I end up in another neighborhood in town, I still plan on the same level of involvement, but I’ll have to focus on a new place.

Is there any event or reason that would cause you to stop writing your blog?

I think the only thing that could really kill the blog off would be if I moved completely out of DC. I don’t know that the level of detail that I like to focus on would be viable in other places. Perhaps in another city, but when I think back to some of the smaller towns I’ve lived in, I think the level of local gossip there precludes the need for blogs!