Positive news @ neighborhood level: Can we coauthor the opposite of crime maps?

[Bill Wendel]

One of the things that excites me about Web 2.0 is the opportunity for anyone to map what they love about their neighborhoods and communities. As housing markets slide into downcycles across the country, consumers will make home buying decisions less on financial return and more on quality of life. That's where interactive, community mapping comes in.

Network news and sites like Chicago Crime map too often focus on the worst of humanity. Widespread coverage of the tragic mass murder yesterday in Omaha, got some ChangeAgents Twittering today about the need for positive news. If there are dozens of types of crime that can be mapped, shouldn't there be at least that many ways to map "social capital"or good old-fashioned neighborliness?

My guess is that organizations like NeighborWorks have already created a typology of community assets, but wouldn't it be fun to invite ordinary home buyers and sellers to help create a "folksonomy" of tags that identify the friendliness, uniqueness, and richness (measured in generosity of spirit not housing values) of their neighborhoods and communities?

Maybe ChangeAgents can channel of some of the sorrow and outrage at yesterday's mindless shootings into a positive dialogue about creating "the opposite of crime maps." What are you already doing to document and promote good news at the neighborhood level? Are there any specific "tags" you would like to see mapped, like block parties, to help buyers or sellers identify good things happening in your neighborhood or things you love about your community?