Speaking of the census, as you may recall, we conducted a mini census of our own a few weeks back regarding the blog and the neighborhood more generally.  For those who are interested, here are the results: 

• Who is visiting NP?
  • 88% are from Crown Heights,
  • 3% are from Bed-Stuy,
  • 3% from Prospect Heights, and
  • 8% are from elsewhere around the globe.
• What zip codes are representing?
  • 43% of respondents live in the 11216 zip code, followed by
  • 20% in the 11225,
  • 18% in 11238,
  • 8% in 11213, and
  • the rest from other zips.
• How long have readers lived in Crown Heights?
  • 48% are relatively new, only living in the neighborhood 0 – 4 years,
  • 30% have lived here more than 9 years,
  • 18% have lived here 4 – 9 years, and
  • the question was not applicable to the rest.
• How often do readers visit NP?
  • 45% visit once a week,
  • 25% visit 2 – 3 times per week,
  • 18% visit everyday, and
  • 10% rarely if ever visit.
• People visit NP because…
  • 50% visit to learn about Crown Heights,
  • 21% visit to learn about local businesses and restaurants,
  • 17% visit to learn about what’s happening around Brooklyn, and
  • 3% visit for other reasons.

Some may notice that the results of three of the more intriguing questions,“What do you like least about Crown Heights?”  “What do you like most about Crown Heights?” and “What do you consider part of Crown Heights’ identity as a neighborhood?” are left off.  In part because we want to build up suspense, and in part because we are a small volunteer staff of contributors and this is an easy way to stretch content over a couple of days we will post those results in the coming days.   Stay tuned!

In our attempt to better serve our readers and the community as a whole, we are asking for a bit of feedback on how we are doing, and what we can do better. This survey will only take a minute. Thank you for clicking on the proceeding link to begin.

Having used their videos on our site before it is only fair that we help the Internets Celebrities, Rafi Kam, Casimir Nozkowski, and Dallas Penn, raise awareness about their forthcoming project, Stadium Status.  Following up on the success of Checkmate and Bodega, two shorts for which they received considerable acclaim, Penn and Kam (the mainstays in front of the camera) are striking out on an exploration of the fascination with elaborate sports arenas and stadiums.  While this latest project is set here in New York, their film applies to virtually every city with a major sports team.  In the past three years alone we have witnessed Seattle’s NBA team uprooted to Oklahoma City because city residents wouldn’t agree to finance a new stadium, and this year Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones unveiled a 1.4 billion dollar monstrosity that includes a scoreboard so large that punters can routinely hit its bottom.  Just two weeks ago, we watched President Barack Obama travel to Copenhagen to lobby on behalf of Chicago’s olympic bid; and as most observers know Olympics are anchored by large stadiums, many of which are often of little use after host the game.

In Stadium Status Penn and Kam shift their attention to New York’s recent spate of luxury liners for millionaires, Yankee Stadium 2.0, CitiField, Giants Stadium and the forthcoming notorious Barclay’s Arena that will house Brooklyn’s NBA team.  Why would a city that has yet to solve its problems financing public education and transportation deem it necessary to underwrite new playgrounds for professional athletes?  After all, the Yankees aren’t the Sonics, therefore the odds of them leaving New York are nil (can you imagine anyone clamoring to play for the Oklahoma Yankees?). 

It will be interesting to first see whether The Internets Celebrities who have been honing their craft online for years now with little compensation, save for press passes, can succeed in crowd sourcing this project, and then two how their blend of humor and analysis is sustained in a longer form project. We’re willing to bet that they will hit home runs on both accounts. And when they do, let’s just hope they don’t forget the little guys and gals when they achieve stadium status and are sitting court side along Spike et al.

To help kickstart Stadium Status or to learn more about the Internet Celebrities click on the following links:

Checkmate

Bodega

Kickstarter Online

It took us a while, but we finally figured out how to have a full-fledged registration feature on Nostrand Park.  The system is still evolving, but, now if you click on the interact link, then register, you will be able to set up an NP account that will enable you to become a more active contributor to the conversations taking place on the site, and bring us a step closer to fulfilling our mission to become Crown Heights’ Virtual Town Square.

Happy Posting,

NP Staff

The Internet as Playground and Factory – Students from Trebor Scholz on Vimeo.

http://digitallabor.org/
PANEL DISCUSSION & ART INSTALLATION
Changing Labor Value
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Panel: 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Installation: 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.
The New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor, New York City
Admission: $8, free for all students, New School faculty, staff and alumni with valid ID
www.veralistcenter.org
Words Without Pictures
Drawing from critical perspectives on labor, social media, political theory, this panel discussion addresses the nature of the work of Internet users and networked workers, focusing on the relationship between invisible labor, play, exploitation, pleasure, and the production of value. What constitutes work in the digital era? What are some alternatives to the seamless corporate expropriation of value from millions of net users? Is it possible to acknowledge the moments of ruthless exploitation while not eradicating optimism, inspiration, and the many instances of individual financial and political empowerment?
As annotations to the panel, several web-based projects will be installed in the same lecture hall from 5:30 p.m. onwards through the evening.
This event is presented as a prelude to “The Internet as Playground and Factory,” a conference organized by Eugene Lang faculty member Trebor Scholz that will take place at Eugene Lang College (The New School), from November 12 to 14, 2009 (www.digitallabor.org). The conference will address the massive transformations in economy, labor, and life related to digital media and confront the urgent need to interrogate what constitutes labor and value in the digital economy.
Moderator:
McKenzie Wark, Associate Professor, Chair of Media Studies and Associate Dean of Eugene Lang College
Panelists:
Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University and author of the recently published collection of essays, Nice Work if You Can Get It
Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology, New York University and author of The Craftsman
Tiziana Terranova, Associate Professor of Sociology of Communications, Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and author of Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age
Artist projects by:
Burak Arikan
Scott Kildall
Ursula Endlicher
Stephanie Rothenberg and Jeff Crouse
and others

There’s an interesting debate going on over at Bed-Stuy Banana today regarding whether newspapers are pilfering stories from area bloggers.  It goes without saying that intellectual property is a major issue in online media, but the internet didn’t invent plagiarism.  The staff at Harvard’s Berkman Center has been exploring this issue for a decade, and there have been some advancement in defining the parameters for intellectual property online. 

That said, considering all the content that they’re losing to aggregators all across the web, what responsibilities do newspapers have to bloggers?

Join in the convo at Bed-Stuy Banana and let the crowd know what you think.

• RantRave.com: A Killing in Crown Heights, No Suspects.
• Brownstoner: Walkabout with Montrose – Hardware: Jewel in the Crown
• Brooklyn Eagle: Crown Heights Synagogue Considered for Historic Designation

• My Brooklyn Report: What Would Brooklyn Be Without Scandal In Its Politics? (Note: this includes some interesting insights into political scandals in the 36th District, as well as other Central Brooklyn districts)
• My Brooklyn Report: Is NYC Overcharging You in Property Taxes?
• My Brooklyn Report: What’s Going Right in Brooklyn’s Real Estate Recovery
• Carib World News: Colin Powell named Grand Marshal of Labor Day (Caribbean Day/West Indian Day) Parade
• Crown Heights Picture Blog: Updates
• Brownstoner: Walkabout with Montrose – Parlez Vouz French Flat?
• CentreDaily.com: Hasidic Star Matisyahu Mixes It Up on New Album

Photo Credit: Kayla Wexenberg – from NYTimes’ The Local – “A Cultural Eminence Departs” by Jessica Loudis and Andy Newman

Perhaps it’s a sheer coincidence, or perhaps it is more concrete evidence, but only a day after our recent post about a possible growing art scene in Crown Heights, the NY Times “The Local” blog reported that cultural icon, Danny Simmons – the brother of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and rapper Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons, co-creator of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, co-founder of Corridor Gallery, and an artist in his own right – is moving from his home in Clinton Hill to a home on St. Marks in Crown Heights. [NP1]

Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks when we explore some of Danny Simmon’s reflections on gentrification in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill and discuss the role of art in community development and its implications for Crown Heights. But even before we get there, we are, as always, interested in what other folks in the “Town Square” think about all of this. Some may find Brownstoner’s coverage of our piece and their characterization of the changes in Crown Heights quite interesting (or maybe incendiary) – Brownstoner’s commentary sparked a very spirited debate about race, class and gentrification in Crown Heights.

[NP1] As further “evidence” of the growing art scene: only a few hours before the Local Piece was published, a poster on the Crown Heights Brooklynian message board wrote in about a local collective of artists who are looking for new artists to join their art space at the Montgomery Street Gardens. Furthermore, as was pointed out to us, not only have Tavern on Nostrand and 95 South hosted jazz nights around town, Abaigail’s restaurant, the relatively new wine bar and restaurant on Classon Avenue and St. Johns offers a weekly jazz brunch. Moreover, Medgar Evers College offers a weekly jazz series during the summer.