Like email lists and bulletin boards, the blog has become a powerful electronic tool that brings people together and builds entire communities in the virtual reality of the World Wide Web. But can the online community transcend the Internet to unite people and strengthen communities in the real world? G-RAD, a Website that hosts a group of blogs maintained by people who share in common a tie to the City of Grand Rapids, strives to do just that.
Established by Ben Schaafsma and George Wietor, recent graduates of Calvin College and Grand Valley State University respectively, G-RAD houses more than 20 blogs. A blog is a personal website that typically combines text, images, and links to other blogs and media related to a specific topic.
On G-RAD, some contain news and commentary about local art and music, politics, food, or city history. Others serve as online diaries where homegrown Grand Rapidians stay in touch with friends from places like Washington D.C. or Europe. Still others are more like virtual photography studios, offering unique images of the city or daily life.
But the group also has begun to combine their individual talents and interests and act collectively on a variety of group projects. LAMB, or Little Art Mag and Blog, is a magazine that critiques and updates the local art scene occasionally presented in printed forum. The Interviews Project is an online exploration of the common themes influencing young talented people to stay in Grand Rapids or leave for more attractive places.
Then there's NEST, a recently rented building on Lyon Street where G-RAD's online community of like-minded people are coming together – in physical, not digital, form.
“The future of NEST is pretty loose,” Ben Schaafsma said. “Ostensibly, it a is working studio. But it also doubles as a meeting hall, office, mini art gallery, ad hoc music venue, and general hang out zone.”
A Family Affair
The original aim of G-RAD was to highlight and promote a select group of neighborhoods in the central city. Schaafsma and Wietor also envisioned eventually establishing an online store to sell products made in Grand Rapids. But, like so many of the 60 million online blogs, G-RAD struggled initially to gain energy and popularity. So the founders had to rethink their goals and approach.
The current shape of G-RAD is inspired by Urban Honking, a Website based out of Portland, OR where more than 50 bloggers pontificate about basically what ever they want. The project originally started out as an online magazine, but the business of managing writers and regular publication proved too difficult, so the stream of content on the site grew stagnant.
And then the blogging phenomenon took hold, enabling Urban Honking to tap new writers, new energy, and a larger audience. Today, in addition to the written word, the site also displays visual art, enables music sharing, and even shows movies.
"It feels like a real community of creative people," cofounder Mike Merrill writes in a brief history published on the project's Website.
Merrill describes G-RAD as Urban Honking's younger cousin. The site is maintained mainly by its founding members – Schaafsma and Wietor – both of whom also maintain blogs on the site. Wietor designs most of the site’s individual pages, including some of the personal blogs, and Schaafsma serves as the site's administrator.
Good Days Ahead
Schaafsma says that the site was formed with the intention of being a truly open community. And in many ways they have achieved that goal, he said.
“A lot of the people who are now involved with G-RAD had never met prior to finding the site, and it has done a great job of forming new connections and promoting new ways of interacting,” said Schaafsma, who is currently a grad student at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Though a few people are charged with actually maintaining the site, everyone who contributes any sort of content, whether it's through the forum or in blogs, is a part of what makes up G-RAD as a whole,” he added.
Schaasfma and several G-RAD bloggers interviewed for this article agree the site, which focuses primarily on the local underground arts scene, tends to attract people with similar interests and appeals to a narrow demographic.
But, like a young Urban Honking, G-RAD is a young and evolving online publication competing for people's time in an increasingly busy Web universe. What's more, it's run by volunteers, not a paid staff. The hope is that unique services such as Word on the Street, a weekly newsletter about the local arts and music scene prepared by Jenn Schaub, and a growing list of special projects such as NEST continue to catalyze new energy, interest, and inclusiveness.
“G-RAD comes off as being for a niche group rather than everyone around, and perhaps that is the only way that you can maintain a group as dedicated to art, music, and local art-culture,” said Josh Leo, a Grand Rapids resident that stumbled upon the forums while looking at his own website’s referrals. "I think that a common space for people to work on creative projects is great, and I hope it grows, but I hope more people than just the people with blogs on G-RAD feel compelled to get involved.”
Despite the significant downtime in its early days, a challenge surmounted by the now immensely popular Urban Honking, G-RAD remains consistently busy, according to Schaafsma. He also said “big plans and ideas” are in the works to expand projects and site features.
“2007 will be a very good year for G-RAD,” he said.
Photos:
G-RAD - the logo
G-RAD co-founder George Wietor at the controls
"The Nest" with nestors
Ben Schaafsma - co-founder of G-RAD
All photographs were lifted with kind permission from G-RAD.ORG