Members of the Hyattsville Wiki,

It seems we are at the crossroads of opportunity and we can choose to build upon all the hard work and experience each of us has put in to help other citizens of Maryland's communities to communicate, not only with each other, but across neighborhoods, municipalities, and counties.

I have received many phone calls from people around the country who are also interested in strengthening their communities and level of involvement in local issues. Whether the calls came from Pottstown, Pa., Albuquerque, N.M., or Riverdale, Md., they all want to know the same thing - how can they can mimic the exemplary work we have so far achieved.

Recently, Jim Groves (moderator), myself (site founder) and Dwight Holmes (Riverdale Park resident) met to discuss the potential for Riverdale Park wiki pages to be incorporated within the Hyattsville wiki site. For Dwight, he wants Hyattsville residents to be aware of what is happening in Riverdale Park, since we are so close geographically and share the ongoing development of the Route 1 corridor. For Hyattsville, this means we can also learn a little bit more about Riverdale Park, whether it is what time the Riverdale Park Farmers Market is open or a proposed City Council ordinance that may impact our border neighborhoods.

The discussion quickly turned to the other municipalities along Route 1 and whether we should offer them a presence on the wiki as well. Since a decision made in Mt. Rainier or even as far away as Greenbelt could impact our traffic patterns, density or even where we choose to go out to eat for dinner.

This also got me thinking about the social network capabilities on the wiki. Whether you have taken advantage of these or not, this site allows you to create a personal profile, send a private message to someone, or comment on any topic. Now imagine if a council member in College Park is curious about the work Hyattsville has done regarding pedestrian safety. Not only can he view what we have done here, he can also contact the stakeholders and ask questions, or offer advice based on his experience.

But it doesn't have to stop here. There are also other communities in Maryland that, while not geographically related to us, may be considering similar policies regarding rental houses or safe city initiatives, for instance. Normally we would only hear about it second hand and have to network through our representatives or friends to get a name and contact. If we open our wiki to other communities we can do a tag search and see what other towns have done in similar situations.

"Whoa...Hold On! Won't this wiki become a jumbled mess?"

Well not if we think it through and organize it appropriately to accommodate growth and maintain individual community identity. My idea would be to break the navigation down by county and then each county or municipality can create their pages to look and feel like they want. The URL, www.hyattsvillewiki.com, can be re-pointed just to our pages so no one loses their bookmarks. For the home page, I imagine something similar to our current page but with more features that highlight local and regional news and events.

With that said, I leave it up to you the members to decide whether we should stay the same, bring in a few communities at a time, or open up the whole enchilada.

Please post your thoughts and concerns in the comments section below and after the discussion subsides or consensus is built we can take the next step. For now, it is just an idea.

Thanks for your consideration.

Chris Condayan