RIPPLE
RIPPLE showcases the views and voices of the rural Northwest and provides a platform for rural people to share resources and speak out about issues that affect them.
RIPPLE is RDI’s award winning community website. Whether you are interested in the "Rundown on Rural Broadband," "Discovering the Elusive Farmer Blogger," fueling economic development in a rural community, or learning to market your small rural business, RIPPLE is the place for you. Though the topics are continually changing, if it is of interest to rural folks, you are likely to find it on RIPPLE.
The idea for a community website came from the need to strengthen connections between rural people and ideas separated by geography and to increase the opportunity that the internet affords. RDI's goal is to bring the underrepresented rural voice to the internet, and most importantly, create connections between the people we work with by providing a place for them to share information and ideas.
What is an online community?
An online community is a social network of individuals who interact through a website, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. The mutual interest we all come to RIPPLE to discuss is rural life and community building.
What are the RIPPLE success factors?
A successful virtual community has many of the same characteristics of a successful physical community. In most ways, the site must work for the people who use it, just like a physical space must work for the people who live there. It must be easy to get around the site and beautiful to look at. Community engagement is also essential to a vital virtual community. In a community, knowledge isn’t disseminated from the outside in. It flows organically between people; community members share their opinions and experiences. We hope that RIPPLE users will share knowledge and resources with each other, so they can do more for their physical communities. We also hope that folks who visit the RIPPLE community gain a greater understanding of the lives that rural people lead and what kind of unique opportunities and challenges rural life has to offer.
How can you participate?
RIPPLE (www.ripplenw.org) makes it easy for folks to participate! While reading a good story or searching for resources or creating a free MyRIPPLE profile, discover ways to interact with other members around specific rural issues!
RIPPLE relies on volunteer bloggers, RDI staff, and people like you — rural residents with a passion for community building and rural life — to make this online community thrive. We are always looking for fresh ideas to invite more participation and help us grow the RIPPLE community. If you’ve got suggestions or comments, or would like to join our team of bloggers, contact Alison Cassin at RDI: acassin@rdiinc.org.
