You've got the syllabus, but here's that assignment again:
Visit Everyblock.com and look up your own address.
If you do not live in the City of Chicago, enter an address or neighborhood that you are familiar with—other than Columbia College Chicago.
OR: If you're from one of the other cities that Everyblock covers-- including Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, and about ten more-- then look up an address in your city.
Post to the class blog before class meets on October 15:
- What did you learn that you didn’t know before?
- What was interesting? Newsworthy?
- What (if anything) did you not understand?
- What would you change about the site—add, subtract, or re-arrange?
Area: Andersonville
ReplyDeleteI noticed a significant issue of robbery and burglary in my area [Andersonville] (namely a few houses down had a theft), however this doesn't come as a surprise to me as I live in a pretty upscale neighborhood (which is a problem I can manage, as opposed to living my previous neighborhood which had significant gang issues). I'm not sure if anything that occurred nearby was necessarily newsworthy, though it is worth noting that citizens in the area should be careful and aware of ever-present element of crime (specifically robbery and burglary). I also live somewhat close to a red line stop which, if you are a native Chicagoan would know, is a hotbed for crazy people.
Most of the information given to me were ratings of the local bars and breweries (my block has two: a beer and a liquor distillery built inside what was once a mechanic shop. It should also be noted I live ten minutes from Wrigleyville, so I have an endless stream of bars close by. It should also be noted I haven't seen any assault charges on the site around my area, considering how many drunks wander the streets nearby. That was the biggest surprise to me of all. Then again, police presence is strong around those locations.
I wouldn't change much of the site. It provided me with a good sense of my community, which is reassuring to know that it is filled with more business reviews that crime reports. I was pretty interested what was around me.
Oh, and there was a lost cat. Better than hearing gun shots in my alley again.
Address: 4136 N. Ridgeway
ReplyDeleteWhat caught my eye was the number of crimes there are on a daily basis in my area code. So many crimes that include assault, battery, burglary, motor theft vehicles, and other charges. There were 26 crimes on one day, the day being October 4, 2010. Then again, it says that was the day the crime was published on the website. On the plus side, I learned a bit more about the restaurants in my area code. One example is three restaurants (Drew's Eatery, Ian's Pizza and New York Deli) are all participating in a “World Go Vegan Week” as a way of raising awareness of the increasing number of meat-free customers. I guess this bit of info on the website has given me and my girlfriend a place to eat out this weekend.
The interesting part about this website is almost everything is covered. From crime to business to real estate. What I do not understand is the crime reporting on the site. Somehow I find it hard to believe there were 26 crimes committed on one day. I need more clarification on whether it was that day or the it is just the day the crime is being published on the website. Nevertheless, Everyblock.com is great place for information about a specific area. I would change a thing about the site. Maybe just the color haha I'm more of a fan of blue than green.
What I found interesting about this site was that it posts basically everything you would ever want to know about your neighborhood. I like how it caters to almost everyone’s taste in news; from being reported in the media, to business reviews, to real estate listings. It has everything. Also, I really enjoy the crime postings. I think that is something very helpful that all neighborhoods should have.
ReplyDeleteMy area was the blocks surrounding 731 South Plymouth Court. This is Ursula.
ReplyDeleteArea: Wicker Park
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really surprised me was the fact that most of the crimes listed were theft-related. For some reason I expected there to be a lot more drug related issues, just because there's a lot of sketchy looking places in the area.
I love that this website has a lot of things that you can look at. I feel like it would be a good website for someone to look at if they were considering moving to a certain neighborhood. (I really like the lost and found postings.)
There wasn't anything that I didn't understand, but I did find something that I thought was newsworthy that I hadn't heard or come across and that was an article about an illegal night club in the area. I thought it was cool that the website had links to the story and you could learn about it.
I didn't really like the layout of the website. It was kind of boring and bland, especially the overview page. I feel like the organizational scheme should have been different and comments should not have been on the first page right away. But that's just me.
All in all, I like the website. I like the way they review and rate businesses and give people information on local happenings.
I wish they would have this website for smaller towns too from all over and not just major cities. I would have liked to look at what it would say about my hometown.
Dallas TX 1125 South Oak cliff blvd 75208
ReplyDeleteI learned that there are only crime reports in my city I grew up in. theres no positive new to blance it out in the area.
It was interesting to see a site that I can use to see whats going on back at home.
I would change some of the abbreations in the reports for better undersatnding.
I would add more pictures and stories on the siste if I could change anything.
Address: 59 E Van Buren st Chicago, IL 60605
ReplyDeleteI learned that theft is the number 1 crime that is being committed at or near this address. This information didn't surprise me all that much because theft is the most common crime in any area.
The site is pretty interesting because I can check out what is happening in my area that is newsworthy, as well as local reviews of restaurants.
I would add local news to the site as well as contents on the top of the page.
I don't live in Chicago, I live in the suburbs near Chicago called Sleepy Hollow. Its near Dundee or Elgin if you are familiar with that. But I chose to do Wrigleyville. I am there all the time in the summer for Cubs games and such. I wanted to know a little more in depth about it.
ReplyDeleteI was not surprised about all of the burglary that is going on. But I was surprised about the battery towards people that is taking place. I did not think that it was as bad as it is. Especially, since there are many police men that are around that area. Also, most people probably don't know, but a suicide happened in a bar a week or couple of weeks ago. That is what bothered me the most. I think that that is the most terrible thing to do and someone had to do it in Wrigleyville and in a public bar.
There were a lot of posts about different things going on. Such as, concerts, or bands playing. There are also deals about resturants, or stuff about contests or things that are going on like that.
I think if I could change one thing I would put different categories to put the topics in. Such as, crimes, events, concerts, deals, coupons. That would make it much easier to find things, and get to what you really want, because a lot of it is all over the place. I think it is very clustered.
It is all newsworthy because a lot of the things that are posted are important and people should know about.
I dont live on campus or in the city of Chicago- I live in a small suburb about forty miles west of the city: Batavia. So unfortunately it wasn't covered by "everycityblock" so i decided to look up Wicker Park because i am semi-familiar with that area.
ReplyDeleteI found it super interesting that someone recently reported an " extremely loud explosion at the 1500 block of Pearson"
It was supposedly not a gun shot, and was too loud to be a fire cracker... i thought this was super intersting, but only one person commented on it saying simply...
"yeah i heard it to, it was loud." I thought this comment was absolutely hysterical because obviously no one in really concerned.
I would be freaking out if there was a loud explosion in my neighborhood in the middle of the night- especially because this is reportedly the second time this has happened. And instead of being worried some random guy from the neighborhood was like " oh yeah that loud explosion, i heard that."
i just found that really funny.
I also really liked this website, and was greatly disappointed that Batavia wasn't on their- but its not like we generate much news here anyways!
Hopefully this site will continue to expand, and start to cover more cities and the suburbs- i enjoy the publics input on things that are happening in " their neck of the woods!"
When I first saw this website I was immediately distracted by the advertisments. Not being from around this area, I'm always looking for ideas and suggestions of cool places to visit and see. I paticularly liked the "10 things to do this weekend".
ReplyDeleteI also really liked looking at the city pictures. The local photographers stot some awesome angles.
And of course I noticed the high crime rate in the area. The story I found most disturbing was Rape in the Loop. It's important for me to read these stories so I know what potential threats there are, the area's they happen in, and how to avoid them.
I thing the webpage was designed just fine. I'm glad it was introduced, so now I can use it as a quick local reference.
Sheridan/Irving Park
ReplyDeleteI live by the Sheridan red line stop and I was surprised to see how much happens in what I thought was my little neighborhood. I walk around almost every day and have never noticed any type of crime or anything. I found myself finding counts of burglary, battery and breaking in and entry. I never knew how often this happened around me and has thus made me more vigilant of locking my doors and being safe, especially since I live by myself.
I like how you can post photos of the area, it's really nice to especially if you can't walk around as much like the elderly people that live in my neighborhood. I also enjoyed how it had reviews of food establishments within my neighborhood, I can finally visit those places I've been sketched out about visiting! Overall I really enjoy how it gives you all the information you need to know about the area you live in. Giving a tool like this to a parent could really help them decide if the neighborhood their child lives in is safe. This has many uses and that's probably the best part about this, it is multifaceted.
How ever, I feel that it should be a little more organized. They should have in categories like "Crimes", "Food Reviews", "Photos" and many others. It'd make it easier for me to find all the food establishment reviews in one place rather than having to scroll halfway down just to figure out if Thai Aroma is worth my time. That's my only problem with this site, it seems very unorganized.
I would say that this website is pretty easy to understand, it's reviews and quick bullet points of events happening in your area. If you can't understand that then step outside your apartment or house and take a walk. That is probably the second best thing next to this website.
My neighborhood wasn't covered under their Philadelphia neighborhood so I did the one right next to me, Chestnut Hill
ReplyDeleteEverything I learned was new because I haven't been keeping up to date on my neighborhood's local news while in Chicago.
What was interesting to me was their map of the area wasn't what I would call completely accurate. The main street of the neighborhood is off to the right as opposed to in the middle where I would have put it. If I was going to change anything I would put the business/restaurant reviews should be higher, or at least in equal height with the crime reports. This is not to say I don't think the crimes aren't important, in fact, I found one to be particularly disturbing and newsworthy. The break-in, during the day, at a child care center. It's just such a heartless act, and I don't understand what the purpose of stealing from a day care center is. What did they want, building blocks?
If I was going to change anything about this website I would make the different sections more distinguishable with different fonts, colors, font size, and breaking up the text/pictures that relate to the text into sections.
I looked up a friend's apartment in Bridgeport.
ReplyDeleteFirst thing I noticed was that most of the postings involved vandalism or violence. It's kind of wacky, because most of these crimes occurred between 11 in the morning and 10 at night — mostly in broad daylight. I never notice any vandalism or anything when I'm around there, either.
One thing I didn't know was that there's a lot of gang violence going on around there, which accounts for the relatively high vandalism and violence rate. There's a big communal effort to fight against gang violence and everything, though.
There was apparently a robbery at the bank right across the street from my friend's apartment. The guy has robbed five banks now, and he's been donned "The Swine Flu Bandit" because he wears latex gloves and a surgeon's mask when he robs them. I actually remember my friend telling me about seeing someone dressed up like a surgeon walking down the sidewalk outside of his window. He just assumed the guy was going to a costume party, at the time. Crazy stuff.
The layout seems a little awkward. In the listings, there are clusters of some information, then big spaces all around it, then other clusters of information. It's also a little bland. It's all very uniform.
I really like this site, but they did not have to many cities. Anyways, I just searched for south loop part of town and noticed that there are a lot of harassment, assault, and some theft. I had no idea there are a lot of this going on by where I live! Also the drop down box with the categories for what you want to read is very nice. This website is very helpful for someone like me who is not very familiar with their surroundings.
ReplyDelete(This is Rick)
ReplyDeleteI find this site very interesting. Its fairly cool that I can go to a place on the internet and look up all the major (and some minor) happenings in my area code. I notice in my area there is a lot of narcotics possession postings and battery charges. I have personal experience with the battery charge part and wasn't very surprised to read about it. I've personally seen two fights on the street next to my apartment dorm. What I don't understand is how they can verify the events of the site. People could be posting anything.
I think the most newsworthy part of the postings is the insane amount of thefts.. I count 5 of them, all independent I believe.
JOSLYN:
ReplyDeleteI looked up 333 South State Street in Chicago, which is the address to the Yogenfruz store. The yogurt there is...breathtaking! What did I learn that I didn't know before? I discovered the phone number to this frozen yogurt joint.I found an entire article written about the best frozen yogurt places in Chi-town, and Yogenfruz was listed. That's good news to me, I love quality food. I also discovered there are two Yogenfruz stores in Chicago. The fact that this store is good enough to have an article written about it from the Chicago Reader is very interesting to me. Nothing was confusing.
What would I change about the site, or rearrange? Well let me tell you! I was very disappointed that I could not locate Eminem's old house in Detroit, Michigan. I had the address, but this website did not have that specific zip code. That was a bummer. Otherwise this website was very awesome! I think it is cool how you can find articles pertaining to the address you submit. Smart idea!
What i learned about my area back home(Detroit) is that houses around my area sell very cheap. I also learned that there has been a motorcycle group meeting around the corner from my house for the last 20 years. The only thing I would change about this site is the amount of cities to choose from.
ReplyDelete-DeAnte' Lightfoot
I did the 1300-1397 N. Lake Shore Dr. because I walk around there sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI learned that there's more to that area than the planetarium and aquarium. There are many restaurants and salons/nail places with decent ratings.
It's newsworthy to know there is a lot more crime than I would have ever thought. There's a lot of news, mainly about robbery and theft. Most robberies were on the sidewalk and the theft cases were in apartments, on the sidewalk, and in taverns.
I didn't understand why some of the numbers on the map appeared bigger than the others, or what the numbers really represented.
I would change the website to have categories for the reviews and ratings, types of restaurants and stores, and different pages for robberies and apartments for sale. The website now is kind of confusing and unorganized. I like the amount of information, I would just re-organize it all.
Well, I'm not from Chicago, so I'm not familiar with many places around here. So I used my dorm address: 642 S. Clark St.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of or seen this site before, but it was interesting to see how much stuff is going on around this block. There are a lot of pictures shown of places taken around the S. Clark street area. I really like that there are crime reports (that are updated daily) to let people know what, when and where the crimes took place.
Some things I would change about the website are, make it available for all cities, and break everything down into sections/categories so it'll make it a little more easier to navigate through.