An Optimistic Idea

The idea for HousingVoices.com was generated by a discussion of Clay Shirky's new book, Here Comes Everybody. The talk, hosted by The Berkman Center here at Harvard, centered around Shirky's theory that the Internet has created an revolution in the way people interact, collaborate and ultimately effect change.

His basic theory is that group effect is bigger than individual social action. The Internet enables this through an evolution of various interactions: Sharing, Conversation, Collaboration, and ultimately Collective Action.

Given the ongoing pain in the housing market that I have blogged about over the last ten months, we feel that we may have an opportunity to enable collective action to address some of the challenges homeowners face in America today.

Thus, we are hoping to launch HousingVoices.com with the following mission:

We hope to give a voice to and be a resource for those who are living through the current housing crisis. By creating a community, we hope that those who are impacted can connect with one another and other concerned citizens to share their experiences and stories.

We also hope experts with an interest and concern for the topic will bring their knowledge and expertise to community. Ultimately we hope to bring attention and resources to bear on this important problem.