New tools for digital engagement and exploration are playing a part in shaping the future of Norwalk.
A tool called Social Pinpoint has been used to solicit comments and ideas about the future of the city”™s waterfront. Social Pinpoint allows visitors to make their feelings heard by offering them the opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions and share observations while tying each waterfront-related comment to the exact latitude and longitude.
Visitors to the city”™s Social Pinpoint site are presented with a welcome message from Norwalk Tomorrow, the local long-term platform for encouraging public participation in planning initiatives. Then, they are presented with a map of the section of the city”™s urban core around the Norwalk River. While much of the industry which was once based in the area has either moved or closed over the years, there are still a number of businesses that rely on access to the river.
Visitors can click and drag a series of themed pins to the points on the map related to their concerns. Other visitors can then reply to comments and either “like” or “dislike” them in a show of support or opposition. The resulting map is filterable and interactive for the public, while providing even richer data for the organization using it.
Laura Kenny, a senior planner for Norwalk, was pleased with the engagement that the community had with the new tool. During the first week of example, she noted, the site had 123 comments with 1,034 unique viewers, and 2,709 total visits, which Kenny felt compared favorably to more traditional comment gathering methods, which usually entailed holding public meetings which were not always the best attended.
“Prior to Covid and these online tools, frequently the loudest voices were the ones that were heard,” Kenny said. “Those were the people who had the time to go to public meetings. But more recently moving online has enabled us to attract a younger audience and a busier audience who may not have had the time to attend in-person meetings. It also allows people to share the link to other interested parties instead of just saying, ”˜Oh I attended this meeting, you missed it.”™”
The survey was online until the end of December, but Kenny said the tool has proven useful and accessible enough that that the city will likely make use of it again for public input about future development. And other parts of city government may also make use of it, including the Norwalk Transit District which is working on its own study using the program.
Social Pinpoint was first launched in the U.S. in 2018 and grew out of a project started by Australian developers in 2011. Melissa Hepburn, Social Pinpoint”™s digital engagement specialist, indicated that Norwalk”™s findings were common among other organizations that use the tool, including major cities like San Diego, Oakland and Milwaukee, as well as a number of smaller communities closer in size to Norwalk.
“Accessibility is at the heart of everything we do,” Hepburn added. “So, we already meet all accessibility standards but we”™re trying to exceed them and help our customers do the same.”
Social Pinpoint is available for both private enterprise and public entities, and the company offers discounts for nonprofit organizations including schools and universities interested in using the subscription service.
In addition to the public sector leveraging new digital tools, Norwalk also saw the launch of its first “Best Of” app on Dec. 6. Best of Norwalk offers news about the latest happenings in the city, a calendar of events and The Mag online magazine offering hyperlocal coverage of the latest places to shop and eat around town.
The app seeks to provide users with one-stop shopping for information about the city, things to do and places to eat, and even provides helpful links to the reservation and delivery ordering systems for some of Norwalk”™s most popular restaurants. It is the first “Best of Local” app launched by Best of Ventures Inc., part of MaxEx Public Relations, a local firm dedicated to representing food and hospitality businesses which ran the city”™s promotional magazine Norwalk Now from 2017 to 2020. It will soon be joined by Best of Apps for Delray Beach, Florida, and Austin, Texas, as well as nearby Greenwich and Fairfield.
“We see the mobile app as the next incarnation of what we started four years ago. It’s a great vehicle that will evolve with the city, “said Linda Kavanagh, owner of MaxEx Public Relations. “Its functionality appeals to the consumer. The platform is a great connector for businesses. And the city of Norwalk is encapsulated within a single app.”
