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Wednesday, March 15, 2000
10A
Stories by Jim O'Malley Talk of the town
Lawrence residents use alternative media for public debate about local problems, politics and press
arryville is local farmers' slang for Lawrence. And now it's also the name of a Web site that calls itself "home on the Web for those who love Lawrence."
The name reflects the site's unorthodox take on local issues. Larryville.com represents a new kind of Internet-based alternative press.
Local "smart growth" advocate Larry Kipp posts on the site regularly and says he's often accused of starting it, but he and larryville.com just share the same namesake.
Doug DuBois is the alternative media mogul behind Larryville. The soft-spoken systems engineer and Web master for an aircraft manufacturer founded Larrville in March 1997.
The site posts articles on issues affecting Lawrence, but its most popular feature is the community forum where visitors post messages and carry on conversations about local issues.
DuBois said he was inspired
by the Plumber's Friend, an alternative monthly published from 1981 to 1989 by Tim Miller, professor of religious studies. The Plumber's Friend was always critical of the Lawrence Journal-World and the politics of the Lawrence business community.
"Larryville just kind of happened," DuBois said. "I set up the Web site and had some vague ideas of what to do with it
to expose things the mainstream media wouldn't report, especially growth and development issues all the stuff we've been able to find out through Tim."
DuBois said he saw a synergy between the Plumber's Friend approach and the Web.
"It allows people to be their own publisher and participate in the flow of information," he said.
Tim Miller didn't know he was the inspiration for Larryville. But he said he was glad someone was doing alternative journalism in Lawrence because the main local news media, the Journal-World and Channel 6, are owned by the same company — The World Company L.L.C.
A unique supplement
"Our information flow in this town is incredibly narrow," he said. "The huge issue is story selection. What are we subjected to? Endless Chamber of Commerce press releases that are basically run as news. And people not on the list of approved newsmakers are marginalized."
Judy Billings of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said she had no problem with Larryville as long is it didn't become divisive.
"Some of those people are friends of mine, though we disagree," she said. "We're all in this together to try to make Lawrence a better place. The more opinions raised the better, as long as it isn't counterproductive and just negative."
"I don't follow Larryville because when I get started, I find myself coming up for air two hours later," he said. "And I'm just not computer-oriented. But the Net is clearly increasing the information flow. It's the one bright spot working against centralization of media."
Miller appreciates Larryville but doesn't visit often.
Larryville is open to everyone, DuBois said, but most Larryvillagers are critical of the Journal-World and support controls on economic growth.
"Almost the only ones who use it are the ones who want to keep Lawrence a special place and don't like what they see happening to the city — the sprawl explosion," DuBois said. "Most reasonable people are for managed growth, or reasonable growth, not uncontrolled growth, which has been shaping our city for years."
Kipp is another Friend of Larryville. He said Larryville regulars posted messages chastising people for incivility.
"I don't want to see it degenerate into chaos," he said. "We have to learn to agree and disagree."
City Commissioner Mike Rundle, an inactive Friend of Larryville, said the Internet helped shy Midwesterns communicate. It lets them control the pace of the conversation, he said.
"Larryville is an uncontrolled, unfiltered community communication," he said. "It's like an ongoing public meeting. It's a great way to learn stuff. The downside of that is that just because it's there doesn't mean it's true."
community is much better informed because of Larryville. Larry Kipp agreed.
An unbridled community
So an informal group of 12 to 15 Larryvillagers known as the Friends of Larryville works to keep the site civil. Steve Lopes, one of the Friends of Larryville, said the group met every two weeks. He said it had to walk a fine line between promotion of civility and censorship.
Incivility can be another downside of Internet forums, where people can post messages anonymously or under pseudonyms.
DuBois acknowledged that not everything said on a publicaccess forum like Larryville is true. But overall, he said, the
DuBois said Larryville had changed him from a quiet introvert into a virtual extrovert who communicated electronically with hundreds of neighbors and strangers.
"I think I've had more personal contact with the human race in the last two years than I had in all my previous years combined," he said.
Larryvillagers coined the name "The Largest Ball of the Best Pair of the Journal-World" for this 15-pound-ball made from blue, plastic, newspaper bags. Jim O'Malley/KANSAN
Former regulars on Web site win election, awards
Jones said Larryville had democratized Lawrence politics by creating a kind of interactive journalism.
"I have a sense that it affected the last election," said County Commissioner Charles Jones. "When I knocked on doors and mentioned issues, people often said they heard about it on Larryville."
DuBois said he thought Larryville had a profound effect on the last election. Two larryvillagers — Mike Rundle and David Dunfield were elected.
Some of larryville.com's inhabitants say the new medium is having an effect on local politics.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said larryville.com probably didn't change voters' minds.
"This was the first Lawrence election in which candidates were reaching constituents through Web sites," DuBois said. "The conservative or Chamber of Commerce candidates didn't use the Internet as effectively as their opponents. It exposed the weakness of the Chamber of Commerce's candidate, Brenda McFadden. She won first place in the primary and got knocked down to fourth in the general election. The only factor I know of that could have affected it was Larryville."
City Commissioner Mike Rundle said he was skeptical about the effect of Larryville on the election. He said larryville.com allowed him to clarify the issues, explain his positions and take the edge off reaction to off-the-cuff statements, but didn't make an enormous difference in the campaign. In office, it helps him keep his finger on the pulse of the community. But Larryville and the Internet haven't realized their potential in politics, Rundle said.
"It's unlikely that undecided, uninterested voters — the ones that often decide elections — are cruising the Net, looking for information," he said.
But he said research on electronic politics indicates that the Net helps in fundraising, signing up volunteers and in organizational work more than in moving voters.
Meeting face to face
The contact hasn't all been electronic. Last September, Larryville held its "First Ever Larryville Community Happening" at Clinton Park in Lawrence — the first physical gathering of this virtual community. The meeting featured the first "State of the Web site Address" by Doug DuBois and "Leadership Larryville" awards, a parody of the Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Lawrence leadership development class.
Winners included Larryville regulars and City Commissioners Mike Rundle and David Dunfield.
Dunfield didn't attend, but had a friend read his acceptance speech to the 60 or so larryvillagers who attended.
"As a Leadership Lawrence graduate, my status as a stealth Chambercrat is well known among some Larryvillagers," the speech read. "I am pleased to now become, by virtue of this award, equally unreliable in the minds of my former friends at the Chamber."
The gathering didn't ignore Larryville's other main target, the Lawrence JournalWorld. A Larryville regular brought a 15 pound, 18 inch in diameter ball made from blue plastic bags braided into a rope and rolled together. Larryvillagers called it "The Largest Ball of the Best Part of the JournalWorld."
Ralph Gage, general manager of the Journal-World, said it was hard to come up with a serious reaction to a ball of blue bags. He likened the ball to the Kansas tourist attraction, the largest ball of twine.
"I've been to Cawker City," he said. "Power to the bag-braiders!"
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