Every Block
Everyblock is both fascinating and scary at the same time. It filters an assortment of local information by location so you can keep track of what’s happening in your own neighbourhood, right down to your own block.
I just ran my own address, and even though it didn’t find much for my exact street, I am astonished by the depth of information pulled in from the surrounding area - business licenses, a murder (murder!), lots of theft under $300, some narcotics (marijuana under 30 grams) charges and one possession of crack(seriously?), some real estate information, etc. What is especially surprising is the huge number of sources being aggregated, from a Chicago Public Radio story looking for Pakistani born Chicagoans reactions to Bhutto’s death to police records (one of my neighbours was murdered? what!?) to a “missed connections” ad on Craiglist, to city business licenses, both large news papers, and what appears to be fire department logs.
On the one hand, great aggregator. On the other hand, how much information do we need? Sometimes I struggle with aggregators - I am overloaded with things I don’t need to know, but as an information junkie, want to have just because I can have it.
The bonus, of course, is that I live in an area of Chicago often referred to as being rough, yet the crime for my neighbourhood is much, much more mild and run of the mill than for the gold coast, which I checked after my own. Chock full of sexual assaults, cocaine, and other serious crimes.