A new online forum could enhance public involvement in ongoing conversations around transportation planning, including Austin Urban Rail. The Social Networking and Planning Project, which launched this month at SNAPPatx.org, aims to “facilitate and capture conversations in real time to shape the city’s Mobility Plan,” said Roger L. Cauvin, the forum’s data management and analytics coordinator. A project of the nonprofit Texas Citizen Fund, SNAPPatx won a Federal Transit Admini­stration grant as an innovative public participation tool that provides a model for cities nationwide. SNAPPatx.org is compiling relevant comments from Facebook, tweets, blog entries, videos, images, and more into one stream of conversation, which Austinites can access by phone or computer. SNAPPatx facilitators also are using social media to share information and elicit quick responses, according to project manager Glenn Gadbois. SNAPPatx analytics will track the volume of online discussion and conversation trends; this information then will be relayed to the city’s Transportation Department for mobility planning. Bloggers and tweeters: Include “#snappatx” in your messages to ensure you get added to the conversation stream.

This article appears in April 23 • 2010.

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