DSM DEVELOPMENT ONLINE FORUM COMMENTARY

URBANDSM.COM DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT FORUM TOPICS INTERACTION MAP

The UrbanDSM Forum is an online platform where a variety of topic areas are discussed by anonymous contributors. This map focuses on the discussion topics and the sites associated within the Downtown Development category that were commented on in the last year. The points on the map show the sites that are discussed, and the color of dots represent the amount of interaction that has taken place on each topic. Additionally the map depicts facets of development in downtown Des Moines.

URBANDSM.COM DEVELOPMENT FORUM DISCUSSION WEB

The UrbanDSM “Dico Site” was initiated by a fairly active user (wmjindsm) and at the time of data collection had 95 comments. When comparing the commentors on this thread to the Downtown Development Forum Topic Map, six of the conversation starters on the over-arching forum had replied to the Dico Site thread. The mind map-style diagram below explores the areas of discussion that these significant forum users have initiated with the goal of understanding how users may be connected and what themes may be deduced from the topics initiated. While the users are anonymous, this map hopes to shed light on who these individuals may be.

The UrbanDSM Downtown Development conversation starters connected to the Dico discussion include wmjindsm, who initiated the thread, DMRyan, Emil, BJazz, Mastermind and casbern. Five of these six users are part of the forum group “Club 801 Grand”. These forum groups, while named after significant areas in the Des Moines area, are not necessarily representative of the location they are named after but mostly signify interest groups. This is important to highlight because the loudest contributers on the Downtown Development page seem to come from this group.

A deeper dive into the conversations on the Downtown Development UrbanDSM page indicates that the major players in the Dico Site conversation could be council members, city development managers or even city planners.