iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

And we’re nowhere near done! If you want to help us bring Roundabout to your local area, or are in a position to support this work, you can find more at… joinroundabout.com

joinroundabout.com

Roundabout

Roundabout is your new online community for local life. Find what you need, connect with neighbors, and take pride in your community.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

Roundabout users and stewards — the neighbors that nurture and moderate local Roundabout spaces — shared what they actually want and need from the platform as we continue to evolve Roundabout to be as useful, fun, and helpful as possible. newpublic.substack.com/p/how-rounda...

newpublic.substack.com

🤝💫 How Roundabout is helping neighbors show up for each other

Insights from building a local app that’s deliberate and human

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

Not long after that, we had an MVP product and began testing our hypotheses in pilots throughout the country 🎉 newpublic.substack.com/p/introducin...

newpublic.substack.com

👋 Introducing Roundabout: built for neighbors, with neighbors

New_ Public’s app for local communities enters closed beta in five pilot communities

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

Before you knew it, Entrepreneur in Residence @clockwerks.bsky.social came on to lead this project, drawing on experience scaling tech products for the public good. newpublic.substack.com/p/building-t... And the team kept growing, including Principal Software Engineer @blaine.bsky.social:

newpublic.substack.com

🐦💙 He coded Twitter. Now he’s building tech for New_ Public

A Q&A with Blaine Cook, our new Principal Software Engineer for Local

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

Eventually, we realized we might have to build our own app, and we started to articulate the underlying core principles for what we would build: newpublic.substack.com/p/exploring-...

newpublic.substack.com

🧭🏘️📲 Exploring a new social product for local communities

We’re seeking local partners for collaboration as we pilot new concepts and designs

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

We did months of research of exploration, putting together resources and exploring email newsletters for local stewards with existing communities on other platforms. newpublic.substack.com/p/just-launc... newpublic.substack.com/p/reviving-t...

newpublic.substack.com

🚀 📒 Just launched: Your essential guide to local digital community building

Best practices for creating and maintaining a public-spirited online space for your neighborhood, town, or city

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 23/09/2026

How did Roundabout go from a well-researched idea to an app piloting in communities across the US? It all starts with @newpublic.org Co-Director @eli.bsky.social sharing how we realized that reliable local info is a real need for many people and communities: newpublic.substack.com/p/your-towns...

newpublic.substack.com

🏘️ 🌐 Your town’s online group matters more than you think

New_ Public Co-Director, Eli Pariser, on our new Local Lab

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Reposted by Roundabout

New_ Public @newpublic.org · 22/09/2026

Recipe for a fantastic dinner party vibe: ✉️ send the invites 🎵 curate tunes 🍝🍹provide vittles and libations 💡 set an intention for the evening 🚪 make sure no one overstays their welcome Doing this every day is what separates great online community stewards from simply “moderators”.

Brundrett sees community stewards as more than just moderators — almost like a “really great dinner party host,” he explained, whose role is more proactive than reactive. “It’s somebody who is thinking about, ‘hey, what do I want this to be?’ And they’re inviting people in, they’re setting the tone.”

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 18/09/2026

Most of us want to be good neighbors and better citizens, and the Civic Signals show that it’s easier to get involved in your community, or even take the first steps, like finding out where to vote, once you know your neighbors and feel connected to them 🩵

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 18/09/2026

The “Act” signals, which focus on digital spaces that support offline actions benefitting the community, are the final building blocks for a healthy digital space, after creating a strong foundation through “Welcome,” “Connection,” and “Understand”. newpublic.org/building-blo...

newpublic.org

The Signals: Act

Act, our final building block, considers how our behavior in digital spaces spills over into physical spaces and how we might become better citizens of the world around us.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 18/09/2026

An important milestone with Roundabout: Promising signs of civic participation in our North Chattanooga, TN, Roundabout community, where the most-clicked link in a recent newsletter was a local voter lookup tool 🗳️ This is a great example of @newpublic.org’s Civic Signals 👇

newpublic.org

Our Civic Signals research | New_ Public

The Civic Signals are 14 indicators of healthy online spaces, based on years of research into what makes online communities work.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 08/09/2026

Imagine if an app was all about getting you to put down your phone and get involved in your community✨ Chicagoans, join us alongside @wbez.org and the @chicago.suntimes.com at chicago.com! Here’s Chicago Public Media CEO Melissa Bell in @niemanlab.org 👀:

This is a digital platform designed to ultimately bring people together at local in-person events. “Our top priority is that people can find what they need and then take that info out into their community,” Bell said. She noted that corporate-owned social media platforms “are typically trying to keep [users] on there as long as possible, in order to show them as many ads as possible. We do not have that incentive for chicago.com.”

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 02/09/2026

For thriving online groups, finding the right community stewards is everything. These aren’t just moderators — they’re unicorns 🦄 Stewards need to be entrepreneurial, emotionally intelligent, and discerning. @clockwerks.bsky.social, leading Roundabout @newpublic.org, lays it out in @niemanlab.org:

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 28/08/2026

With Chicago Public Media, we’re building chicago.com We’re teaming up to host online communities — extending public media’s mission to meet changing audience needs. Learn more: newpublic.org/chicago

newpublic.org

Chicago Public Media and Roundabout partner on chicago.com

One of the country's largest public media organizations is teaming up with a nonprofit digital platform to host online communities in Chicago.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 28/08/2026

For 50 years, we’ve had public media as a non-commercial alternative to what Newton Minow called the “vast wasteland” of for-profit media. Look at social media: slop, lies, fighting. The internet is also a vast wasteland. Once again, we need public media. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHSj...

youtube.com

Newton Minow, who saw television's "vast wasteland"

YouTube video by CBS Sunday Morning

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 24/08/2026

CPM brings decades of deep connections and trusted journalism in Chicago through @wbez.org and the @chicago.suntimes.com. Roundabout, incubated by @newpublic.org, brings tested, useful, and safe technology for bringing people together in local communities. Details here: newpublic.org/chicago

newpublic.org

Chicago Public Media and Roundabout partner on chicago.com

One of the country's largest public media organizations is teaming up with a nonprofit digital platform to host online communities in Chicago.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 24/08/2026

Chicago.com, a new partnership between Roundabout and Chicago Public Media is really something special. It’s a fusion, a symbiosis, of one of the largest public media orgs in the U.S., and a project created by a tech nonprofit. This is greater than the sum of its parts.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

And the app has been designed for connection, not profit: human moderation and curation, not polarizing algorithms. Chicago.com is not for doomscrolling, it’s for meeting neighbors, finding what you need, and getting together in real life. Starting this fall!

chicago.com

chicago.com is coming soon. Build it with us.

We’re creating a shared space for conversation, connection, and community, designed for and with Chicago. The full chicago.com experience is coming soon. Explore what we’re building now — and let us k...

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

Each community will be led by a trained & dedicated local community steward, and that makes all the difference in keeping these spaces respectful and healthy. These folks are actively involved in curating content, helping people find answers and connections, and shaping and building the community.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

First, Roundabout is optimized for trust and local relevance, not investors. We’re partnering with Chicago Public Media, and chicago.com will be funded by member contributions, local ads, and local foundations — the way public media has always done it.

chicago.com

chicago.com is coming soon. Build it with us.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

Roundabout, our local community app, is going to power chicago.org, allowing millions of Chicagoans to connect and share with each other. Here’s more about what we’re up to, including what sets this apart from messy, noisy, profit-driven social media apps: newpublic.org/chicago

newpublic.org

Chicago Public Media and Roundabout partner on chicago.com

One of the country's largest public media organizations is teaming up with a nonprofit digital platform to host online communities in Chicago.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

chicago.com

chicago.com is coming soon. Build it with us.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 21/08/2026

First, Roundabout is optimized for trust and local relevance, not investors. We’re partnering with [Chicago Public Media], and chicago.com will be funded by member contributions, local ads, and local foundations — the way public media has always done it.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 18/08/2026

Sad but true: it's now easier to find out what’s going on in another country than about what’s happening down the block. But if we’re really going to build data centers in space, we should also be able to do this. That’s why we’re partnering with Chicago Public Media to build chicago.com

A horizontal bar chart titled "The Proximity Paradox: it's harder to stay informed about your neighborhood than about another country." The question reads: "How difficult is it for you to get information about each of the following in your day-to-day life?" Results show the percentage who say it is somewhat or very difficult: Neighborhood 44%, City/Town 42%, State 33%, Around the World 30%, Nationally 26%. Source: CINC National Survey (Wave 2), Feb 2026, infocensus.org.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 18/08/2026

as long as it's actually humans talking to humans, not bots!

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 17/08/2026

Starting this fall, chicago.com will be piloting in five communities in the Chicagoland area. We’ll be “moving slowly and fixing things” because we want to get this right. If you live in Chicago or are just generally interested, check out chicago.com 👇

chicago.com

chicago.com is coming soon. Build it with us.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 17/08/2026

We’re taking our app, which lets you find what you need locally, connect with your neighbors, and uplift the good in your community, and we’re bringing it to Chicago, one of the largest cities in the country, with our partners Chicago Public Media.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 17/08/2026

In a lot of towns and neighborhoods, people are lonely. They haven’t met any of their neighbors. They have nowhere to go to find good, useful info about what’s nearby. We know this from years of research and from piloting with thousands of people. That’s why this news is a really big deal:

niemanlab.org

Can public media build its own social network? Chicago Public Media teams up with New_ Public to try

"This is a community platform, not a news site — it's very much not a news site."

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 13/08/2026

Huge news! Along with our partners at Chicago Public Media, we’re thrilled to be bringing our local community app to everyone in the Windy City as part of chicago.com. Breaking now from @niemanlab.org: www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/can-...

niemanlab.org

Can public media build its own social network? Chicago Public Media teams up with New_ Public to try

"This is a community platform, not a news site — it's very much not a news site."

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Reposted by Roundabout

New_ Public @newpublic.org · 12/08/2026

@deeptidoshi.bsky.social, a New_ Public Co-Director, shares the secret sauce separating healthy, sustainable Facebook groups from the ones that explode into chaos or burn out from conflict: the good ones have a dedicated steward, someone who cares for, maintains, and nurtures the space.

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Reposted by Roundabout

New_ Public @newpublic.org · 28/07/2026

In less than a year, folks using our local community app Roundabout have shared over 2,000 local events across just a few pilot communities! 📅🎉 Unlike most social media apps, Roundabout encourages neighbors to build connection OFFLINE, in the real world. Here’s to another 2,000 gatherings!

Roundabout North Chatt interface showing calendar view. Left sidebar displays navigation menu. Main content shows July 2026 week view (July 20-26) with July 25 highlighted in blue. Four events listed: Heatwave Half Marathon - Chattanooga on SAT 25 at 7am at Tennessee River Park Pavilion 2; Monthly Volunteer Event: Rain Garden Workshop at 8:30am at Red Bank High School; Autism Field Day on July 25 at 9am at Washington Hills Community Center; Chattanooga River Market (weekly outdoor market) at 10am at Tennessee Aquarium Plaza.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 12/08/2026

For the immediate future, Roundabout will be limited to the United States. However, we think everyone deserves access to a healthy digital public space, and that’s why our incubator, @newpublic.org, has been working with public service media organizations around the world: newpublic.org/psi

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 11/08/2026

Since the start of this year, we’ve been piloting in communities around the U.S., and soon we’ll have some very exciting news to share. 😜 For more about how to bring Roundabout to your neighborhood or town, go to JoinRoundabout.com

joinroundabout.com

Roundabout

Roundabout is your new online community for local life. Find what you need, connect with neighbors, and take pride in your community.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 11/08/2026

Roundabout is based on rigorous research and optimized for trust. It’s being built for the public by @newpublic.org and local stewards in the places we’re serving — not for investors and venture capitalists. No doomscrolling, no polarizing algorithm, just your neighbors.

[alt] A light blue feature overview graphic headed "With Roundabout you can..." showing four sections arranged in a two-column grid:

Top left: A calendar UI showing May with "Filter" and "Add Event" buttons, above the heading "Find local events and things to do" and a description about a community calendar covering arts & culture, pop up markets, live music, and community festivals.

Top right: A cluster of pill-shaped topic tags — Nature & Outdoors, Local Government, Arts & Culture, Pets & Animals, and Kids & Family — above the heading "Keep up with local news & stories" and a description about restaurant openings, local government, and more.

Bottom left: A prompt UI reading "Where do you go to beat the heat?" with a "Share your response" text field and a "Respond" button, above the heading "Get to know local people & orgs" and a description about connecting with neighbors and people who share your interests.

Bottom right: A circular photo of a person outdoors, surrounded by floating reaction badges reading "Helpful 18," a heart icon with 12, and "Follow 20," above the heading "Exchange neighborly support" and a description about recommendations, lending a hand, and celebrating things.

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Roundabout @roundabout.town · 11/08/2026

Hi Bluesky! We’re the team making Roundabout, an app built to help people live a flourishing life in their local town or neighborhood. Find resources, connect with neighbors, celebrate your community.

Graphic design with the word "ROUNDABOUT" in large white letters on a brown horizontal band. The background features a terrazzo-like pattern with scattered irregular shapes in yellow, brown, gray, and light blue on a cream-colored base.

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