Tom - There's a thread and a tag flying around about "community indicators" - signs that a community is there and that people are working together. I've been putting photos of the bulletin boards in cafes into Flickr that are particularly active and full of interesting flyers and notices and the like. That's a sign of "abundance" - an abundance of activity, and an abundance of good will by the cafe owner to allow such an exchange in their business. This short post by Nancy White heads you in the right direction to find more: http://www.fullcirc.com/weblog/2005/08/community-indicators-community.ht... She's also tagging this post "signsoflife", which doesn't appear to have the same current appeal.