Feature Article March 28, 2002
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeContact Us
The NewsWeb an Internet companion of The Frontenac Newsby David BrisonThe NewsWeb is a community website offering edited news, feature length articles, and commentary. Feature stories will be put on line weekly and archived for easy access.. This is the on-site description of the NewsWeb.
Jim MacPherson and I started the NewsWeb in November 1999. Jim, a SLHS teacher, had just started the Land OLakes Communication Network, and I, after a short stint reporting for the old News, was more or less unemployed and looking forward to retirement.
I bought a laptop computer and a digital camera and Jim purchased a copy of "Website Development For Dummies". There was a definite division of labour Jim developed and maintained the site; I did the reporting and photography and edited contributions. However, we communicated on every phase of the development. For example, Jim is a great source of stories; few people know the community better than he does. He also spotted and corrected my spelling errors. I acted as a critical consumer and gave him feedback on the site.
One of the first things we did was to look on Internet for other community sites. One in particular appealed to us, a website from Clinton Massachusetts, and we modeled ours after it. We managed to get the NewsWeb up and running, and it has been going ever since with admitted lapses and subsequent revivals. The Clinton site seems to have bitten the dust, as have many others that we looked at in the early days.
When I became editor and co-publisher of The Frontenac News in July 2000, there was more content to put up, but I had less time to get it ready. The pictures, which have always been a feature, take time to prepare, and I invariably have fallen behind. Jim got very busy with the Communications Network, and he was pressed to maintain the site.
Kathy Smith, an office administrator working with Jim, now maintains the site under Jims active supervision, but she has a demanding job and sometimes falls behind. I am also still slow in getting current stuff to her.
However, we have limped along, and although the site is not always current, it does contain a sampling of the major stories from the paper along with a full selection of colour photos, many of which havent appeared in the paper.
There have been some recent developments which have greatly improved the site; we applied and got our own domain name: www.newsweb.ca . This has allowed us to put a counter on and analyze how many people visit the site, where they come from, and what they look at. A Google search has also been added, and this is a great aid for those that want to find past articles or simply browse around to get a feeling for the community. In addition, a community calendar has just been added we plan to put Northern Happenings up on it and also make it available for other community members to make entries.
The web is a good place to archive past articles with the search engine it is easy to find and access them. For example, entering Arden yielded 41 entries in 0.7 seconds. Among the entries were:
The Good New Days in Arden; A Walk Through the Village of Arden.; Arden from the Air; Arden News from the Kennebec Recreation Committee; Arden pony shooter sent to jail by; I met Judy Sandell when I was at Big Clear Lake in Arden doing a story on the Central Frontenac swimming classes.All of these stories, and many more, can be immediately accessed. The NewsWeb hosts the Eagle Lake Property Owners Association website with some great wildflower pictures by Irving Dardick and lots of other interesting information on life on that lake.
There are also links to other websites such as the municipalities, and within stories, links to related Internet sites.
Local residents who are in the south during the winter check it out to see what is happening at home (and are frustrated when it isnt up to date). Jeff Greens mother logs in when she is in Florida to see what her son is writing.
Check it out, let us know what you think about the site, and contact us if you are interested in helping out, www.newsweb.ca . According to our counter, you will be joined by about 700 or 800 others in the next week maybe more as a result of this story.
