It all began a few years ago when the internet bubble burst, and technological advances allowed the survival and emergence of the cream of the crop of the electronic media world. Exacerbating the problem is the world-wide economic downturn, a phenomenon so pervasive and poisonous that it has transcended one of the earliest of economic postulates which holds that, in bad economic times, liquor, movies, and advertising are the places to put your money.
Couple all of this with the cold hard fact that no one under 30 reads the newspaper, and you have created the perfect storm for the demise of the printed periodical.
However, there is a glimmer, perhaps even a beacon of hope for those of us who “get it” and adapt to what has become the new reality. As the electronic media emerges the victor, those of us with alleged communication skills have a shiny new toy at our disposal, one that gets newer and shinier with each passing day.
The bells and whistles abound on the new Village Chronicles website. All of the normal general information will be there—weather, sports, etc—and as stories come into our office, they will appear on the website long before the ink dries on Friday’s printed paper.
What is more, the stories will be more comprehensive because space is no object, and in some instances stories will appear on the site that never make it to the paper because of time sensitivity or because there simply is not enough room.
Now for the good parts. All of that “new” information will be immediately available to you the reader through the use of an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feature that allows you to “pluck” from the site anything that was not there the last time you looked. You do not have to read the whole site to see if you have missed something.
But there is more. All of you can participate at will in the creation of the site’s content. You can write stories for submission. You can put up your pictures. You can embed videos. Each of you can create your own blog on the site if you so choose. You can participate in ongoing forums. And you can comment on anything you see on the site.
The Village Chronicles website belongs to you. We will be monitoring the site, but only for content that is obscene or violates one of the rules of the site. We are confident that the website will discipline itself to a large degree.
In the near future, we will be allowing paid advertising on the site. We are all used to the format of ads that we see in the paper, but the website will give our advertisers much more flexibility. They can use videos to create a better concept of their business. They can allow (you the public) to interact with their ads, comment on them, enter contests, play games—you name it and we will accommodate it.
All this and more. So count the days... and when Aug. 1 rolls around, start playing with your new toy.
