As I write this, there are slightly less than 27 hours left before the soft launch for the Inside Joplin website. (The website will be http://insidejoplin.com)
We call it a soft launch because it is not where we expect it to be by the time of our official launch which will be in early September, but it will be up and running and for the first time since the demise of GateHouse Media's Joplin Daily a few years back, a website that provides actual reporting and original content will be available for area readers.
The events that have led to the creation of Inside Joplin are well known to regular readers of this blog. After being put in a position where my teaching career is not likely to continue, I had to find something else and it did not take long for me to know what I was going to do.
Even though I have not been a full-time reporter since May 1999, I have kept my hand in at journalism with this blog since October 2003.
Inside Joplin is not going to be the Turner Report. This blog is not going anywhere. I will still being using it to write about Missouri politics and Missouri education, as well as any other story that interests me. A feed of the Turner Report will be available on Inside Joplin an I, of course, will promote Inside Joplin on the Turner Report, just as I have promoted my books and Natural Disaster over the years.
In the past, my approach has always been to tell people as completely as possible what my upcoming projects are going to be like.
Not this time.
What I will say is that the website, though not to the point where it will be eventually, is attractive and easy to navigate. You should not have any problems finding what you are looking for. The design and the creation of the website should be totally credited to Inside Joplin's business manager and advertising director Jessica Nugent. As those who have seen my websites know, my idea of good design, is start a blog, as I have done numerous times, and then start typing, and slap in some pictures and videos. Inside Joplin is much more than that.
The soft launch is taking place for two reasons- We want to bring readers in on the website close to the beginning of the project and we will be going into full-fledged fundraising mode for the next couple of weeks. For us to do that effectively, we needed to show people what they will be getting for their money.
The money is needed to bring in two reporters to give us the ability to provide extensive coverage of Joplin city, Joplin R-8, Missouri Southern State University. At the moment, the reporting and web work are being done by two people, Jessica Nugent and me.
While our reporting will increase when we are in a position to add to our staff, one thing you will quickly notice when Inside Joplin is launched is that we are well on our way to having a collection of regular contributors who will make you want to visit the website again and again to see their latest.
We will have contributions from at least five of those people when the midnight hour arrives tomorrow.
We will also have stories that no one else is covering, some investigative reporting, coverage of a wide array of Joplin stories, and plenty of photos and videos.
For the rest, you will just have to wait and see.
Twenty-six and a half hours to go.
5 comments:
Can't wait!!!
As those who have seen my websites know, my idea of good design, is start a blog, as I have done numerous times, and then start typing, and slap in some pictures and videos. Inside Joplin is much more than that.
Ummm, while it looks nicer than your Blogspot blog ... it's a Wordpress blog, nothing more, nothing less.
As I told the people who went to the Inside Joplin Facebook page or my Facebook page last night, the website you saw is not what Inside Joplin will be, though it is certainly representative of the type of reporting and features we will have. There was a technical glitch about three hours before the launch that prevented us from being able o launch the website the way it was originally envisioned. That will change in a few days. However, if you think iInside Joplin is noting more than a blog, you sound like you may be employed by the Joplin Globe.
And Inside Joplin will not be a negative force in this community.
I really wonder about that, if the first thing you do when someone makes an implicit criticism is to suspect their motives and make wild accusations (towards someone who's never been a journalist ... but who is a semi-retired, three and a half decades experienced programmer and system administrator, who prior to this attack might have been inclined to help...).
However much you like the truth or not, technically what you've delivered so far is a standard issue Wordpress blog. A group blog, granted, but it's still a blog, which for example fails to direct the viewer to much of anything besides the top item.
However much you like the truth or not, technically what you've delivered so far is a standard issue Wordpress blog. A group blog, granted, but it's still a blog, which for example fails to direct the viewer to much of anything besides the top item.
Unlike some of the anonymous posters here, you at 5:14 PM posted under your real name and included a link to your website. I checked it out and in my opinion it is so much more than a standard issue blog.
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