Cool since I currently live here.
Maybe I'll make a post of the top 10 bars in Monroe County Toledo smokers should check out. LOL
posted by MikeyA at 07:05 A.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
And I'll start a debate about which full-size pickup is better: a Dodge Ram or Ford F150? And a poll: should your sticker of Calvin have him a) peeing on the symbol for another make of truck b) peeing on "terrorists" or c) praying in front of a cross?
posted by Ace_Face at 10:51 A.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
Hey Rob, The blog page has a very nice design. I particularly like the celery green color on the header and on the larger fonts.
I have found that Monroe folks are respectable and sociable. Been to the historical museum many times.
posted by flinty at 11:06 A.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
Jun 19, 2007 blog posting at blogsmonroe.com gives more details.
"MonroeTalks.com - I still remember walking away from the Publishers office with my head spinning.. she had an idea to create a community website for Monroe County, and suggested we launch it in the next 6 months. With a lot of research, an amazing team of managers and employees - we were able to make it happen. The topics of discussions are still displayed on monroenews.com, in the top right sidebar."
"How was it built? I started looking around at other community websites in the beginning of research, and stumbled upon the wonderful world of Drupal. Drupal is an open source (free) software that allows users to build a community website. A month before launch, we switched to another open source photo gallery software called Coppermine. The forums are utilizing Simple Machine Forums, which are much more robust than most forum systems out there.. also open source!"
"I was reading an article that our Publisher had passed along to me, about Pittsburgh Live. I checked the site out and found they were using a calendar system called Helios. Helios, for a single licence costs $149."
posted by jr at 11:31 A.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
Even better - a newspaper article!
http://monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070618/NEWS01/106180034/-1/NEWS
posted by robg at 12:23 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
Well, maybe not better, but the news article provides additional info. I liked the technical details listed in the blog posting. Open source apps support MonroeTalks.com. I see that the newspaper site uses the same content management system as The Blade, which is a fairly common CMS among newspaper sites.
Anyway, both articles are good, and in fact, they both exemplify the value of this setup. All three sites are owned by the Monroe Publishing Company, so a topic may get complete coverage between all three properties where it might not if only the newspaper site existed.
Their calendar listings are impressive. This will be an interesting media/community project to watch. And it could provide some ideas for Toledo area newspapers.
posted by jr at 03:02 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
Oh yeah, the news article posted by robg lists a couple of the reasons why a media company would undertake an initiative like Monroe Talks:
"The forums, blogs and calendar on MonroeTalks.com also can be accessed from monroenews.com. "It's as if the two Web sites are existing side-by-side in cyberspace," Mr. Gorczyca said." We expect people to check out the news on monroenews.com, then head on over to MonroeTalks.com to give their opinions and read what others have to say." "
"The two sites also give advertisers a one-two punch for reaching the Monroe market. The news Web site receives more than 1 million page views a month, and the new MonroeTalks.com is expected to start with more than 250,000 page views and grow quickly, Mr. Gorczyca said."
posted by jr at 05:06 P.M. EST on Tue Jun 19, 2007 #
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