Sunday, August 3, 2008

Journal 11, August 3, 2008

Dennis Whitfield
August 3, 2008
Journal Entry 11

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/14Rhyperlocal.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

In the article, “Anytown, Online.” by Bob Tedeschi, explains how things are changing in the world small town communication. Years ago the news was spread by a guy ringing a bell in town to spread the news. Now they are websites the residents are joining in creating that provides ways to avoid traffic snags, find lost dog or just to vent on a local hot-button issue. He uses as his example the suburban towns across the greater New York area. There is a service that the towns uses to register there website, called American Towns, which is based in Fairfield, Conn. The company president bolsters that the information on the site is almost entirely form users. The users have the opportunity to post scheduled meeting of religious and community organizations, suggestions for family activities and links to news from local and national papers. The site also allows community organizations to create their own website for free.

The advantages that users say by having a town website, is that it tells the residents of the events that happened that day, which is not normally covered by the local newspaper. With features of the best trick-or-treating neighborhoods, news of an accident, power failures, and police reports soon after they happen. Some towns are seeing 5,000 to 7,000 readers daily, and up to 10,000 on peak days. One town owner said that an advantage of this type of site is that people can shed light to uncomfortable subjects. One example he used, was an article posted about how the parents where abusing the soccer referees.

I think that this may be the beginning, but soon every town in America will have its own website. The internet age has revolutionized all aspects of life from our work to our personal life. I am from a small town in North Carolina, called LaGrange, NC. The once little bitty church that I raised in, now has a website, www.jumpingrunchurch.org. Now, sure the church may have tripled since the days of my youth, but still the idea of them having a website, still surprises me. But the site does offer useful information, it gives a calendar of events, the opportunity to view web cast of services, a definition of the different ministries offered by the church, an opportunity to order different messages taught, directions and you can leave your contact information for prayer. This is an example of the types of websites that are popping up all across America, to relay information.

Soon we will not realize that will start looking at our town websites for all types of information. We will be looking at them to see if our child is getting out of school early. We might even be able to look at our child from work, at their school while in progress. We will know the exact moment that high school won there game. We will know when the local bakery has a sale on those chocolate éclairs that we love so much. In other words, in small town America, we will be able to gain access to every aspect of our lives that is not available to us currently.

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