Newsroom Bulletin July 5, 2017

Newsroom Bulletin

July 5, 2017

Contributing to Shepherd Online

I wanted to share a little bit of information about a few of the features I’ve introduced on the Shepherd Online site which allows anybody to submit content.

• News Tips — There is a red tab along the right side of the pages on the site labeled “News Tips.” Clicking on the tab will take you to a form where you can enter in general information about your announcement or upcoming event. You can also send an email to newsdesk@shepherdhistory.org.
• Share a Story — The link “Share a Story” will take you to a form where you can submit an article directly into the site. This is for finished pieces or drafts which are mostly ready for publication.
• Story Ideas — There might be topics that someone would like to know more about, or maybe they know some information, but not enough to submit a full story. Click on “Story Ideas” to suggest that the site cover this topic in the future. You can also vote other suggested story topics up or down. In the future, I’ll pick the stories that get the most votes.

Publication Flow

One feature that makes the relationship between the Shepherd Online website (http://www.shepherdhistory.org) and the Shepherd Journal special is that they share the same content to the degree that a change in the site will automatically be passed down to the text that will eventually go into the weekly publication.

It was important to produce a weekly publication version of the stories on the website, because I felt like the information would be easier to digest if it was self-contained. The issues I’ll be producing are automatically made available in multiple formats: web, PDF, and ebook. So, they can be viewed on the screen, downloaded and viewed as a PDF, or transferred and read on an ebook. And, any time that a file is downloaded, it will contain the latest updates because its source is synchronized with the site.

Watch for the fifth issue of the Shepherd Weekly News next Monday, and let me know what you think. I’m looking for ways to leverage the different formats.

My hope in the future to publish monthly and maybe even yearly retrospectives using the articles that are published on the site.

Classifieds and Online Directories

Two other relatively new features on the site are the online directories and Classifieds. I experimented last week with posting a flyer inside the classifieds as an ad. In the future, this could be expanded to include ads for things like jobs, garage sales, or events. Visitors can post advertisements from this link.

The Business Directory is also relatively new. I felt like this could come in really handy for those types of events which display contact information for members of their committee. Instead of repeating the same information, an article can reference a record or search query in the business directory.

These are two other features which I am planning on including in the publication. I will most likely include the directory information in a monthly edition, since it could serve as a kind of community phone book.

Community Calendar of Events

One last feature that I’ve incorporated into the site is an online community calendar. I’ll be watching for event information to add to the calendar over the next few weeks.

Help Needed

I am still looking for help with collecting information, writing articles, editing, photography, and management of the site. I’m not picky, and there is bound to be a way for anybody to help out.

One simple way would be to visit the site often and participate where ever you can. Leave a comment, post a story idea, and vote for others’ story ideas. If you hear about an event, please send it using the tab or the email address. If there is something happening that seems relevant to the community, pass it along.

If you would like to help out, but you’re not sure, there is a Slack community where you can join and just follow along with new developments or pass along suggestions and ideas. I see this as a way of entering the inner circle for the Shepherd Journal.

I am also in need of help covering different beats. Again, this might be passing along information, or it could be writing the stories and submitting them for publication. Examples of beats that I’d like help with is Sports, Schools/Education, and Government.

Last of all, I am open to adding different types of general interest features or blogs such as movie reviews, essays, or basically just anything.

Looking ahead

The goal over the next few weeks will be to fine-tune the website, test the sustainability of a weekly news site/newspaper, and expand the coverage. Eventually I would like to purchase hosting and a domain name for the site.

As usual, I appreciate everybody’s support and attention. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions, or if you would like to help out.

Thanks,

Jon Morgan

Editor, The Shepherd Journal