NCEW Online makes friends and makes waves in cyberspace.NCEW NCEW National Conference of Editorial Writers online achieved several milestones of various sorts over the past few months. Both the World Wide Web site <http://www.infi.net/ncew/> and the electronic mailing list An electronic mailing list, a type of Internet forum, is a special usage of e-mail that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an had their first anniversaries in September September: see month. , and there's something to be said for simple survival. The Web site topped 1,000 hits a week (individual requests for some kind of information) for the first time in July July: see month. , and membership of the mailing list An automated e-mail system on the Internet, which is maintained by subject matter. There are thousands of such lists that reach millions of individuals and businesses. New users generally subscribe by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in it and subsequently receive all new topped 100 people, a substantial majority of them NCEW members but a fair representation of non-member journalists, teachers, and students as well. I was pleased to have students of an editorial writing class at Penn State sign up for the list this fall. The Web site also was chosen by Infoseek One of the first major search engines on the Web. In 1999, in partnership with the Walt Disney Company, it became Go.com (www.go.com). In 2001, Disney stopped providing the search capability on Go.com in order to focus on its other top-ranked Web sites, such as ESPN.com, ABCNews. , a World Wide Web search tool and index, as a "select" site. That means it was judged to be among the "exceptionally interesting sites or the definitive sites for the topic (Journalism, in this case)," to quote Infoseek's explanation. I was particularly pleased that Infoseek chose a site with a bent so heavily professional as NCEW's; I would have expected a Web index to rely on more general-interest choices. Even more rewarding, however, were comments from members about the usefulness of the Web site and mailing list. After we added a Web page linking to editorial pages of several major market and national newspapers, to give editors and writers a handy way to see how the major media are treating issues, a member reported he found it "extraordinarily useful" - which inspired further additions and refinements to the page. And Nancy Q. Keefe of Gannett Suburban Newspapers in White Plains, N.Y., observed of the mailing list that "it's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have fun hearing from all the rest of the wonks around the country. Like a year-round NCEW gathering." Which was exactly what I was hoping the mailing list would achieve. If you'd like to join the fun, send me an e-mail message at either pfiske@netusa.net or PFiske@aol.com identifying yourself as an NCEW member, and I'll happily add you to the list. NCEW member Phineas Fiske is assistant editor of the editorial page at Newsday in Melville, N.Y. |
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