URL and name of site --http://www.fosters.com/ Primary Destination: New Hampshire
name of company/organization -- George J. Foster Co. Inc./Foster's Daily Democrat
physical location of site -- DEC OMS at Andover, MA
date site first went public -- about Sept. 1, 1995
name and email address of Webmaster --
main business goal of Web site -- This is an experiment in moving a daily newspaper to electronic form - learning what works, what doesn't, how much effort is involved, what it means for our future, how we might be able to make money on it - the list could go on and on.
peripheral benefits -- Exposure to new markets and audiences not reached by our newspapers; speedup in implementing technologies such as full internet connectivity, email, and network security; heightened awareness of new technologies; increased perception of our company as being innovative and forward-looking.
in what sense is this site a success? -- Feedback from users has been extremely positive, thanking us for providing a valuable service. Also, we have been able to implement new and exciting interactive software from Digital - Workgroup Web Forum - that makes interactive discussion very easy. And we have already learned many important new skills.
to what do you attribute your success? -- We have focused on providing in-depth news content that is current - we update several times a day, 7 days/week - from various sources. We have created graphics that are pleasing to the eye without being large and tedious to download across slow connections. And we are covering a story that has wide appeal - the US presidential election.
nature of content -- Complete coverage of the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire presidential primary, including news stories from Foster's Daily Democrat of Dover,NH, The Citizen of Laconia, NH, the Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times Syndicate. We also have candidate supplied information - biographies, speeches, position papers - and interactive forums for candidates, citizens, and students, where the important issues can be discussed.
target audience -- Everyone interested in politics and the US presidential election campaigns.
size of current audience in terms of visitors (not hits) per month -- Unknown
do you own your own Web server? -- no
if no, name and URL of host company -- Digital Equipment Corp., http://www.digital.com/info/internet
authoring tools used -- Word for Windows w/ Internet Assistant; HTML Writer
site statistical package used -- wwwstat 1.0
are stats publicly viewable? no
other special software used -- Workgroup Web Forum
special features of the site intended to attract and hold audience -- Interactive forums of presidential candidates, citizens, and students; online panel discussions by noted persons.
do you use outside design services? -- no
do you use other outside services? yes
if yes, role and names and URLs -- Invaluable technical support, system management, equipment, and bandwidth provided by the Internet Business Group of Digital Equipment Corp.
size of internal staff devoted to your Web site -- 2 full-time editorial, 2 part-time editorial, continuing help from our technical staff, contributions from 50-60 reporters.
approximate quantity of browsable content -- more than 2,000 articles, columns, photos, audio, and growing daily.
do you provide Web-based access to databases? -- no
do you allow interaction among users and with users? -- yes
if yes, what software do you use? -- Workgroup Web Forum
and what is your mode of operation? -- open discussion and by topic.
biggest headache faced -- Trying to get everything done that we have to get done, staying focused on what we can reasonably do - as opposed to everything we would like to do, and organizing and motivating all the individuals involved to get things done in a timely fashion.
most gratifying moment -- After months of planning, hard work, long hours, and wondering how things would be received - the first user feedback came in and it was extremely positive.
wish list (what you want to do to make your site even more successful, > and what you need for that) -- We are fortunate to be sitting on top of a big news story that we are uniquely positioned to cover in this medium. My wish list includes the answer to what we will do on a continuing basis after the primary is over to continue our success, and to turn it into a money-making unit of our organization.
From: "Tom Salvetti" <tsalvetti@fosters.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 16:19:07 -0500
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