August 06, 2005
sleddog legacy online
Well, it was a bit of a struggle to get it all configured right and working properly, but SLEDDOG LEGACY ONLINE is now a reality! What is it?
It's the first real-time, continuously-published online sleddog interest-group newsletter, that's what! For a long time everyone has been moaning about the lack of a newsletter. Northern Dog News disappeared back in the late 1960s. Racing Siberian Husky ceased publication in the 1990s after a 15-year-long run. Seppala Network published six issues over two years. Seppala News lasted for two issues only. It's a daunting task to try to publish a mail-out subscription newsletter, postal charges and printing costs being what they are. People won't commit themselves to pay a subscription price that will actually cover those costs. WorkingDog Web has tried to convince us that RSH still exists online, but one or two articles a year is not enough of an "existence" for most of us, especially since the newsletter is not really distinguishable from the rest of the website.
With two years of experience with MovableType as a weblogging tool, all of a sudden it occurred to me that it could be used quite well in a non-personal context, to publish an online newsletter! It just took some reconfiguring and customisation. This way, many of the difficulties and objections to newsletter publication evaporate: no "deadlines," no "issues" that must be filled with content by the deadline, no printing costs and headaches, no ransom paid to Canada Post. And the news, announcements, and articles go out in real time as they become relevant or ready for publication! Innovative? Well, I think so! I'm not saying it hasn't been done before in other fields, but there's nothing like it at this moment in the sleddog sector.
At first, and at a minimum, it will meet the needs of The Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project, the International Seppala Association, the Working Canine Association of Canada, the three Yahoo! email lists associated with the foregoing, and of course, of Seppala Kennels and Tullibardine Farm Chinooks. But that's only the beginning. We hope to cast a broad net here, appealing to those who are interested in historic sleddog breeds, in sleddog breeding and genetics, in recreational dog driving. The basic idea here is "Sled Dog Central for the competitive racers, Sleddog Legacy Online for all the rest of us." We won't turn down racing news or race results, but the basic focus will be on the non-competitive side of dogsled sport. Jack and Susan Murray have agreed to co-edit this baby, so that we have a three-person editorial board and can cover for one another in the winter months.
The challenge will be to keep the content coming, as always in such endeavours. Maybe the consuming public will help out, and maybe they won't; that part remains to be discovered. But people said they wanted a newsletter. So here's a newsletter! Click on the banner above and go see it!
Posted by jjeffrey at August 6, 2005 12:01 PM