A year in review

The time has come to undergo a small stock take. Looking back on 2010, it should be obvious just how much has been added to the website in the last twelve months.

There are now 825 pages on content and 1,320 uploaded files on the Encyclopaedia of  New England Online.In addition, there are a further 1,281 page that have not yet been created, with the list of wanted pages actually continuing to rise as more content is added. The old saying of one step forwards, two steps backward seems to have been the order of the day in 2010.

Unfortunately, I do not have a record of how many pages and files existed on the site this time last year. This timer next year, however, I will be able to look at this page and see just how far the site has progressed.

The future

2010 was the sixth year of New England Online. I am very proud of the work I have done so far. HOWEVER, there is much more that needs to be done in order to get the website up to the standard I demand of it. The truest maxim of the entire enterprise is the idea that content is king. This applies as much today as it did in June 2004 when for no sane reason I kicked off this crazy venture.

The political events of 2010 in Australia and elsewhere demonstrate that a conservative alternative approach to the idea of socialism and big government is desperately needed. In a very small way, I want New England Online to show the world an alternative to tradition-bashing progressives who value nothing over themselves and their own selfish needs.

For a couple of years now I have been talking about multimedia content, and I still want to develop videos to add a further level of believability to the site. The kind of short little videos that has been used by Sweden to promote that realm are the sort of thing I still have in mind:

Sweden: Open Skies, Open Minds tells one everything you could ever want to glean in four minutes about Sweden. A cursory exportation of the video and want it is trying to say about the country and it’s people can be readily deducted. Sweden is not New England of course, and what this video is trying to say is not what New England is about. That said, this is a marvellous video that provides a brilliant insight into what the Swedes think of themselves and how they want us to think of them.

I hope 2011 affords me some opportunity to something very similar for New England.

Another break

Various distractions are forcing me to lay down the virtual pen for a short rest. I shall return soon.

Back to Work

Updates have now resumed on the website, after a considerable lay off. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into it again.

A Radical Realignment

About two weeks ago, I decided to completely overhaul the story of New England Online. I believe that they mark the most significant changes to the site since it was first published in 2004. Therefore, I have decided to wipe the slate and freeze version 3.1 of the site. Things will now start at new version, 3.2.

• Increase the population from 2.4 million to 3.3 million. New England will now have about the same area and population as Lithuania.
• A redistribution of the population, with Port Macquarie and CoffsHarbour becoming the largest cities, and Greater Armidale, including Uralla and Guyra, reduced to about 350,000 people
• Introduction of an upper house of parliament, the Senate. This new chamber will have 40 members.
• The House of Assembly is reduced to 76 members.
• The Witan is now moved to a more suitable location as a constitutional convention only.
• Changes to the electoral system, with IRV used for the House, and STV for the Senate. This is essentially the same system used in Australia at the moment.
• Introduction of a new local authority, the City of Port Macquarie.

I believe these changes are pretty significant, and they have to be done now before the site becomes more popular and therefore will need to settle on a consistent storyline. In a perfect world, I want this penchant for radical change finished in time for the production of version 4.0, although even I admit that version is still a fair way off.

That is not the case with version 3.2. I’m now embarking on a mission to have it done by Easter (23rd March). As for version 3.1, it will be frozen, copied and archived. If version 3.2 fails to work out, or if there is some use for it in the future, it will be here just like version 3.0.6 is when I replaced it last year.

The Big 5-0-0

Late yesterday afternoon, I created the 500th page of New England Online. The page’s subject was SH Smith House. This marks a pretty significant milestone for the website, and i’m really happy the site has grown so quickly and so easily these last few years.

Ahead lie some more challenges and some of those big changes I have been promising. But the biggest change will be in the way the storyline is handled. Up until now I have placed pages into a category of complete or incomplete, with content that was incomplete supposedly prone change at any time. A recent wave of changes through the site affected whole sections, so this dichotomy was a flawed way of looking things. From now on, the version of the website will determine it’s completeness, and I am hoping to make version 4 a stable copy that will endure for the rest of time.

Some Stats:

Pages: 502
Images: 1,021
Page Hits (Jan 08 MTD):  1,439

Version 3.1 – Coming Soon

After much promising to me and others, new version of New England Online, version 3.1, will be going online real soon now. This new version will be the culmination of six months work in developing a new site template, removing some incomplete text and generally cleaning up the site and story to bring it more into line with to what I have been planning.

What’s New?

Names - Many of the characters have been renamed or reassigned a photo. This was done for clarity and to allow for more than one photo of the character to be put to use. For the most part, this has not led to a major change in the character’s personality or role.

Storylines – Many of the storylines of the site were out of date, unrealistic or inconsistent with the overall story of New England Online. Many of these have already been changed, and as the site progresses on toward version 3.2, these changes will continue to be written in.

Site Template – The look and feel of New England Online has been unchanged since version 3.0 went online in September 2004. It was time for change, and that has finally come to pass. The site is (I hope) cleaner, more attractive and more colourful.

Beginnings

Having discontinued the use of a personal blog, I have decided to write occassional comments relating to New England Online alone. From now on, you will be able to see when updates are made, and where the site is heading. Comments, as always, will be most welcome.

I want to give those folks who enjoy the website a better idea what goes into making it all happen. You should also get a better idea about the genesis of new page and what happens along the way to publication.

Welcome, and I hope you enjoy it.