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2007-04-17 issue:

To Web 2.0

Editorial

by Everett J. Thomas

Print Article

I did not know you could send a Hallmark card designed specifically for a pedestrian you hit while you were driving your car. I found out the hard way. Last November while in a crosswalk, a friend of mine was blinded by the sun as she turned the corner and struck me. After a few hours in the emergency room, I was released with nothing more serious than bumps and bruises.

But I was astonished several days later to receive a beautiful card from the friend driving the van that knocked me down. On the front of her card were the words, “You probably knew this, but I’ve been praying for you ever since I accidently hit you.” On the back was the Hallmark logo. I asked her where she found such a card. She explained that she made it on her personal computer with a Hallmark program. She just picked out a template and typed in her own words.

We live in a digital world, and this incident demonstrates why The Mennonite is investing heavily in a new Web site to be launched in May. This kind of personalization has spread to the Internet and is becoming so pervasive that a new phrase has been coined for it: Web 2.0.

The first generation of Web sites were designed to provide information and a link to the people who owned the site. This use of the Web has been dubbed Web 1.0. But now, a new generation of  users expects all kinds of ways to interact with Web sites. Such interaction can be spontaneous, or it can be programmed to happen regularly at intervals established by the user.

We will venture into a Web 2.0 world when we launch our new Web site in several week. The purpose is to draw users toward the paper magazine and, ultimately, become subscribers if they do not already receive the magazine.

Here is what will be available.

Those who like to listen to articles on their iPods will be able to download many of the editorials, columns and news stories from The Mennonite and then play them at their leisure.
Those who want news stories and articles just as soon as they are available can receive them through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. Those who want a weekly (electronic) newsletter, called “TMail,” with some content from The Mennonite, will be able to sign up for it to arrive by email. This newsletter will also include a summary of the Young Anabaptist Radicals blog.

The new site will also allow us to show video clips and slide shows. Indeed, we plan to inaugurate the new video capability by showing a clip of two Mennonite Church USA leaders dancing with Congolese Mennonites during a February worship service. But the site will also allow us to make much more news available than is possible within the 32 pages of this magazine.

We plan to post most of the news releases we receive from all Mennonite Church USA agencies and schools, Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Central Committee. We will also include a selection of the photos that come with those releases for users to see as a slide show.

But there is more interactivity. We will begin a new “personals” ad section. This will allow users to buy a classified ad that remains on the site for one month. We envision this being particularly helpful to people doing research and those wanting to announce upcoming events. Those looking for companionship will be able to use this new section as well.

The most interactive capability of the new site will allow users to post responses to the authors of articles we publish. Then others can post responses to those responses.

Based on the experience of other magazines—especially Christianity Today, which is the leader among Christian periodicals that utilize this kind of synergy with their print magazine—we are convinced that such interactivity will draw “digital” Mennonites toward the issues and news we publish from Mennonite Church USA. Joining the Web 2.0 phenomenon, we hope, will build interest among the next generation and develop even more loyalty to our church—ejt

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