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Behind the Scenes
NOAC Web Site

Production of the NOAC web site is very similar to the production of a daily newspaper. During NOAC 2000, the site was updated twice a day.  The first update was late at night.  The second was during the middle of the following day.  Each time the site was updated, we followed the same process.  We worked on our computer lab, shown at the left.

We begin each day by deciding what stories we will run. The story ideas are placed on our whiteboard, where they stay until they are actually posted to the site. We call this our storyboard because it details all the stories we will run. At the right, Adam is checking to see whether other Web Site staff members have completed their articles.

Once the stories are assigned to our staff members, we go about doing the work. Because we are part of the communications committee, we are able to pool our resources. We use a pool of reporters and photographers shared between the web site and newspaper.  We also did some reporting and photography ourselves.

Once the staff members have completed their in-the-field work, they come back to our lab to finish the stories. Since we use digital cameras and a video camera, we are able to quickly import the pictures into the stories that the members are writing. At the left, you can see various staff members typing up stories.

Meanwhile, any graphics that we need are now being produced. From scanning logos to making composite banners, we spend a lot of our time editing photos. To keep the load time of the pages fast, we need to make sure that our graphics load quickly. At the right, Scott works on the Wednesday Live banner.

The new stories are then proofread for spelling and grammar. During this stage of the editing process, we also check technical items, such as correct HTML code, proper thumbnails and image sizes, and valid links. When the stories have passed these rigorous checks, they are put in a local directory for upload to the national server during one of our two daily updates.

The Web Site staff is composed of all volunteer members. It is headed by a youth chair of the committee and an adviser. Much of the advice on the direction that the Web Site takes is given to us by the adviser, Mr. Joe Glenski. (He is the one in the BSA uniform shirt at right.) Many thanks to him for his dedication to the Web Site.

Revised 8/3/00.