Last Observations

I think our Old Town team worked very hard considering this was unchartered territory for everyone involved. We made many important mistakes which we then learned from.

I think, in the future, any hyper-local endeavor should focus its attention first on getting to know the community, finding contributors within the community, and really meeting face to feace with members of the community. That will be the only way to truly design the site around the area's needs and preferences.

Also, I think it is important for the site to have a strong voice. It should decide early what it wants to focus on, and provide, for the community it is writing for. It needs to have consistency so that the community can trust it as a useful resource.

Finally, it is important to encourage contributions of any kind. This will take the most time because getting a community involved in something new can be very challenging. Once certain players in the community catch on the benefits of the site, it will surely draw in more contributors.

Thanks to the class and instructor for providing an amazing opportunity and learning experience. Every mistake provided a valuable lesson, and even if the site wasn't a huge success while we were creating it, at least we all have experience blogging for a specific audience. If nothing else, we tried something new!