Changing of the Guard at Carson Now
Yesterday was my last official day in charge of Carson Now. Today I am heading off to Silicon Valley and the adventure of being a Knight Fellow at Stanford University.
I'm happy to report that I'm leaving Carson Now in good hands. Actually, two sets of hands, which will mean more news and better service for the people of Carson City.
Jeff Munson will be taking over as Managing Editor of the website. I first started working with Jeff when I hired him as content editor for Tahoe.com 12 years ago. He started working on the Carson Now site back in 2010, and most recently has been running our sister site, SouthTahoeNow.com. It will be great to have him back again reporting and writing on a daily basis about local happenings.
Joining him is Greg Pisarski, who will serve as Operations Manager. Greg and I worked together in North Tahoe when he was running the circulation operations for the three newspapers up there. He has a background in accounting, sales, computers and the film industry, and will be a great asset to Carson Now.
While I will not be in town except on odd weekends, I will still be involved with the site. My fellowship project is focused on improving the system that runs Carson Now, and getting it ready to roll out to other cities around the world. My plan is to create a local online news incubator that can help create community news sites that can survive and thrive in this new online world.
In the next few months, you will notice some changes to the design that will allow the site to be better displayed on mobile devices, and well as making it easier for readers to share photos, news and other content from their smartphones and tablets. I want to enable people watching an event like a Carson Senators football game to be able to take photos and see those show up on the Carson Now site in a matter of minutes for everyone to see.
Another major project involves a new advertising system code named Megaphone, that will give local businesses the power to easily communicate with their customers across multiple channels in an extremely cost-effective way. I'm hoping to launch the first version of this by the end of the year.
Other improvements will follow in 2013 and beyond.
None of this would be possible without the help of many people. I love to follow the outdoor adventures of Don and Elaine Quilici, who bring us great words and pictures from our beautiful outdoors. Contributors like T. Costa, Jerry Vance and Roger Diez add to the chorus of the many people who post stories on Carson Now.
My idea for starting the site was to empower the citizens of Carson City to communicate, to share their stories, and respectfully debate the issues of the day. Not bound by the limitations of newspapers or TV, we could offer people unlimited space to express themselves, and add to the narrative that makes up this community. In essence, this is the community's website, and it only exists as long as the members of this community engage and support it.
I've been overwhelmed by the support we have received over the past (almost) three years. Hardly a day goes by without someone calling, writing or stopping me on the street to say how much they enjoy this site. It's a rare thing in the news business to get more positive than negative comments, and I'm glad I've been here to experience it.
Thank you, Carson City, for making this website what it is today.
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