Sunday, February 10, 2008
Roanoke Times' Web offerings abuzz with activity
It was not so long ago that many newspapers posted little more on their Web sites than the stories from that day's paper.
But as a new feature on Page A2 of this newspaper demonstrates, there's a whole lot more for you to explore on our Web site, roanoke.com.
We've set aside the top quarter of that page to regularly remind you about the buzz of activity happening online with our blogs, videos, photo galleries, audio, message boards and databases.
And you -- your interaction with us -- is a big part of why we extend our reporting so deeply on roanoke.com. It's where we get your reaction to what we've reported (on our message boards). And it's where we offer you a different way to experience a story (through audio and video).
Sometimes we know you're curious to learn more about the statistics that ground our reporting. For that we created a whole new world, the DataSphere, which we launched in December. Since that time, we've filled that space -- www.roanoke.com/datasphere -- with nearly 50 links to "data that matters in the Roanoke and New River valleys and beyond," in the words of Matt Chittum, data delivery editor.
The databases span weighty and not-so-weighty topics, from Roanoke Valley crime stats and school test scores to snowfall measures and college football prospects. The most recent addition is a "bubble graph" that visually depicts the top 50 selling liquors in Virginia last year. (No. 1 is Jack Daniels.)
Chittum talks about how he finds these databases and what he learns from them on his accompanying DataBlog. It's one of 14 staff-written blogs now living on roanoke.com. Again, our bloggers are as diverse as our news pages. They put a local spin on dining, pets, hunting, fishing, shopping, campus news, weather and sports of all kinds.
A recent addition to our blogroll is "cutNscratch," a look at the regional music scene by features staffers Tad Dickens and Ralph Berrier Jr. Last week, they provided such online-only tidbits as an opinionated update on the '08 Floydfest schedule and a report on how Roanoke's Li'l Rodger and the Cheap Thrills fared at a Memphis blues competition.
CutNscratch, like all of our blogs, extends a wide open invitation for readers to chime in. "It won't be any fun at all if you don't jump in and have your say," the Dickens/Berrier duo write.
So please do.
n n n
Beginning this week, Extra readers will see a change in their Tuesday editions, which typically offer a number of syndicated health columns. We are adding "The People's Pharmacy," a weekly column by Joe and Teresa Graedon.
The Graedons already appear in Extra with a weekly pharmacy Q&A. Meanwhile, we are discontinuing the Personal Health column by Jane Brody of The New York Times.
Send your feedback about these changes to editor@roanoke.com or call our reader comment line at 981-3173.
