More Than The News
_IN Online, at 1, still has a lot to explore.
t was a scramble — and a typi-
cal exercise in Web journalism
these days.
The virtue of the Internet is
its ability to deliver breaking news to
the world. When Buford O'Neal
Furrow Jr., 37, fired an automatic
weapon at children and their caretakers
in a L.A. Jewish community center last
month, it was a story for JN Online,
the vear-old Web site of the Jewish
News.
As Web producer, I felt I needed
to be three people that day. It was a
Wednesday with the newsroom
already heavily engaged in getting
the paper to press on time. Our staff
reporters Diana Lieberman and
Harry Kirsbaum dashed off to gather
local reaction to the shootings.
Newsroom deadlines are by the
day; mine are by the minute. I bad-
gered Jonathan Friendly, our news
editor, for any photographs and wire
copy I could use online. Meanwhile,
I assembled the hypertext docu-
ments, shuttling them to our server
via FTE
The minute-by-minute coverage
of Furrow's flight from authorities
was not my focus. Rather, it was pro-
viding the Detroit Jewish communi-
ty with information that addressed
its immediate concerns. In particular:
what if other JCCs, including our
own, also were targeted?
The six Web pages we devoted to
the story included editorials, wire
news of the unfolding event, advice
for parents on helping their children
cope. Detroit community members'
fears, frustrations and hopes, and
links to Los Angles-based news radio
stations, child counseling and crime
prevention Web sites. We also
encouraged JN Online visitors to
express their views with our Virtual
Voter poll and "What Do You
Think?" message boards.
This wasn't the first time JN
Online took on the role of reporting
breaking news. We did the same
thing during the U.S. confrontation
with Iraq at the end of last year and
for the Israeli elections this year. But
the incident in L.A. was our broadest
and most sustained effort, and the
result showed some of the lessons we
have learned in our first year of ven-
turing into cyberspace.
We have learned, for example, the
things we do well on breaking stories
and identified ways to improve our
product. From tracking the patterns
of how visitors used the site to follow
the L.A. story, we'll be able to devel-
op more of the local background and
explanatory information that people
have indicated they want.
enough,'" said the rabbi, a Jewish
cyberspace pioneer. His online cours-
es now have more than 33,000 sub-
scribers, and he said the Net is revo-
lutionizing Jewish education and out-
- reach. But Menken warned that vir-
tual communities can never replace
what happens when groups of Jews
gather in a physical place for worship,
study- and fellowship.
"So many people seem to be trying
to use the Internet as a surrogate
community, but that doesn't work,"
Nlenken said. "I don't like the feeling
that cyberspace is almost competing
with live Jewish activity. It should be
a supplement; it should provide
material for education. for intellectual
development-. It should provide
resources. ICs an information super-
highway, not a communim" He sug-
gested that online communities are
most useful when they reach unaffili-
ated, uninvolved Jews and provide a
first step toward affiliation with a real
Jewish community.
Audrie Berman agreed — but in
her neck of the woods, real involve-
ment isn't always so easy.
Berman, education director for
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in
Lincoln, Neb., is establishing a
sprawling virtual community for Jews
in remote towns in her state.
"We started a year ago, working
with families outside Lincoln and
Omaha," she said. "Most live 100 to
200 miles from the nearest syna-
gogue, so there's a real problem with
involvement." The centerpiece of the
Greater Nebraska Jewish Outreach
Project — funded by her synagogue
and the Jewish Outreach Institute —
is a small Internet_ list reach-
JOSHUA CANE
Web Producer
I
But figuring out our future is going
to require more than gazing back into
the past. We already know how and
why we have changed from the very
limited homepage that we put up a
year ago. At an internal meeting a
month ago, I could see the change in
attitude among news, advertising and
marketing staff. A year ago, many
wondered why we should go online in
the first place. Now they are asking:
what can we do better?
A year ago, we wanted to generate
consistent daily traffic to
www.detroitjewishnews.com and
provide the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity with interactive features. While
we've provided polls, message boards,
calendars, quizzes and contests to—
meet that second goal, the first
remains elusive. Statistics show that
our visitor volume peaks on Fridays.
Does this indicate a failure of our
it better to have 1,000 visits
goal? •
daily, rather than 500 on a Monday
and 1,500 on a Friday? More impor-
tantly still, who is our audience?
Who is JN Online for anyway? Our
loyal readers who are of an older
generation? Those who have moved
to Florida or California, but wish to
keep their ties to Detroit? Or is it for
teens and college students who are
more comfortable using the Net?
We understand that there is no
point in making JN Online just the
newspaper online. Unlike our print
readers who can have their pages
spread out on the table, JN Online vis-
itors view our content with a mouse in
their hand. They're ready to do some-
rhino to make choices, to link to
ing about 20 households. She also is
putting the finishing touches on a
Web site to make access easier.
For kids, Berman is pairing stu-
dents in her own religious school
with Jewish children in these remote
communities. Together, "they will
work on topics and participate in
classes," she said. And we hope even-
tually to use instant messaging to cre-
ate a stronger feeling of connection. -
For adult participants, she is making
her svnagogue's cantor — the congre-
gation's spiritual leader — available
online to respond to questions and
post themes for discussion.
One measure of the project's suc-
cess: already, members of this extend-
ed community are beginning to get
together in person.
"For example," she said, "we have
a knot of people in Kearney, Neb.,
information that is active. So we are
mulling how to design pages for
Detroit community organizations and
advertisers that facilitate the exchange
of ideas, information and commerce.
Right now we're exploring how to
host an AppleTree parenting center
or a Jewish teen chat. We want to
delve into entertainment, such as
offering movie clips, games and puz-
zles, Jewish music and a book club to
tie in with the Jewish Book Fair.
But we don't know yet how fast this
technology is aoing to change to make
new services not just possible but pain-
less. Could we provide real-time video
coverage of Jewish community events,
for example, or a l low readers to navi-
gate through the site to place orders for
advertised services and products with-
out straining the home computer that
uses a modem to link to us?
What we really think is that the
answers to these questions will come
from you, the JN Online visitor. By
the ways you use the site, you point
where we should be headed next. We
can continue to hustle on breaking
stories like the California shootings,
keep you up to date on the Middle
East peace talks or tell how the first
day of school went. But, unlike the
paper, JN Online is user-defined.
Every mouse click on a Virtual Voter
or exchange on the letter board cre-
ates the opportunity for a new com-
munity of interest.
And that's the real virtue of the
Internet — it's a true democracy.
Everyone's voice can be heard and
heeded, making this an exciting time
to be a Web producer. ❑
who are holding a pot-luck seder.
One Jewish family in Valentine trav-
eled 500 miles to come to one of our
events.
At the same time, her online com-
munity provides ongoing, everyday
support for Jews who often find
themselves in towns with no others.
"I grew up in Chicago," she said,
and I didn't realize what it feels like
to be part of a very small minority
group. The Internet gives these peo-
ple a chance to feel a little less alone."
Layer By Layer
Some virtual communities have more
elaborate structures.
One of the most successful is
called Mishpacha: a Virtual
Community for Real Jewish Families,
a project of the Memorial Foundation
for Jewish Culture. Modeled after a
9/
1999
Detroit Jewish News
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