There are two really good reasons why anyone would want to switch to a web based form of communincation as opposed to traditional paper, faxes, and phone calls.

One, obviously, is the reduced cost involved in designing, printing, duplicating and distributing paper products. Even in this day and age, I run into people who poo-poo this concept indicating that paper is still cheap and still the only way to go. Uh huh. Have you looked at your paper and duplicating bills lately?

The second reason is the more noble of the two. By moving your message to the web, you get the benefit of anytime, anywhere access to the information by those in your organisation. No more do you have to resort to the excuse that "I left the memo on my desk". Fire up your internet ready computer and get the information where you need it. And, of course, this makes certain assumptions about access which need to be addressed. However, that too changes on a daily basis. From at home, access becomes reasonable with your account through the Education Network of Ontario.

So, why move to the web? In addition to universality of the above, the web lets readers who would have normally be left off your traditional mailing list have immediate access to what you have to say. As many of the local school initiatives start to mature, access will become faster and more universal.

This month, there are two more initiatives that indicated that the Greater Essex County District School Board fully supports this concept.

1) The System Calendar is now online. You're one click away from checking out all of the events that are happening system-wide. Two caveats: you have to be using a computer connected to the "intranet" (the network available only to those inside the system) and secondly the event needs to to be posted in the first place!

2) Secondly, and more universally available, is the board's new webpage. Until May 1, checking into our website will give you a combination of "green" and "blue" links. Starting on May 1, the new website will be truly "teal". No more links to non-existent departments or retired people. The new look is cleaner and considerably easier to navigate that the previous one.

The new webpage was created by a small committee formed by retired Superintendent Jack Breaton, HTML wizard Ed Janzen, graphics artist Reg Houle, and myself. The group worked well and the result is something that we're very proud of. Perhaps the biggest challenge was determining just what colour "teal" actually is!

As with most projects of this size, there are bound to be some problems and we'd like to hear of them as you navigate the new website. If your school has a website that was created prior to the website going up, please take a look to see if there are links to the non-existent http://www.wboe.edu.on.ca or http://www.ecb.edu.on.ca indexes.

Looking for a new board logo for your updated school site? Recall from the "Internet to Paper" workshop that you're just a right mouse click away from borrowing one of Ed's or Reg's artwork.