Burns, Goessel, Peabody available on Florence website
In today's Internet world, web sites abound. Anyone with the time and inclination to create a site can find a spot on the Internet. People use web sites to promote themselves, a business, a hobby, a product, or a message. Communities and government entities have them.
Last April, a Florence newcomer, Rick Burcky, created a web site for the city of Florence, www.florenceweb.net.
"I had done several web sites for businesses and individuals before coming to Florence," said Burcky. "And since moving here, I created one for the Florence Historical Society and one for the Florence United Methodist Church."
"I really like Florence and the people here have welcomed me into their community and I just wanted to give something back," he continued. "Small communities can really benefit from an Internet presence and I hoped that by providing a community site, we could all benefit from it."
On May 1, 2002, the site went online with a discussion board so that the people of Florence could log on and discuss problems or issues facing their city.
Burcky has upgraded the site several times since its inception, adding features he thinks the participants would enjoy or use. Some of the options he has added have been suggested by the people who use the site.
The site has a community calendar, links to the historical society, city government, businesses, and community organizations. There is a photo gallery of old Florence pictures; there are games and contests; and reference pages.
"The discussion board has been particularly popular," said Burcky. "When I first started it, I allowed people to sign on anonymously and say whatever they wanted to say. But a couple of weeks into it, things started getting a little personal since those posting didn't have to identify themselves."
"I changed the rules fairly quickly and now everyone has to sign on using at least an ID name. Some people use their real names and some don't, but there are no more anonymous posts."
Burcky said that most of the original participants have stayed with the site and they use it the way it was intended to be used. For instance, when the community planned the fall cleanup day, much of the communication took place on the web-site with Florentines adding their names to the list of volunteers, or adding suggested areas in need of cleanup.
"From the beginning, the discussion forum has been the most used area of the web site," he said. "Other areas attract people that used to live in Florence, but have since moved away. I've gotten emails from several people trying to contact people still living here. I've been able to re-unite lost friends. Some of them even stay with the discussion forum and keep in touch with friends that way."
On Oct. 1, 2001, Burcky contracted with a new Internet server that provides a faster, more reliable connection and a larger server with more space and features. On Oct. 15, the web site officially added the communities of Burns, Goessel, and Peabody.
Each community site has links and information similar to what he carries for Florence. The discussion board has a forum available for each city to have ongoing discussions of issues and events.
"So far there isn't much activity on the Burns, Goessel, or Peabody discussion sites," Burcky noted. "I don't really think many people know we're out there."
Burcky also added a feature called "Submit news" to allow people to e-mail their personal items to the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin by using a form he devised for the web site.
Two weeks ago the site had logged 10,000 hits and at the urging of several regular discussion forum users, Burcky looked at the statistics.
"I was shocked to see that the site had been visited by people from more than 20 countries," he said. "I wonder what the Lithuanian visitor wanted, or the ones from Estonia, the Netherlands, or Denmark?"
Burcky's future plans include an Internet radio station for the web site. He feels that is another great way to promote our towns and bring additional visitors to the web site.
He also hopes to make a video of this year's events like the Florence Labor Day celebration and the Fourth of July in Peabody. He will soon have the ability to convert video to digital format and provide videos of the events to people who could not attend. "It's another tool to promote ourselves," he added.
When asked why he began the web site project in the first place, Burcky replied, "Sometimes I wonder! I enjoy providing the service, but I spend at least a couple of hours every evening and several hours on weekends maintaining the site, updating information, and answering e-mails. Some weekends when I have been at it for 10 to 12 hours straight, adding some service or upgrading something, I really have to wonder why!"
He noted that a great deal of good has come out of the service for the people of Florence and he feels the same results can happen in Burns, Goessel, and Peabody.
"And," he added, "small towns deserve an Internet presence and a way to promote themselves and their people to the rest of the country and the world. We all have fantastic people in our communities and we live in a great area. The rest of the world can benefit from seeing what we are all about."
