Welcome to All About Orkney. This site is aims to present topical information about Orkney, and at the same time bring Orkney out of itself for itself.
What on earth does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things, and it is for sure that what it means today will be quite different in the future, as we aim to make sure the services that are provided follow emerging web trends.
But on Day 1, it means this:
- a News section providing an eye on current affairs from the perspectives of local news, and local and national politics affecting Orkney
- a Weather section with forecasts and current weather observations (to give cyclists at least a slim chance of not cycling into the wind ALL the time)
- an Events and Activities section that currently provides listings, but which can evolve in any direction that that people want. Good content gratefully received, be it on Visual Arts, Music. Crafts, Sport, Culture or Heritage. Or anything else that is legal, decent, honest and truthful. And funny and interesting is always good!
- an In Pictures section that currently shows the latest Creative Commons licensed (i.e. public domain) Orkney pictures from Flickr, and YouTube videos from the AllAboutOrkney channel. Any videos that should be here, send an email and they can be added to the channel. The left hand columns shows the descriptions of the latest pictures added to Orkneycommunities.co.uk's Orkney Image Library- we don't want to detract from this excellent resource where the pictures tell a story through their comments. Send your pictures there!
- a Shipping page which brings the living miracle of AIS to your desktop, where you can see what shipping movements are underway. Links on the left direct you to the UKHO site for tidal information, and more, much more is hoped for here- keep watching!
- Shopping pages where most of immediate developments are planned. Simple (working) eBay and Amazon affiliate shopfronts currently list Orkney-related products, but the aim is to provide a no-cost shopfront for businesses, groups and individuals to Sell Their Stuff. The genesis of this idea was the lack of a marketplace to sell or pass on outgrown school clothing, but the principle applies to just about everything. Also, local businesses and shoppers can hit back with news of offers, supermarket-busting prices and reviews. Even classifieds if you want
- a weather eye on our geographic Neighbours viz. Caithness, Shetland, and Aberdeen. And Inverness later. This is on a page in the News section.
- and finally, the Blue Window, the most charitable part of this site.
So as you see there are plans to expand this to make it more useful, and also to encourage communication through sharing stories, pictures, reviews, and addition of comments to articles. How Orkney is perceived by others will come out through Google News, and the imminent Best of the Blogs page.
There is no intention to encroach on the good work of The Orkney Forum or the superb Orkneycommunities.co.uk, and regular pointing in those directions will take place. Business information, polls, travel information, micro-blogging, all these things are on the radar.
Note that closed items in the right hand column can be expanded by clicking on the title.
Hope you like it!
Cheers
Steven
