I have pondered lately about what type of content is best for YkOnline.ca, actually I always seem to be thinking about it. Some may think a blog is traditionally text, but then the 2.0 Web is all about multimedia, which goes to say they any type of content is acceptable. That is why I’m asking the question today, what kind of content do you like best? If you haven’t noticed I like all types of content, mainly audio and visual content though. I will give you a run down of how I would LOVE to see content here on YkOnline.ca.

We’ll start with photos and video (the visual content). I enjoy producing posts with lots of photos and videos because I feel it does a better job at telling a story or delivering a message than if I were to write it out. Along with these photos and videos I will add text to the post and generally explain what is happening in them. I find if I see photos and video with in a post accompanied by text I can relate better to what the author is trying to say (I’m a visual learner).

Moving on to audio, a medium I don’t think we have done enough of on YkOnline.ca. I don’t know how many of you listen to CBC Radio but I feel as though there are no good audio shows about Yellowknife and that is where I want to help. I’m waiting on a portable audio recorder that will allow me to get out more and help bring to life the voice of Yellowknife. These audio shows (Podcasts) are available on iTunes or right here on the site and are once again accompanied by text that describe what it is the post is about.

As you can see all the mediums mentioned above are accompanied with text. So I guess it is obvious that text is most prominent within this site. Some post can’t have photos, video or audio, like when a local issue has come up throughout town and I want to let everyone have their say. Sometimes it is best to have text, especially those of you who don’t have speakers or can’t watch video at work.

This is where I want to hand it over to you. Sometimes I don’t know which medium to go with and end of with a post that should may have good content but was produced horribly. Below is a simple poll with 4 options. You can choose which are you topic three ways of receiving content. Please vote and spread the word.

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I love Yellowknife, I don’t think there is any doubt about that when it comes to YkOnline. I love sharing with you events and information from around the City, I also try to engage you with current local issues happening in our city. Doing all this is something that takes a lot of my time, that’s not to say I don’t enjoy doing it, but it is time-consuming. I also have many more ideas for more interesting content that I wont be able to do unless I have help.

That is where you, fine citizens of Yellowknife, come in. To have you contribute to YkOnline would be a pleasure to not only me, but to all our readers as well. It would be like giving back to our community and promoting it for the world to see. You would not only be offering your insight on what is going on around Yellowknife, but also giving readers a different perspective. Although I do appreciate our local News Media, I believe a community should have a source of local information provided by locals themselves. A source where the business model is not based around making money but rather providing informative and engaging information by a group of people who are passionate about their city.

I have asked around for others to contribute to YkOnline for a little while now and a small few have offered a post on occasion. So because of that I thought it might help if I specify what some topics could be. They are as followed:

A Yellowknife History Writer – To have a weekly section where an individual writes about the birth of Yellowknife and what has happened since then would be amazing. This information is so important for our community to know, and I feel very strongly that the history of Yellowknife should be shared. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about it to be able to write them myself.

A Local Featured Business Writer – I think there are some amazing businesses in our town. I would love to see owners interviewed and advice given about what has led to success. Also, I think there should be some promotion of good deeds that our businessmen do. Another idea would be someone who would like to write about tips and struggles from their local business. This includes local restaurants, which is something I think would be a great feature for both residents and visitors.

A Few Community Event Writers – Know I know there is a handful of people that don’t miss a NACC show, concert, church event, or anything else that happens in our city. It is time that your voice is heard and you have a place to write about your experiences here. The event attendances will potentially triple if people only knew what cool stuff is going on. Or you could just add your event to the calendar by following these easy steps.

Event Coverage Writers – We all go to events around town, and a majority of us even take pictures. Having posts written about past events is something I have done off and on and I think is very valuable information. Writing a recap post is actually rather easy, after you attend an event all you have to do is type out your thoughts on the event.

A Healthy Lifestyle Writer – Living in the North means long dark winters and when I sit behind a computer all day I need healthy motivation and I know I’m not alone. Even if you don’t think you have anything to offer you probably do. If your business if focused on health, write for YkOnline and become known.

Co-hosting the YkOnline Podcast - Talking to myself is boring, not only for me, but everyone else. I’m looking for a co-host for the YkOnline podcast. The format for the show is very laid back and informal, the show should just sound like a conversation between locals that care. It would be done weekly and recorded whenever is convenient. Throughout the week an online document shared between hosts would include show topics so both parties are up on everything that will be discussed. This is something I would really like to see succeed, so if you are the least bit interested please contact me in one of the methods I mention below.

Opinion Columns – The newspaper offers readers the chance to write in and share the opinion but unfortunately they can only show so many. They also do not offer the chance for discussion. If you have an opinion about a local issue and want to share it with everyone YkOnline is the place. It is also the place for local discussion. Reading some comments can be more valuable than posts on occasion.

Local Tip Contributors - There is a lot going on around town throughout the day that sometimes we miss them. If you see something going on (ie, Car Accident, Fire, breaking news, etc.) send it in to us so everyone else knows. You can to do this four different ways: 1) Call or Text 444-0901 2) e-mail contribute@ykonline.ca 3)On Twitter @YkOnline 4) Facebook.

Although I am asking for contributors in these topics it doesn’t mean I will not accept other posts and it also doesn’t mean I will not be writing about these topics as well.

How to Contribute Posts - There are three ways of doing it. 1) Go over to the Contribute Page and copy your post into the text field there. 2) Register for you own account by going to the Register Page and then Login Here. Then you will have full access to the built-in text editor (This is the preferred method). 3)E-mail in your post to contribute@ykonline.ca.

I hope some if you consider contributing to YkOnline and promoting our fine City. If you have any questions about anything please send me an e-mail or give me a call 444-0901

This morning at about the same time we had two posts being published our servers started to go down. Our hosting provider which hosts YkOnline and some of our others sites on their servers was having internal errors and we couldn’t do anything about it. Unfortunately this lasted for about 2 hours this morning until finally we were able to get a hold of them and get them to fix the problem. We apologize if anyone was trying to get on the site and couldn’t. We feared that because the site was down some of you would miss this morning posts.

If you did here is what you missed:

• Google launches new a feature for viewing Yellowknife: http://ykonline.ca/2010/02/google-street-view/
• Exploring Yellowknife Bay by Snowmobile [Photos]: http://ykonline.ca/2010/02/snowmobiling-yellowknife-bay/

We hope you get a chance to take a look at those 2 articles and leave you feedback. We’d love to hear from you.

If you didn’t notice, maybe you’re reading this from your e-mail, YkOnline went through a redesign. It is not much different from the old, we dropped a colour. Changed some of the homepage layout and added a couple new sidebar features. There are other things that have changed, and I’m sure you will see them as you wonder the website. Unfortunately not all the kinks are worked out yet but we are %90 working.

Please take a look around and tell us what you think. Have a good weekend.

Whether you’re reading this on New Year’s Eve or in the New Year, I want to wish you a happy New Year. I look forward to all the good things to come in 2010 and I hope to grow with you. Like I have been mentioning there are some new things coming to YkOnline, that I am very excited about, so stay tuned for those.

2009 was a great year, for starters it was the year YkOnline started, Yay! But other than that it was a lot of fun. There are many things to look back on in Yellowknife this past year. Some not so good, but I mainly covered the good things. Here are some of those “Good” posts to look back on from 2009.

• Road work that happened in 2008, happened again.
• Yellowknife’s 75 Anniversary Celebrations.
• Google Car comes through Yellowknife.
• Folk on the Rocks 2009 and Rock the Folks.
• Municipal Election Directory.
• Yellowknife Dump Fire
• Election Results.
• I came back to town and started video.
• Javaroma changed owners and brought back WiFi.
• Yellowknife got its 4th major Airline.
• The Apple iPhone came to the North – I got a little to excited.
• Annual Art Expo.
• 2010 Olympic Torch came through Yellowknife.
• Yellowknife’s local radio station CJCD turned 30 years old.
• Mistaken Blasting Earthquake.
• A Yellowknife Morning.
• Yellowknife Christmas Lights and City Hall.

There you have it, some of the better post of 2009 from YkOnline. Starting May all the way to Last weeks Christmas Lights post. I hope everyone has a Safe and happy New Year. If you have a favorite post from 2009 that isn’t mentioned above, link to it in the comments.

PLEASE NOTE* YkOnline.ca will be going into maintenance mode starting about 12pm January 1, 2010 – January 2, 2010. We will be setting up the NEW SITE DESIGN. We hope it is better, faster and an altogether nicer user experience.

Hello everyone in Yellowknife and elsewhere. I hope everyone is having a nice relaxing holiday season. As you can tell I haven’t been posting anything lately. I decided to take a break from posting for a couple days to catch up on some lost sleep and family time.

I should be back to posting regularly on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you want to fill the empty days with some of your own writing, a special Christmas Story or Tale of Yellowknife, please go to http://ykonline.ca/contribute and send it in. I think it would be very nice change to have different points of view and stories featured on YkOnline once and a while. It does not have to be details or very long.

We will see you all in a couple days.

The last couple contests I have tried to run haven’t worked out very well so I thought I would try one that should be relatively simple to enter. There are 3 simple things you need to do to be eligible to win, other than being within Canada or the US.

1. Sign up for e-mail notifications by going to this link or by going through the homepage.
2. Become a fan of YkOnline on Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/YkOnline.
3. Suggest to Friends by following the link under the profile picture on our Facebook Page.
4. And that is it!

If are already a fan or subscribed to notifications than you are already eligible, just make sure you do the other two. The contest runs from now until December 11, 2009. Please use a valid e-mail address as that is how the winner will be contacted.

Now to the good stuff. The winner will receive a truly Yellowknife prize, A brand new copy of The Ugly Truck and Dog Contest and Other Tales of Northern Life by Cathy Jewison and a Gift Certificate to the Gourmet Cup. Good Luck.

Just a quick note that I will be on CBC North Radio at around 5pm tonight (Wednesday) talking iPhone.

About what it is, how it works and what it can do for you. Also about Bells new network and 12 other new phones like the Blackberry Bold.

Tune in on your drive home 1340 AM 5:10 – 5:30pm ish.

It is the day before municipal election and I hope you know what you need to do. Vote! Tomorrow make sure you take the time and get out to your polling station and vote. If you didn’t get a chance to register for the voting list, make sure you bring your I.D. with you when you go to vote. For all the details on voting and where it can be done go to the City Voting Website Page.

If you want to a little more background information on the candidates you can also check out the Yellowknifer’s Yellowknife Votes Website.

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If you didn’t notice yet or you are reading this in a RSS reader, YkOnline now has a calendar page. The hope is that this calendar will display special/current events happening in Yellowknife. Fundraisers, music, festivals, etc. I will need your help though. If you scroll over the calendar tab at the top of the site, you will see a drop down menu with “Submit Event”. That is where you come in, if you know of an event or are hosting one, go to that page (Submit Event) and fill out the form. Once you fill it out and submit it, it will be sent to me and I will publish it to the calendar. Simple as that.

The idea is to create a central site for Yellowknifers and those visiting to find out what is happening, current issues, reviews & featured places/people and so much more.

This is just a reminder that we will be broadcasting the YkOnline Podcast live here on the site, like we do every Monday night. This week I will hopefully have two guests on with me and we will be discussing several different topics and issues effecting Yellowknife.

I encourage everyone to come watch at 7pm at http://ykonline.ca/live. You could also join in the chat room and give your say on what we are talking about.

If you can not watch the live show you could always subscribe to the podcast via iTune.

Hope to see you there.